<p>I went to Yale as a 17-turning-18, and was not the youngest in my class. My DD will start college at 17 and not be 18 until the summer after freshman year. Being 17 is not an issue for top colleges.</p>
<p>Yale wait listed me when I would have been 16-turning-17, and there were essentially no changes to my application during the next year - no rigorous courses, no new test scores, no different LORs. So my anecdotal experience has been that 16yos are at a disadvantage, not an advantage.</p>