Colleges for Very Young Students?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, everyone, </p>

<p>I'm mulling over what makes the most sense for college plans for my son (and incidentally thinking about some of his friends). I've heard of kids as young as my son (thirteen) going to college, but I'm not sure if I know all the pros and cons of that. He has already taken the SAT and ACT before (for academic talent search testing of middle schoolers), so we know he has scores in hand sufficient for getting into many colleges. </p>

<p>If you were advising a student who was set on going to college at an especially young age, where would advise that student to go? Let's say age at application is thirteen, and age at matriculation is fourteen (that's about the situation of some people I know). What would you advise that student to do during the last year before college? </p>

<p>If you would NOT advise starting college so young, but knew the student was looking for more academic challenge had a strong desire to learn more, what would you advise the student to do instead of college? What activities do you think make for a well-rounded precollege experience for a student who learns the standard curriculum faster than usual? </p>

<p>Any and all opinions and personal experiences are much appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Simon's Rock College of Bard is meant for students who want to and are mature enough to leave High School early, most transfer after two years with a high acceptance rate to Ivy League and Top 25 schools.</p>

<p>I would suggest, however, that you let him cross enroll at a local college so that he can be stimulated by harder work, but still not lose his childhood experience - he has plenty of time to go away from home, and now should not be it. :)</p>

3

<p>Imagine that...the next doogie howser...</p>

4

<p>Hi Token -</p>

<p>I don't believe that a residential college is an appropriate setting for a 14 year old, no matter how smart they are. Kids that age need to either be with their families or in a setting geared to that age group. The fact that they are ready for college work does not mean that their needs can be met by an institution designed for 18-22 year olds. If you feel that the child cannot be provided with appropriate opportunities while living at home, I would look at prep schools rather than residential colleges. Start by looking at Phillips Exeter. Their math faculty includes IMO coach Zuming Feng. If they can keep Tiankai Liu challenged until age 18, I feel confidant that they could keep anyone, no matter how talented, fully engaged until they reach a more appropriate age than 14 to go to college. They actively recruit unusually talented math kids and have scholarships available.</p>

<p>Keeping the child living at home, your options include various combinations of distance learning, letting him throw himself into math competitions, or attending a local college. I know that you are familiar with all of these options. What exactly are you looking for that would not be available with your son living at home?</p>

5

<p>Hi, Texas, I'm glad you answered in this thread. I am pretty much a dyed-in-the-wool homeschooler, as you know, so what is prompting my wanderlust is mostly finding better writing instruction. I agree that the social environment trade-offs probably break pretty strongly in the direction of keeping the family together till my son reaches his age of majority. I'm QUITE curious about Phillips Exeter Academy for the reasons you mentioned, and also because it appears to have plainly superior English and fine arts classes (my son likes drawing) to the choices I have at hand locally. But I'm still investigating, which is why I appreciate your reply and the previous replies in this thread. There are, of course, current examples of some rather young college students (I THINK most of those young people live at home, but I'm not 100 percent sure that is true in all cases), so I'd like to hear about how that works for the families who choose to do things that way.</p>

6

<p>tokenadult, you might consider Interlochen Arts Academy for your son. The creative writing and art instruction are both first rate. It is a boarding school, however.</p>

7

<p>A family I know sent their 14-yr-old son to a LAC that was about 15 miles away. They worked out that he would live at home on the weekends.</p>

8

<p>Interlochen has a strong math and science program, too (believe it or not).</p>

9

<p>I have a 14-year-old friend who will be a college freshman in the fall (she's turning 15 in November). Based on her experience, I don't think it's a good idea to apply at such a young age. </p>

<p>By all objective standards, she was a excellent applicant to the LACs she applied to, including Macalester, Grinnell, and Marlboro: valedictorian with a 4.0, unusual ECs (one of them was bellydancing), good SATs (mid-1400s), wonderful writer, and so on. She was rejected or waitlisted everywhere except Simmons College, where she will be attending in the fall.</p>

<p>According to her at the time,

[quote]
macalester rejected me. i don't think they read my application.</p>

<p>edit: that wasn't true. macalester did read my application. like. a lot. the only objection they had was from the dean of students, who said that if they put me in a dorm with old people i would want to party hard/have sex with them and that would get the school in trouble. which sucks. but. it makes sense as a general rule i suppose? i don't know. but. it's better than a total brushoff. and it means i could get into macalester as a transfer student, since (supposedly) everyone else liked me, even the woman who sabotaged my interview. </p>

<p>such is life.

[/quote]

She seems to have come to terms with it now, but I know it was a disappointment--I'm not saying that Simmons isn't a great school, but they don't even offer her intended major--especially since her age was essentially the only reason she didn't get in elsewhere.</p>

<p>I suppose it could work, but the problems outweigh the benefits, IMHO.</p>

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<p>many students live at home and take college courses. My son took some classes at UT-Austin starting at age 16, and there are many local homeschoolers who start at the CC at age 14-15. I think it has been a success for everyone. My reservations kick in with the idea of sending a very young kid away to college.</p>

<p>Texas has a residential program for high school juniors and seniors called TAMS (Texas Academy of Math and Science). It's like a boarding school on a college campus. Kids are very closely supervised, and they have accepted at least one kid as young as 12. From the kids I know about who've gone there, it has worked out pretty well for the ones who were at least close to 16 when they started, but the kids who have gone in as very young "juniors" have not fared as well (the 12 year old only lasted a few weeks). Why do something with such a high risk for failure and/or unhappiness?</p>

<p>A couple of considerations for making a very young kid an official college student - most kids are going to have a better selection of colleges they can get into at age 17-18 than at very young ages. If they start Generic U. at age 14, and then decide at age 16 that they really want HYPSMC or whatever, it will be much harder to get into HYPSMC at that point because they will have to be a transfer. The odds are much better if the student dual-enrolls at Generic U. and then applies to HYPSMC as a freshman at the usual age.</p>

<p>An official college student of age 14-15 cannot particpate in any competitions for high schoolers which are restricted to grade 12 and below. This might close off some wonderful opportunities for you son and their friends that they would like to take advantage of later. If you look at the kids who have made it to the various int'l olympiads, it is safe to assume that all of them could have attended college at a very young age. And some of them do, after being on an olympiad team at a very young age. But it's a lot fewer than the number who could have if they had wanted to. My son seriously considered going just one year early (age 17). He certainly could have gotten into the same great schools at that point, but he would have given up a year of high school competitions which he enjoyed, and just generally been "rushed" in a way that he is not now, at 18, which was the age we were planning on all along. If we had not had a major university at our doorstep, that decision probably would have been different. But I don't think we would have considered sending him any younger than 17, and definitely not any younger than 16. There doesn't seem to be any reason for it, imo. It just is not that hard to find appropriate educational activities, even if you have to rely on distance learning and summer programs for a major chunk of it.</p>

<p>For some personal history, I totally loathed high school myself, and applied to a college my sophomore year that I would have attended at age 16 if I had gotten in. I did not get in, but I think I would have been much happier if I had. But I did not have all the alternatives available to your son (and mine). It was college vs a big public high school.</p>

11

<p>Yeah, my personal history was such that I would have JUMPED at the chance to go to college at age twelve, or age thirteen, or at whatever age that would have sprung me from publick skool earlier, and that personal history has much to do with why I homeschool my children. I am acquainted, mostly online but somewhat in person, with some parents who put early college pretty high on the priority list today. One local issue I deal with is what happens if all the other local kids who are my son's main social network go off to college early? </p>

<p>
[quote]
If they start Generic U. at age 14, and then decide at age 16 that they really want HYPSMC or whatever, it will be much harder to get into HYPSMC at that point because they will have to be a transfer. The odds are much better if the student dual-enrolls at Generic U. and then applies to HYPSMC as a freshman at the usual age.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yes, I am sufficiently persuaded that there is some real value in the prestigious schools that I keep this issue in mind. Here in Minnesota, we are lucky that the state's PSEO statute makes going to the U of MN as an eleventh- or twelfth-grader (preferably BOTH) almost routine for qualified students. That takes care of two years. It's the two years before eleventh grade at the "natural" age that I'm still trying to figure out.</p>

12

<p>I graduated at 15 (skipped grades, then withdrew a little while later and homeschooled) and waited. Did a ton of volunteer work, got involved in my community, was my grandmother's caretaker, travelled all over the place, and otherwise had a lot of great learning and living experiences. I would've enrolled at an LAC for last fall had it not been for health problems, which is why I'm currently at a community college.</p>

<p>I'm glad I didn't go to college at 15, when I could've. Why have a Bachelor's in something at 19 that might not be what you really want to study down the road? When I was 13-14 and originally looking at colleges, I wanted to major in American Studies. Didn't think anything could change that. I'm now a Medieval Studies/Comparative Literature major. I'm glad I had time to grow older and realize what it was I truly cared about.</p>

<p>I have a friend who entered a private college at 15. He wanted to study economics. Now he's a junior and realizing what he really loves is art and architecture. It's a bit late to change things. He also can't do study abroad, because he's under 18 and they won't give him approval. Next year, his senior, will be too late to do it. His college experience isn't at all what he thought it would be.</p>

<p>Everyone goes through change, but 13-18 is when the most change is happening. If you're going to have a degree by then, chances are, it won't be in what you really want for the rest of your life. College isn't something you can go back and do over, so why do it at a time when everything about you is changing every minute of the day?</p>

<p>In my opinion, homeschoolers and bored students should just do what I did: Take some community college courses, spend a lot of time in museums and on "field trips," and enjoy the teenage years while you have them.</p>

<p>I can also tell you that graduating early killed my social life. Being a homeschooler and away from all my elementary/middle school friends was bad enough, but try walking around the mall with your girlfriends while they're talking about how hard their AP tests are, and you've got a blank look on your face because you're already done with all that and have nothing to contribute. It's just weird.</p>

<p>Some people do well with it. Most don't.</p>

13

<p>I came back to this thread to add something about the issue of most 18 year olds not really knowing what they want to do yet, and an 18 year old with a college degree having fewer opportunities for exploration than an 18 year old college freshman. Beginning has already put it wonderfully. Some unusual 18 year olds know enough about what they want from life to pick a career path (like graduate or professional school). But most don't. I still didn't know what I wanted to do with myself when I graduated from college at age 22.</p>

14

<p>I wouldn't recommend sending a 14 year old off to college. I'm only a year younger than many of my friends, because I started school a year early, and even with that I've had trouble. My friends could all drive before I could, so many times I wasn't able to do things with them because I couldn't get there. Then I tried getting a job... it seems that with the abundance of 18 year olds willing to work, 17 just won't cut it. I was a grade ahead in math from second grade until tenth (in eleventh I took statistics), and I always felt animosity from the people a year older than me, especially those who weren't wonderful students. Only a few people in my classes would even speak to me, and I'm sure it would be even worse for a 14 year old. For a few days, your son might be the cute center of attention, but soon the other students will be focused on partying when your son isn't even old enough to drive and probably doesn't have an interest in girls yet. Also, most schools won't let anyone under the age of 16 or 17 stay in their residence halls, so you would have trouble finding housing for him.</p>

<p>I would try to find some sort of program for gifted youngsters, whether it be a prep school like Exeter or TAMS. I believe that most students who go to TAMS are 15 or 16, but even that would be a much better environment for your son. I have a friend who is 16 and headed there next year; if you have any questions, I can probably put you in touch with him as he is a very... talkative and friendly person. Just message me. Here's the link for that: <a href="http://www.tams.unt.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.tams.unt.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

15

<p>
[quote]
For a few days, your son might be the cute center of attention, but soon the other students will be focused on partying when your son isn't even old enough to drive and probably doesn't have an interest in girls yet.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I just wanted to say thanks for the several recent replies, and respond specifically to this "interest in girls" point. I remember having a very active interest in girls (I am a man, and was a boy at the time) well before the age at which I could drive. If my son takes after me in this regard at all, it certainly would make a difference to me whether his MAIN social environment included mostly age-similar girls, mostly older girls, or mostly much younger girls. I went far away overseas to find my wife of twenty-one years, but I'm sure my preferences in "just friends" relationships with women, which led to my deeper marriage relationship, were formed by childhood experiences I had with girl classmates. (I had one grade skip myself, from fifth grade to seventh, so by the time I had my interest in girls I was usually with girls somewhat older than myself.) That aspect of the social environment connected with one or another learning environment is very interesting to me. </p>

<p>Beginning's post makes me think about my son simply going overseas for a year to live with his cousins (my wife still has many relatives in her home country) and building up his language skills rather than doing anything more fancy during his high school years. There is plenty of learning to be had in a different country, just from daily living.</p>

16

<p>I think going overseas would be a great thing, though maybe a year would be a bit much. (Would he want to go for that long -- or even at all, for that matter? At 13, you still want your parents and home, no matter how much you try to hide that fact.) Language immersion is a great thing, and I'm sure he'd learn a lot that he would carry with him throughout life.</p>

<p>One thing that might be really fun for you to do as a family would be overseas volunteer work. <a href="http://www.i-to-i.com/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.i-to-i.com/&lt;/a> is a great organization to work through, and you can find some truly wonderful learning experiences through them. (The southern African aid missions and sea turtle protection program in Costa Rica are two trips I'd do anything to go on.) He could get TEFL training, too, which is a neat thing to put on applications, both for colleges and jobs.</p>

<p>One of the archaeological organizations -- I want to say Archaeological Institute of America, but I don't think that's right -- has field schools that middle and high school students can go to right here in the U.S. for a few weeks or an entire summer to do real field work. There are several organizations that do this, but there's one in particular that's really great. I'll need to think about it for awhile before the name comes to me.</p>

<p>If you go to VolunteerMatch.org, you can do a search by ZIP Code for any volunteer opportunities within a certain radius of home. That would be a great way for him to find local, long-term positions that he would really benefit from.</p>

<p>If he likes history at all, check your local historical museum to see if they need volunteers. There's nothing quite like being a 15-year-old history dork and also the cataloguer of all of your town's most precious artifacts.</p>

<p>Really, there are lots of opportunities available. If he really does want to go overseas, that would be great, but I'd worry about him being away for that long. I spent a lot of time in my mother's home country, the Bahamas, during my gap, but I always needed my mommy and daddy after a short while, even if I never copped to it. ;)</p>

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<p>Yeah, we used to live overseas when my two older sons were young (my third son was born over there), and once in a while I think about plans for getting them back over. You have a lot of good ideas about productive things to do while abroad. I'll definitely have to keep these kinds of ideas in mind as I puzzle out what to do. My son and I are going to be conferring a lot this year to set those plans, I think. </p>

<p>Hey, everyone, keep it coming. I'm enjoying the replies in this thread.</p>

18

<p>I don't think its a good idea. He should get to High School first and see how that goes. There are many opportunities to cease (research, Olympiads, etc) for very smart kids. Here, at TJHSST, some kids have started college level classes their freshman year and still did their four years of high school. Plus, the kid may “feel smart" in middle school because he has not encountered the difficulty and the talented students competing math/academic/etc contests. Lastly, they are going to feel awkward and probably won't have many friends if they are a lot younger than those around them in college. </p>

<p>Bottom line: Bragging about how your son went t college at fourteen isn’t worth messing his life.</p>

19

<p>hello, tokenadult! i know you from aops.</p>

<p>it seems like you are researching all of these potential paths quite a bit. it's very nice of you to do this for your son, but if he is not ready to take charge of his academic future, is he ready for college? the experience of reading about my options has helped me find direction. i don't think one of my parents could have done this for me.</p>

<p>however, several people nudged me into attending exeter, and i'm glad. i think high school is a great time to explore lots of interesting things! if i had been pushed into college prematurely, i would have missed many opportunities. the english department has been WONDERFUL. there is no standardized writing program, which has been great for me. each teacher has left an intelligent, thoughtful imprint on my writing, and all of their opinions have helped me work toward finding my own voice.</p>

<p>i'm sure there are many good options out there. IMHO, exeter is a great one if it fits your circumstances. </p>

<p>also, mathcamp! WOW I LOVED MATHCAMP.</p>

<p>=)</p>

20

<p>Just another anecdote for your list of advice: I left college and began taking college courses full time at 15 and think it was probably one of the best decisions I've made. Far from feeling awkward about my age or having difficulty finding friends, I found that the people I met in college were far more my type than those in high school and gained more friends by leaving than I would have had by staying in high school longer. I do not consider age an issue at all; I don't think I looked dramatically younger than many of the other students there (it's only three years' difference after all), so I never made a point of mentioning my age and no one ever asked. Once I was there I simply felt like another one of the college students. Since I applied under Wisconsin's Youth Options program I also got three years of free college out of the deal; perhaps Minnesota has a similar system.</p>

<p>As for not being able to participate in high school contests - I didn't really have trouble with that either. When I called the coordinators of the history, natural science, and art competitions I had participated in previously, they told me to apply under the category of their programs that corresponded to my age rather than grade. I don't doubt that there are contests out there that would exclude high-school age students attending college, but there are also apparently some that accept us.</p>

<p>I also did not have difficulty choosing a major. While some posters here have argued that students under the age of 18 cannot know what they really want to do with the rest of their lives, I highly doubt that is more true for students who begin earlier than those who start at the standard age. Several of my college friends are people who entered early, and surprisingly only one of the four ever changed her major and none dropped out (anecdote, I know), as opposed to our university's 40 percent general drop-out rate and average of four major switches. In general I think the kids who are focused on getting what they want by going to college early are also going to be focused on what they want in a career, and I suspect will have better luck choosing the appropriate course of study.</p>

<p>As some other posters have noted it would probably be best to send your son to a community, liberal-arts, or other local teaching-focused (as opposed to research-focused) institution, though that would be my advice to all incoming college students as well, regardless of age.</p>