<p>I recently turned 17 myself. I am a senior in high school right now and will be enrolled in a UC by next fall so I know what you talk about.
For me, I really grew up in junior and senior year so I personally don’t see a reason to take a year off or anything of that sort.</p>
<p>Last year this time, my S who was a senior and 16 and we were at odd because he wanted to take a “gap” year but he did not have a clear idea what he may do during his gap year. Doing a PG was not an option because he had taken advanced courses and high schools could not offer any more advanced courses in many areas. He had something like 10 or 11 AP credits. I reasoned that he would get more experience and would have more options for experience after he turns 18 (two years away) when he can open his own checking account. The job choices and program choices seems to be limited for someone under 18. My S was the youngest person in his high school.</p>
<p>I am happy to report that he is a happy college freshmen - now 17. He really likes his school and college experience.</p>
<p>Your D would be older by one year and she maybe ready for college. I recommend going through the college process then deciding later to defer college by a year, if needed.</p>
<p>I’m another of those “I was also 17 entering college.” I turned 18 during my 2nd semester. Although I was a top student in HS, I really wasn’t focused or mature enough and probably would have benefited from a gap year doing something productive. Just as in HS, I was a bit too social and it took me a year or so to settle in. I thoroughly enjoyed college, but didn’t take any of it seriously. I had NO interest in choosing schools and chose U of Delaware mostly because it annoyed my mom, who wanted me to choose Colgate or William and Mary. What a brat I was. It all worked out fine, although I did change majors every 3 months or so - another way to drive my parents crazy. </p>
<p>So, I’d advise you to ask what your child wants. Either way can work out fine. Just remember she’s young.</p>
<p>My son graduated at 17 and would have entered college at 17, turning 18 shortly thereafter. He did a PG year at a New England boarding school and it turned out well for him.</p>
<p>My H and I were both October babies and turned 18 during first semester freshman year. We both did fine. In retrospect, one major difference between then and now is that <em>then</em> 18 year olds could legally drink and now not. It made a difference socially.</p>
<p>I was a 17yo hs grad, and my parents sent me to community college before letting me go on to a four-year school.</p>
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<p>That’s a good point.</p>
<p>I was 17 when I went to college and didn’t turn 18 until March of my freshman year. Although I didn’t have any problems with academics or maturity, I did feel left out sometimes because I couldn’t join my friends at activities where people were carded at the door – and some of these were on-campus, school-sponsored activities where beer was served.</p>
<p>This situation, of course, is no longer relevant.</p>
<p>As I said in an earlier post, I wouldn’t delay admission for a 17-year-old unless the student wants it. I have a college freshman in the family, and I have noticed that during the school breaks, she spends a great deal of time with her former high school classmates, all of whom are also college freshmen (even though some were not yet 18 when the academic year started). If they were all at college and she was spending her year in a different way for reasons not of her own choosing, I think she would feel very left out and resentful.</p>
<p>I’d agree with Marian and others–she has been with a peer group all this time and been successful so college should not be much different. If she is responsible and comfortable socially now, she will be next year too–a gap year seems like a waste of time in these circumstances unless there is a maturity deficit. (I am NOT referring to the gap years taken in other instances such as poor college admission results or desire to do community service.)</p>
<p>Since states have varying public school cutoffs she may be among the youngest kids but she won’t be out of line by that much. I turned 18 during October of my freshman year, but cutoffs were later then and and I was not considered especially young. My son also turned 18 during October of his freshman year and it was not much of a factor for him–he had always been among the youngest in his class, but again, he met the cutoff dates so was not that much of an anomaly. I think the two instances where he felt being young the most were when he did not have his driver’s license in spring of junior year of high school because he wasn’t 17 yet and when he did not become a legal alcohol buyer in spring of his junior year of college because he wasn’t 21 yet. Driving resolved itself soon enough, and aside from the usual college silliness he isn’t much of a drinker anyway, so neither of these was a big deal in the long run.</p>
<p>Bottom line: your daughter is not that much younger than her peers and she should be fine.</p>
<p>My son who was on the old end of his class wasn’t interested in thinking about colleges as a junior either, though I did drag him on some college visits during his spring break. I don’t think he was unusual in that respect. </p>
<p>I graduated from high school at 16 (September birthday). I think I would have done fine in college, but my parents at the suggestion of some parents from Europe (where gap years are more common) encouraged me to take a year off to live with a French family and study French. I became fluent in French which opened up a set of interesting courses and opportunities for me. I have no regrets - compared to your daughter I was still pretty young when I started college. My roommate was a year younger than me and my future husbands boy friend two or three years younger. They both did fine.</p>
<p>Most colleges will allow you to defer admissions for a year, so I suggest you keep options open. Look into some of the gap year opportunities, but go ahead and apply to colleges as well. (I’m a fan of overseas gap years, because I think interrupting junior years is much more of an interruption to your college education, but I’ve also heard nothing but good things about Americorps. I’ve known several kids for whom Americorps was life-changing.)</p>
<p>Personally, I think most kids would benefit from a gap year, no matter what age they are, but it doesn’t sound to me like your daughter needs one more than any other typical American teen.</p>
<p>In my day, gap years for males were out of the question. If you took a gap year, as soon as you turned 18, you were likely to spend a year abroad (SE Asia, no less!). Few of us guys wanted to go abroad to SE asia, so we worked hard to avoid flunking out…</p>
<p>DD started college at 17 (Summer birthday), DS was 16 (turned 17 in Fall). Neither is/was a perfect student, but none of their college bumps and problems are/were age-based. As for “intermittant system failures” - they seem to run in our family, and unfortunately they don’t go away when one gets older ;)</p>
<p>If she WANTS to take a gap year - she should take it; but it has nothing to do with a coulpe of months of age difference. Applying and (maybe) deciding to defer for a year seems like a very good idea.</p>
<p>I was an August b’day so I was just turning 17 as a senior. Not bad but then I skipped the last two quarters of senior year. Still not too bad , but then I crammed 3 years+ of UG into 2, and skipped the last year. Now that’s getting pretty bad, but then I went through law school in 2 years, 3 months. </p>
<p>None of that means diddly to this particular kid. </p>
<p>Just watch for signs. It ended up not being such a good choice for me. 
For somebody else? It may be just the ticket.</p>
<p>I didn’t turn 18 until December at end of my freshman semester. Can’t see myself having taken a year off. I didn’t have any problems, and not only finished college, but finished a semester early. Worked for a couple years, then went to grad school. Never made a difference to me. From what I have read, it depends on the kid. A year off would have been a waste for me, for others it works. Only you know your child. She may be like others who wanted a gap year, and may be like me, who wouldn’t have done it, and did great!</p>
<p>DS’s entry made him a hellova eighteen birthday party, which he will always treasure.</p>
<p>We promised we’d visit to take him to dinner, so there was a mommy scheduled peep into his freshman year.</p>
<p>I don’t think my son was mature enough to benefit from a gap year. He is used to friendships and school, so they posed no difficulty for him.</p>
<p>I know he would have been a sea of anxiety to watch his friends go off to college while he felt like he was drifting, even if he did have a program of activity in place.</p>
<p>Gap years are great for determined kids or for kids who need to reorient, but for my 17 year old it would have felt like punishment.</p>
<p>I’ll add in that I too was born the month your daughter was so didn’t turn 18 until I was in college. I was also very immature, late bloomer and all that. But college was fine and really grew then, did far better than I did in HS. </p>
<p>I’ve also had 16 yo freshmen in my classes over the years, here and there, and they were fine.</p>
<p>But so many factors play a role in success and each child is different. You know your child. If you think they’d benefit from a GAP year, don’t go with the masses. Do what works for her.</p>
<p>I suggested to my daughter a few times that she was young enough to take a year off, but she wasn’t at all interested. And looking into it further, I realized the gap year wouldn’t have been all that good of an idea. Most of the activities that I was thinking she could do that year she would have had to have been a legal adult. Perhaps if your child was willing to live at home that year it might work out, but she was ready to move away, and college was probably one of the few places that pretty much expects minors to be on their own.</p>
<p>ONe of my Ds skipped a grade along the way, finished HS at 16, began university at 17; when another D graduated young, the first one said NO WAY, don’t let her go early. D1 was a graduate by then and just always felt conscious of her youth in UG doings- she was never “legal” as an UG, as if that prevents them from drinking anyway!!</p>
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<p>jerzgrlmom I think you’re my long-lost twin! Same story, except I was so immature and uninterested that I flunked out my first year - classes? I’m not interested in classes when there’s so many other, fun things to be doing!! (Especially in 1970!)</p>
<p>In my case (unlike the OP’s D) all the signs were there for years. I started school a year early (weird story) and then we moved to a district where the cut-off had been far earlier so I was 1 1/2 years younger than many of my classmates. I was struggling to keep up (socially) throughout my education but I did fairly well because I’m smart and could spit back what I heard in class (homework? studying?? what was that???) My mother suggested I take a year off after high school but I refused (everyone’s going to college . . . what will it look like if I don’t??) My parents wasted a lot of tuition money that year.</p>
<p>I’m like a lot of posters here - I think every kid could benefit from a gap year but back to the OP. It sounds as though your daughter is doing well academically and socially. Many juniors (and seniors!) don’t get enthusiatically involved in the “let’s find the perfect college search” for all sorts of reasons. Talk with her. Voice your concerns. Offer alternatives. See what she says. It should be her decision, no matter what happens. It will work out in the end . . .Look at me - after flunking out and taking a “gap 3 years” I went back to college because I wanted to and now have a BA, MA, JD and Ph.D.! Who’d have thunk???</p>
<p>I feel there are a few factors to consider here… if your daughter would be going to Flagship U, where she might encounter no personal attention and tons of drinking/drugs, perhaps she might be better to go to a smaller LAC closer to home for the first year? </p>
<p>I went off to college at 16, turned 17 during the fall. One of the difficulties I encountered was that some of the other freshman didn’t want to pal out with me - they felt, I guess, that they were college men and women now,and didn’t want to hang out with anyone so obviously young (and probably dorky). I actually was more friendly with the older kids at college and that did lead to a few problems. They were turning 21 and I was 17 or 18 - well, let your imaginations go.</p>
<p>Inthebiz,</p>
<p>Not everyone would benefit, IMHO. I know one girl who started HS a year early (skipped 8th grade) and won a Rhodes scholarship her sr year in college at age 20 (quite young for a Rhodes winner.). Would she have been better off with a gap year? Hard to see how.</p>
<p>OTOH, like you, I graduated college young because I started school at the trailing edge of a generous age cutoff, and coasted through college. I did a three year “post-bac” fellowship with the US Army, just missing going to Viet Nam. Needless to say, after a taste of another world, I was much more motivated to get to grad school and do well, which I did. :)</p>
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<p>I’d love to hear other’s experiences with the immature kid going away to large state school vrs. small LAC. I’d be worried about the immature kid drowning in the small LAC if there was significant drinking/drugs there and fewer alternative social outlets, given the smaller number of kids and the relative affluence of those kids.</p>