<p>My daughter got a letter from USC about their Resident Honors Program and is considering applying for it. She would start there next fall if she was selected and wouldn't do her senior year of high school.</p>
<p>I have some reservations about this, but I'm trying to be open-minded. She might very well decide on her own that she doesn't want to leave a year early, because she has some wonderful close friends at her high school.</p>
<p>So, do you know anyone who has done the USC program, or who has started college a year early? What was their experience like?</p>
<p>My main reservation is that I’m not sure that USC is really the school she wants to go to for four years-I’m concerned that she’s interested in it mainly because she could start earlier. </p>
<p>Her high school does not allow students to graduate early-they require a certain number of credits be taken during the senior year. So, she would either go without a high school diploma, or we would try to find a charter school within our district that would be flexible about her doing some summer courses, or on-line courses, or give her concurrent credit for some courses next year.</p>
<p>I also think it’s much easier to leave your friends when they’re also off to various colleges. </p>
<p>I completely understand that she finds many aspects of high school tedious, and is also ready to live away from home and have more freedom.</p>
<p>Check with other schools which you think might appeal to her; some schools have well-defined early entrance programs (Mary Baldwin, Clarkson, etc.), and some don’t have specific programs but do take students early (Yale, CMU, McDaniel).</p>
<p>My son is at Simon’s Rock; he started there this fall, after two years of high school. Had he been older, I’d have been okay with him attending other schools, but at 15, I wanted him to be with same-age peers.</p>
<p>A friend of my D’s graduated high school a year early—couldn’t wait to get out of Dodge—and went to the same college my D went to the following year.</p>
<p>She did okay. I think she would have done much better with another year of prep, both in terms of maturity and of handling intellectual rigor.</p>
<p>If the OP’s D is interested in USC, I’d want to know how much she might get sucked into the social scene.</p>
<p>My S graduated after junior year. He’s now in grad school. He fulfilled all the high school graduation requirements (was exempted from one year of PE and doubled up on English). While he had good friends in high school, most of them were one or even two grades above him, so losing high school friendships was not a consideration. He did fine. In college, students are likely to find themselves in classes with others who run the gamut from freshman to senior, and even graduate students. It does not matter much. Socially, he was a bit immature when he started college. Time fixed that issue.</p>
<p>S1 & S2 both have friends who entered college after 7th, 8th and 10th grade. It was an option for them, but they chose not to. All the kids seem quite happy and content with their decision to attend the honors program at the state flagship. Entering after 7th or 8th grade requires the kids to attend a transition year which they report being more difficult than the university courses. They did not feel they were treated poorly by the other students, but the younger ones could not live on campus until they reached 16 so some of the social aspects of college were missed (probably a good thing at that age).</p>
<p>I have a friend whose daughter did this. She just couldn’t wait to get out of high school. On the minus side she might have ended up at a higher ranked college if she had waited. On the plus side, she was clearly ready for college. She graduated with honors, spent some time working, and is now in law school at Duke. On the minus side she feels that many of her classmates at Duke were better educated in their undergrad years and she needs to place catch up. Knowing her she will catch up.</p>
<p>My dh’s roommate started Harvard at 15. He went on to get a PhD, is gainfully employed at Microsoft and has a lovely family. Seemed to work out okay for him. I only found out a few years ago how young he’d been - I had no idea.</p>
<p>I do know a student who entered the USC program several years ago- she was in my daughter’s class in high school. She really enjoyed the program, graduated on schedule and is now in law school. She was a delightful girl, very well-liked and smart. I don’t know all the reasons she wanted to leave early, but part of it was the challenge and desire to get on with the next phase of her life .(She had been with the same schoolmates since Kindergarten.)
I’ve heard very good things about the program. I believe they are pretty selective and wouldn’t choose someone they don’t feel is ready or would do well in the college setting.<br>
As a parent, I’d feel sad about her missing that last memorable year of high school, but that’s because I would have missed MY senior year. It may not be the same for your child- she may not feel connected to her present school, and it may actually be healthier for her to leave early for something really exciting and challenging. You are in a better position to know her motivations and if it’s a choice of going toward something or running away from something…</p>
<p>My daughter did two years of a combination of high school and homeschooling, an then started college when she was 16. I felt that was too young to leave home and live in a dorm, so she did her freshman college year at the state u. in our town, and lived at home. This year, at 17, she transferred and is now away at college, in the dorms, and all the rest.</p>
<p>For her it was a logical choice. I haven’t heard her speak of any issues. The first year, the one she went to college and lived at home, was sometimes a little odd because she was 16 and was making friends with students who were 20 and 21 years old. She always felt a little bit outside the normal social flow, which was fine and only made sense. One of the reasons for living at home that first year is because I wanted her outside the college social flow. Nonetheless, she had interesting and intelligent friends and worked on the school literary magazine. Was on the President’s List all three quarters (4.0). She enjoyed it immeasurably more than the high school environment.</p>
<p>Now that she’s away at school, while still a year younger than the freshman class (she’s a sophomore in terms of credits, but most of her friends are freshman and she lives in a freshman dorm), I think at this point the age difference is meaningless. I mean, going just one year younger than what’s typical isn’t really an issue… probably not even noticed. I’m sure she doesn’t feel younger than the other students. In fact, in ways she feels older because she already has a year of college under her belt.</p>
<p>I did, though I didn’t go through USC’s RHP program (I do know people who did)</p>
<p>I think it’s an individual thing, but this sums up nearly everyone’s experience quite well:</p>
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<p>“Can’t wait to get out of high school” certainly did it for me. </p>
<p>I don’t know if I would have ended up at a higher ranked college or not, but I was not disappointed in any sense to end up at USC. The top students here are comparable (in both stats and raw intelligence) to those at any other university.</p>
<p>Yes… The negative part is that you may not get into as highly a ranked school as you would if you waited. </p>
<p>There are social-emotional considerations. I know someone who was a year ahead and went to an Ivy and did fine. I know someone else who was 3 years ahead and it was just too much of a leap to live on campus.</p>
<p>It’s funny, when DS2 was about to start 8th grade, I was temped to find out if he could just go to high school since he was so ready for that. When he was a junior in high school, we were tempted to have him skip senior year and go to college. He ended up staying for his senior year which is probably better since he got a great scholarship that he would not have gotten if he hadn’t waited another year. </p>
<p>He’s now a freshman at college, taking some 300 level classes and having a good time.</p>
<p>He was/is young for his class from the beginning (and looks young), so I guess it worked out in the long run to have him stay in high school. He ended up having a great senior year, had fun on the senior trip to DC, was on the Homecoming court, enjoyed the prom, and was selected to give the speech at graduation. So, high school (a pain in the butt sometimes) ended on a good note. :)</p>
<p>I agree. A young lady who worked for me did this and regretted it. She never had the ‘senior year’ experience, she was not as mature as she could have been starting college.It took her a while to ‘fit in’ at college. She floundered around for several years trying to decide what she wanted to major in - ending up getting a grad degree in a career field she hated. I think she would have done better had she stayed in HS for that last year.</p>
<p>Many HS juniors/seniors (esp. those who are on the older end of the class) are chomping at the bit to get out of HS and into college. My son (who turned 18 last month) was probably emotionally ready to go college this fall but I don’t think one more year of maturing will hurt him. We all know kids who fall apart their first semester at college, get sucked into the party scene and the fact that no one is there to ‘make’ them go to class and then end up failing that first semester. I think every additional year of maturity can help avert some of this.</p>
<p>My daughter graduated a year early, is now in college and is doing fine. Although many schools will accept top students without HS diploma, having that diploma opens more doors. My daughter took some on-line courses, as well as classes at a local U in order to fulfill the HS graduation requirements in 3 years.</p>
<p>If USC is not generally a good fit for your D (or if she would prefer another school for 4 years), I don’t think going there just to “get out of HS” is a good plan.</p>
<p>Also, I hope she took the PSAT (the official one!) this year. At some schools (such as USC) being NMF guarantees some major scholarships.</p>
<p>Long ago, both my sister and I graduated early and went to college at 17 but under different circumstances.</p>
<p>In my case, I had skipped a grade years earlier, so I was graduating with my class (well, with most of my class – some of the other top students, including my best friend, had elected to graduate early, but I did not do that because I would have been two years younger than everyone else in college, and I realized that was not a good idea). During high school, I had often felt out of place because I was younger than everyone else, but in college that problem vanished – probably because there were many other people there who were also 17. At that particular time, there was an organized program in New York City in which top students did junior high in two years instead of three, and lots of people from New York City attended my college. Thus, there were plenty of people around who were exactly my age, and I did not feel “too young” at all.</p>
<p>My sister’s experience was quite different. She made the decision during high school to graduate early, and she took some summer school courses to make it possible. She felt out of place at college and regretted her decision. In her opinion, an extra year of maturity would have helped. Her reaction surprised me because I had always thought she was WAY more grown up for her age than I was for my age. But nevertheless, she had a difficult time.</p>
<p>So situations differ from one individual to another. I do think that if a student wants to graduate early and if there is a college with an organized program for early entrants that appeals to the student, that might be the best choice – simply because there would be other 17-year-olds there.</p>
<p>Another thing that may be worth thinking about is the student’s age relative to other people in the same grade. With the trend in recent decades for some children with summer and fall birthdays – especially boys – to start kindergarten a year early, there can be an 18-month range of ages in a class already. If the student who wants to graduate early is in the older part of the class, it may be less of a problem than for a student who is one of the youngest. In the latter case, some of the student’s college classmates would be 2 1/2 years older, which is a significant difference.</p>
<p>Marian, I would definitely agree with everything you said. I started kindergarten when I was 4 (fall birthday), and because I also graduated high school in 3 years, I just turned 17 a few weeks ago. However, at my college, there are several younger students. I’ve met a couple of girls who are both 17 and won’t be 18 until the spring, as well as lots of people who are just turning 18 now. On the other hand, there are many freshmen who are turning 19, and some who took a gap year are turning 20. However, I don’t feel out of place compared to the freshmen, since many of my close friends from middle and high school are a year or more older than me. I do feel young compared to some of the upperclassmen, who might be 22 or 23, but honestly it’s not that bad.</p>
<p>Academically, I was completely ready for this transition. I would not have benefited from another year in high school. I got into some very selective colleges, and was happy with my results. Note, however, that I did have a high school diploma, which may have helped.</p>
<p>Socially, I’ve always been a rather serious, academically-focused person, who doesn’t party or drink or do drugs. I’ve also never been the type of person prone to feeling pressured into doing those things. However, this totally varies among individuals, and I can definitely see a younger student being more prone to not focusing on his or her academics and getting too caught up in the party scene at a school.</p>
No sense focusing on the negative!</p>