Do you know someone who graduated early or started college after junior year?

Parents Forum
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<p>We know of a really sharp kid who was disciplined towards the end of his Junior year. He was accepted into a local college, where he spent a term, then transferred to a large state school for another couple of semesters. My S then found out he was now in a top notch private school in a sought-after major, and a year ahead of his peers at half the cost for his freshman education. We always cite his name when it comes to handling adversity.</p>

<p>We are aware of more “traditional” examples too, and generally they have done well.</p>

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<p>Interesting comments, dottified.</p>

<p>My sister and I both had high school diplomas, too.</p>

<p>I would be very nervous about the idea of a student leaving high school without one. You never know what’s coming up in your future. For reasons that you cannot anticipate, you might need or want to leave college before graduating and get a job. The lack of a high school diploma might be a barrier to employment in such instances. </p>

<p>I know that my parents would never have let either my sister or me go to college at 17 if we did not have high school diplomas, and I think they were right.</p>

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<p>^^^ definitely. Things happen. Plus, having a high school diploma might help you get a job while IN college. It definitely helped me get a job this past summer.</p>

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<p>A lot of homeschoolers go to college early with no high school diploma. It seems to work out for them.</p>

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<p>I’ll chime in. My daughter graduated high school in three years and went to college at 16. She was particularly young chronologically as she also had done an Early Entrance into K. So, based on her age she went to college two years ahead but based on her grade, she entered college one year early. She did earn a HS diploma at the end of three years. </p>

<p>I feel this is a VERY individual issue and while this would not be appropriate for some kids, it is for others. It was our own daughter’s idea, not ours, to graduate early. She had well articulated reasons (all supported by her HS) that covered the intellectual/academic development, socially, emotionally, and in her case, also her artistic development/training. I don’t think I would have gone along with this if it only made sense in one or two developmental areas but for her, she was very ready in all these respects. Academically, she had been accelerated and had accommodations made for her throughout K-11 and she was going to run out of courses (though that alone could have been addressed as it was with her older sister, same idea). She always was involved socially with older peers and in fact, was a leader amongst older peers. Her closest pals in summer programs away from home every summer were older than her and she wanted to move on with that grouping, though had friends in her own grade too at school and did miss her senior year stuff. She also had the maturity to do this. She also had gone as far as she could go locally in her area of interest, having achieved as high as one could and was ready for the next level of training in her field. </p>

<p>She graduated college this past May at age 20. She had a fantastic four years and loved every minute of it. She excelled academically and in her field and was a leader in many endeavors at her college and continued to win awards and such. Nobody there thought of her as younger. It only came up on her actual birthday and was sort of a joke every year in her crowd. Her current roommates are a few years older than herself. She also dated all through college. As soon as she graduated she got work in her field, a difficult field to make it in. She started supporting herself at age 20 but just turned 21. She also went to college in Manhattan after growing up in a rural town of 1700 people and managed just fine and loves it. She even moved off campus starting junior year when just 18. </p>

<p>I don’t necessarily recommend this to all kids but for some, this is actually very fitting. </p>

<p>For the OP’s D…I’d have some concerns. One is that the impetus is deriving from USC’s early entrance program and not really a preconceived idea to graduate early for very solid reasons. As well, it appears to be limiting the college choices. I’d have some reservations about no HS diploma either, but maybe it would not be a deal breaker. I’d have to hear compelling reasons why going to college early was more appropriate than waiting a year for that kid. I’d want to know that the rec writers would support this path too. And that your D had explored all college options available to her and it is already October. I would not want to limit the college selection in a rush or by limited options available. Our D approached us in tenth grade about graduating a year early and it was NOT In our plans but that gave enough time to make it happen (we were in middle of college process with our then senior D too and it seemed like a lot to us but we could not argue with her rationale and she is a very strong kid as well). Now, four years of college later, I must admit, our daughter really knew herself well and she picked the right path for herself and it was quite appropriate in her case and worked out as best as possible as she had a fantastic four years of college. </p>

<p>This is not a decision to take lightly and should be made for strong reasons and in more than one developmental area. If there is some issue in high school, there can be many other solutions worth discussing too.</p>

<p>I know some people can’t believe we let our kid start college at 16 six hours from home in a big city, but they don’t KNOW her and anyone who really does know her, knows this was a very appropriate course. I don’t know the OP’s kid. I think this is a decision that must be very individualized.</p>

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<p>Excellent post, soozievt. Like for yours, this just made sense for my daughter on every level. It was almost as though there was no other sensible option. It’s been great for her, but it’s such a very individual thing.</p>

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<p>As other posters have said, this is highly individual. </p>

<p>Our son entered a residential LAC in our state at age 16 following his junior year. His HS used the credits from the college to allow him to graduate with his HS class. He graduated from a different LAC’s five year-double degree program which included three majors last May. He got married last summer and started graduate school this fall at age 21. We felt having the luxury of a five-year undergrad allowed him to mature and try enough different areas to discover his next path.</p>

<p>He has thanked us profusely for helping him do what he felt he needed to at each step.</p>

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<p>On the high school diploma thing–</p>

<p>Neither of my kids have high school diplomas and they’re both in college, both have on-campus jobs, both have summer jobs every year.</p>

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<p>D1 graduated HS after junior year. College was not perfect, towards the end, but I don’t think graduating early had much of anything to do with it. She couldn’t have stayed in HS another year anyway, she was done there, program-wise and psychologically.</p>

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<p>I am always a bit puzzled about the “senior year experience.” S1 did not care to attend his prom and I cannot say that senior year was any different for him than junior year except that it was shorter. S2 had his senior year experience as a junior. He did go to the senior prom (under much prodding by his chums who were mostly seniors) and got to get out of school earlier than the juniors. He did have a lot of work in May because he was taking APs, college finals, and doing the senior project for APUSH which the junior had a whole month to do but which he had only ten days to complete. Neither missed the “senior year experience” one bit!</p>

<p>I agree with Soozie. Students should graduate early because they are very ready to leave high school and very well prepared for college as well as mature enough to handle being on their own both academically, socially and financially. It should not be a sudden decision but one that has been considered from all possible angles.</p>

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<p>Thank you so much for all of your input. I can see the circumstances are so varied from one person to another.</p>

<p>I wanted to clarify a couple things about my daughter’s situation. She was interested in graduating early before receiving the USC letter. We checked into this before she started her junior year. Although it wasn’t possible to graduate early from her high school, she could have done all the necessary credits in one year of an on-line school. </p>

<p>She made the decision that she wanted the classroom interaction. She is taking 4 AP classes plus one art elective (a graduation requirement) and Calculus, which is offered at her high school but is a community college class, not AP. She would not run out of challenging classes to take next year, because they offer AP Physics, another year of AP Spanish, etc., plus there are two more semesters of community college math offered, beyond the two semesters she has this year.</p>

<p>She has dreams of going to schools which are even more selective than USC, which is why I wonder if she’ll have regrets later.</p>

<p>She did take the PSAT and may make the NMSF cut-off. She was very close last year, so she did a little prep before this year’s test. If she becomes a Natl Merit Finalist, she will get a half tuition scholarship at USC. If she enters early, she would get a quarter tuition scholarship, which all RHP students get, her freshman year, and would get the NMF scholarship starting her sophomore year. </p>

<p>Because she is at a school where no one graduates early, I feel that the counselor will not be gung-ho about this idea. He will want her to have a diploma, and she can’t get one at this school this year, so I doubt that he would be encouraging other options. He will see that she has the grades and the test scores, but he doesn’t know her well enough to judge her maturity in other ways.</p>

<p>I believe, more than anything else, that she is desperately longing to make more of her own decisions. So, I will let her research these options and think it through, and I will answer her questions as they come up. She is extremely practical and good at seeing pros and cons. If nothing else, the whole application process and decision process will be very valuable.</p>

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<p>Let’s talk about sex.</p>

<p>It’s one of the issues that can cause problems for kids who are younger than their classmates.</p>

<p>I was one such kid, for most of my growing-up years (I skipped third grade). As a junior in high school, I dated a senior. This is hardly unusual. But I was a year younger than my classmates, and he was one of the oldest students in his grade. So I was 15 and he was 18.</p>

<p>Under most circumstances, my parents and a lot of others would have discouraged or forbidden a 15-year-old girl from dating an 18-year-old guy on the grounds that the guy’s sexual expectations are likely to be more adult than is appropriate for a 15-year-old. But can a parent really forbid a junior from dating a senior? Mine didn’t feel they could.</p>

<p>The same sort of thing can be a problem for early entrants to college – particularly at the beginning of college and particularly for those who are 16 when they get there. A lone 16-year-old in a world of 18- to 22-year-olds can find dating awkward and can feel pressured into a degree of intimacy that he or she is not ready for. </p>

<p>As with the other issues discussed in this thread, this is a very individual thing. Some kids have more sexual experience by the end of high school than other people have in a lifetime. For these kids, the sexual aspects of going to college early are not likely to be a problem. But a substantial proportion of academically oriented kids tend to be late bloomers in the dating arena. If these kids are thrown in with an older crowd, they may feel very out of place or uncomfortable, and they may feel sexually pressured by partners whose expectations are based on what’s typical for their own age, rather than that of the younger person.</p>

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<p>The only class left for S, had he stayed for senior year, was english 4. Everything else would have been at a state U. Even his guidance counselor encouraged him to apply to the flagship U. Several phone calls convinced us he would then be applying as a transfer student. Unfortunately, this conversation between S, Principal, head of dual enrollment, and GC was on Monday before winter vacation. Mom wasn’t told until Wed nite. Mom suggested he apply to dream schools. GC and teachers did recom letters in a day, and school sent out info by that Friday. I would never encourage this approach to others!!!</p>

<p>As previously mentioned, the tech schools looked favorably on son. Some schools that would have been a good fit were overlooked for the obvious tech colleges, e g U Chicago.</p>

<p>My advice? If child realy ready–classes and older friends–then go for it. Best to plan in advance. On the positive side, S didn’t have to do much testing. He also went to a college where being 17 was no issue.</p>

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<p>Marian, I think your post assumes all college freshmen will be sexually active. I wasn’t. Neither of my kids were. It’s not something that is just a given in college. At my son’s college they gave the parents a survey taken of student sexual activity and it was lower overal than you’d expect, and surprisingly low for freshman. (Wish I could remember the figures, but I can’t.)</p>

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<p>I didn’t mean to imply that all freshmen are sexually active.</p>

<p>When I expressed concern about freshmen who are younger than the others in their class, it was because these students have no opportunity to meet anyone of their own chronological age. If they’re going to date at all, they have to date people who are older than they are because those are the only people available. And dating someone older may not be comfortable because the older person is likely to have greater sexual expectations.</p>

<p>I’m not as concerned about a college upperclassman who is younger than the others in his or her class. That person would have opportunities to meet people of the same chronological age on campus. An 18-year-old junior can find ways to meet and date 18-year-old freshmen. But a 16-year-old college freshman is not likely to find any other 16-year-olds.</p>

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<p>OP…my concern in your D’s case is that by going to USC, it is almost by default, rather than having many options open to her. For my kid, that was not the situation. She had all the options open to her that would have been had she gone to HS for four years. In fact, she landed at her dream college, as it turned out. I am not so sure it is worth leaving HS a year early just because one or two programs beckon. Unless those are schools that were ones she would have favored regardless, I am not so sure. I’d have to hear compelling reasons, why this path is better than other solutions to whatever reasons she has for graduating early. </p>

<p>Marian…my view on what you mentioned is that it is just too much of a generalization. It sort of reminds me of how many question how a kid my kid’s age went to college so young. That is because it is not right for all people but it really is for some across the board. When it comes to sex and dating, for example, this decision to go to college early made NO difference for my kid. She ALREADY was friends with older peers. She already was in classes with older grades. When she got to college, nobody thought of her as younger and she doesn’t come across as younger at all. She dated three boyfriends during the four years of college (about a year average each). The first BF freshmen year of college, in fact, was a boy she dated long distance back when she was 14. He is chronologically two years older than her but both landed at the same college as freshmen and resumed a relationship that year. Subsequently, both other young men she dated the rest of college, were each chronologically 2 1/2 years older than herself at least (they were not even in her year of college but in older grades at the college). She has always mixed with older friends and tends to be a leader among an older crowd. While you mention some would not feel comfortable with that, and I appreciate that and get it, there are some who are totally fine socially this way. That is why it is not for all kids but it really is NOT a problem at all for some kids. It was not for mine. My D has felt beyond comfortable in social situations in college. Now, college is over. In fact, she is now on a National Tour and is in fact, the youngest person on the tour, sharing hotel rooms and spending 24/7 with the others. She is loving it. Sometimes, I find, it is hard for others to imagine someone who is younger than their peers and what it must be like but that is because for SOME, this would not be an appropriate fit and they can’t imagine how it could work for others but believe me, it has been MORE than fine for my kid. I know it would not be for all. My D never ever felt uncomfortable or un-ready for the college social scene. You would never guess she was younger than the others if you didn’t know it. She has always been like this.</p>

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<p>soozievt, your daughter sounds like the sort of person for whom acceleration was the best option in every way.</p>

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<p>The thing is, I don’t propose this across the board for all people. I just find that people sometimes can’t imagine this could be a good situation for a kid, but for some, it really is. I never planned for my kid to do this. It was her idea but I’ll admit, i could not argue with any of the many points in her rationale. And now that she is done college, I believe she did the right thing for herself. She knows herself. We allowed her to do it her way. This way is not a good way for some kids. Hopefully others can also understand that it really is good for some kids like mine (and some others here) though.</p>

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<p>I have a child in the USC RHP program, happy as a clam. For him, USC was a top choice because of the film school. His credentials were such that admission to a higher ranked school certainly would have been a possibility had he remained in high school for senior year, but USC and maybe NYU were the only colleges he wanted to attend. That said, RHP students are eligible for USC’s Thematic Option honors program, which offers gen ed classes in very small seminars taught by excellent professors with heavy reading and writing requirements, so he has been stimulated and challenged in virtually all of his classes, including his TO classes, film school classes, and classes of interest in other departments.</p>

<p>In terms of high school graduation, S’s high school was willing to count his freshman year at USC as his senior year of high school, and he was able to graduate with his high school class and received his high school diploma. </p>

<p>I do think that this is a very individual issue. In our case, the impetus came entirely from our kid, who, while he attended a great high school and was having a good experience there, wanted to go to college asap. He had been certain about what he wanted to do and where he wanted to study for a long time, and he wanted to get started. He truly didn’t care about prom, etc. He wanted to take fewer classes at a time and study subject in more depth; he wanted to be able to select courses that interested most; and he wanted more independence. He was able to articulate his reasons very clearly, and was very focused and goal-oriented as soon as he had formulated his plan. And it turned out that he was absolutely ready. He is thriving academically and socially. </p>

<p>If the student in question would be a good fit for USC, which seems like a pretty nurturing and friendly place, and feels strongly about getting out of Dodge, RHP is certainly something to consider.</p>

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<p>Nester…I enjoyed reading about your son’s journey. I think you did hit on something that I think is important in this decision…that the impetus comes from the kid. It was also all our own kid’s idea too. She also did not really mind giving up the “senior stuff” (actually the prom at our school is for juniors and seniors and she went to it and she was sorta a junior and sorta a senior in her final year anyway, but simply did not graduate with her own class). Also, the fact that the student can articulate a clear rationale for graduating early and not just getting out of Dodge, is important I think. </p>

<p>My D had another thing in common with your son (not saying this has to be there for all early graduates though) and that is that both had a clear cut passion for a long time (my kid had it her entire life) and they knew what they wanted to pursue and were ready for the next step of that. And in both cases, they got into the school where they really wanted to go to study that. In your son’s case, it was film and USC is an ideal place for that study. In my kid’s case, it was musical theater, and NYU/Tisch is an ideal place for that. Neither compromised the college options by graduating early because they landed where they wanted to pursue their passion. So, I see a lot of correlation between your son’s story and my daughter’s.</p>