Different colleges have different rules about what disqualifies an applicant from frosh application (i.e. must apply as a transfer). But the simplest safe rule to follow is “no college courses after high school graduation” unless you know the exact rules of every possible college of interest and can stay within the most restrictive intersection of them.
Not all humanities and social studies courses need to be writing intensive. For example:
- Visual and performing arts courses can have assignments that are more art projects rather than written term papers.
- Economics courses are often problem solving courses rather than term paper courses.
However, good writing skills as applicable to his major field of study will be important. This includes communicating with others in the subject, as well as being able to write about the subject to general audiences.
Thanks. We’ll have to keep that in mind with any plans. Best case scenario, he will come off the CMU priority waitlist. Does anyone know how a postgraduate year is viewed? What makes those different? Can students in a postgraduate year take college courses or still not? Hard to imagine a year without college courses when he’s been taking them for so long. It really limits the options if he doesn’t head off to college in the fall. He’s too young for many of the official gap year programs (many of which cost more than college), and he doesn’t want to end up bored.
Be careful here. Some such schools, mindful of the stereotype of engineers who avoid humanities and social studies at all costs, have very extensive humanities and social studies requirements. MIT and Harvey Mudd come to mind.
It is likely that the most common kind of non-college activity after high school graduation is paid work. But being under 18 could mean issues with child labor laws.
Yes, I know he needs the skills. I believe he will get better and better at what he needs to be able to do. It’s just going to take longer than it has taken his older brother. All kids are different. With that in mind, it would be better for him to choose a school that fits him well. He’ll enjoy it more. His dad went to MIT. It isn’t a great fit for him (though he used to dream of it when he was younger).
Hoping that if he’s home he can find work at our library and perhaps an internship or job at a local robotics or math place (where kids take classes). We’re friends with directors at all of those locations, so at least one might work out. Fast food would not be a good choice for him. At all.
I think you had better ask HIM how HE thinks he will feel when he sees his HS classmates head off to college in Sept while HE stays home…
If he wants to take rigorous NON credited college level classes- he should look into Stanford’s EGPY Online class program. There are plenty of classes for even the most gifted STEM student.
Keep in mind that your son can self-study all he wants. What is he most passionate about? And how can he continue in that passion, whether it is learning more on his own, work that is somehow connected to that passion, or using his vast knowledge to support students who are just beginning to learn that subject?
Things like being an advisor to a young robotics team, tutoring (for pay or for disadvantaged kids), or working/volunteering in a local college research lab? My cousin always wanted to be a doctor, so when he started volunteering at the hospital at 13, he asked to push patients in and out of surgery/xray. He worked his way up the volunteer ladder and learned a lot before he even started college.
Who does your child admire? Is it possible to find a mentor he could volunteer with, maybe study with?
If my son had a gap year, he would do something with computer programming, and I would find a local business he might intern with (again, could be volunteer or paid position).
Gap year doesn’t have to mean boredom. A child who is self-motivated can find ways to learn without getting college credits.
It’s good to explore all the possibilities.
If I understand correctly, your son is a 16 year old high school senior. Did he apply to colleges this school year, and did he get any affordable admission offers?
Yes, he is a 16 year old senior. He is accepted to Rutgers (full price in-state) and Brandeis (midyear, since they see him as a kid who can graduate in 3.5 years, mediocre FA, seems to be not as great for math and probably more liberal arts than he wants). He is priority waitlisted at CMU and waitlisted at Case and Skidmore. He hadn’t visited any of the places he applied other than Brandeis (and Rutgers, of course). Obviously, he was only 15 when he was making his choices in the fall. He has shifted in what he thought he wanted. His brother was quite a bit more sure at this stage (was also 15, but Cornell or bust, ED and done). He really doesn’t seem prepared to accept his current acceptances, and we’re ok with that. He isn’t 18. He doesn’t have to do this now. He’s figured out some things that he didn’t understand in the fall in terms of what he wants from his college experience.
He’s not the best at self-motivation and online learning. We’ve tried that (a year of homeschool in the middle of high school). He prefers the classroom environment and being with other students. We’re familiar with the various online options. It’s not optimal for him. Work and/or volunteer positions would be extremely important if he ends up at home. He already does some math tutoring and he’s helped TA in the past (when the local math place had more classes running). Whatever choices are made, they will be his (with our support and assistance).
NJCornell mom,
I think you need to read this:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kid-s-story-a-year-later.html#latest
it tells the saga of a exceptional student who aimed too high, took a gap year, and what he did during his gap year.
Are the Rutgers general education requirements the reason he does not want to attend?
http://sasundergrad.rutgers.edu/academics/requirements/core
Are you assuming mine aimed too high? That isn’t really the issue. He has options that most would consider solid. We just don’t think Brandeis is where he belongs. It’s a great place for many (and we have a huge list of relatives who went there). He has a close friend there from his brother’s class. He may have chosen wrong in expecting to be seen as a liberal arts kid when he looks like a math/science/engineering kid. Or are you just sharing for the sake of what this particular child did with his gap year? I know many families who have made good use of gap years. we’ve been considering one all along. Even if he had been accepted to every school to which he applied, deferring was one option we were all keeping in mind. Exactly what he would do with that gap year has never quite been figured out. We have some ideas, though. It’s always good to look at more options.
“Are you assuming mine aimed too high?”
no
“are you just sharing for the sake of what this particular child did with his gap year”
yes, that was all .
Gap years that are taken with the intent that a student will try applying again to colleges are a totally different animal than gap years that follow acceptance at a college and are a break between HS and college. I only posted this link so you could see what this student, who did intend to apply to colleges again, did with his gap year time.
Thanks. Yeah, it isn’t exactly a typical situation no matter how you look at it. He could just accept Brandeis, but it isn’t where he sees himself. When we toured most of the schools we visited prior to applications, he was only 13 or 14. He just wasn’t ready to see himself on most of those campuses. He viewed himself as a liberal arts kid up until quite recently. When I tried showing him engineering schools, he didn’t imagine himself there. I didn’t know enough about CMU to take him there ahead of applications. There is no devastation here. We’re just figuring things out. I appreciate all of the insight.
You sound like a great parent giving serious consideration to all options. And coming on CC to find differing viewpoints will give you things to think about. You seem to be considering all options, and I love that you will not be pushing your son into a particular option, but informing him of possible options and supporting his decision.
Best of luck to you and your family in this journey!
I think the lesson learned from the Andison thread that was linked in comment #31 is not that he aimed too high but that he didn’t consider a way to stand out among the rest of his high performing classmates and other applicants applying from his geographical area - also he didn’t stroke the egos of his match schools so they waitlisted him.
You haven’t mentioned U of Rochester - have you looked at it? My son was accepted with merit but has decided to go elsewhere. When we visited, they stressed how flexible they were with gen ed req and the ability to create your own major. It’s worth a look if you haven’t already done it. Good luck to you and your son!
Sorry, missed the one about Rutgers. It’s a few things. The core requirements are part of it (there are actually more of them now for writing and harder to test past than a few year ago). The other is the campus itself. Over the years, my kids took classes on every part of Rutgers very spread out campus. You can’t walk from place to place. It’s in multiple towns. I went to Ohio State. I have nothing against big state schools that offer what you need. Still, at OSU, you can walk the entire campus (excluding the ag. campus, which is unlikely to be where your classes are held). Rutgers has some very nice campuses. They just aren’t one campus. Some might say that you can stay on Busch campus and take all of your math and science classes there. Probably true. However, your philosophy class will likely be on College Avenue and another class might be on Cook or Douglass campus. I hate those buses. Kids race to get them, pack in like sardines, and stand while on the highway between campuses.
For a young student, Rutgers isn’t optimal. There’s a lot of crime in the area (more shootings and muggings in recent years than I wish I heard about, but we live fifteen minutes away). Maybe if I had grown up in NJ, I would have some unexpected passion for Rutgers. I doubt it. I don’t really have that for OSU either. They’re just schools. My older son took the freshman/sophomore honors math seminar (required for math majors) at Rutgers when he was a 15 year old high school senior. Two other non-matriculated friends were in the class, ages 14 and 16. I know there are some great math students at Rutgers and we like the professors that we know. For me, I would just Rutgers (as I chose OSU). I just don’t think this particular kid belongs there.
Re #23:
"Some such schools, mindful of the stereotype of engineers who avoid humanities and social studies at all costs, have very extensive humanities and social studies requirements. MIT and Harvey Mudd come to mind. "
Those are the only ones that come to my mind too. But of course OP would check requirements, that 's obvious.
The point I was making, which might be less obvious, is a history course whose students consist of all engineers/CS majors taking that course to fill the same non-major humanities elective requirement that you are (ok, maybe other than at MIT) - and/or consists of a bunch of not very good students with perhaps modest career aspirations- might be less intensive/demanding than a history course that is filled with a bunch of liberal arts “gunners” whose forte is reading volumes of dense boring stuff and writing papers, rather than computer science. Some of whom are considering a future history or similar PhD, and perhaps half of whom are aiming for a T-14 law school.
This course, which will be less important to you, will be quite important to them, and right in their wheelhouse.