<p>I am currently a sophomore in high school, and am a little nervous about how my early graduation will affect the way a college admissions officer will view my application. I will be graduating at the end of my junior year and applying to Barnard and NYU.</p>
<p>I am pretty sure that there are other students out there with similar concerns.</p>
<p>What are your thoughts on this?</p>
<p>I believe your 8th grade year may be judged in place of 9th grade- but not sure. I don't think it'll affect you too much. But if you had another year you'd have more time to impress them. I don't think the fact that you're graduating early will impress them- as many students could graduate early but choose not to.</p>
<p>There are often additional admissions requirements for students who are graduating early. Usually schools require an interview in those cases, and some may ask for additional test scores, recommendations, or samples of your work. I haven't ever seen a school ask for eighth grade records, though. You should check directly with Barnard and NYU to find out what their requirements are.</p>
<p>Thanks! I am going to ask them about that...</p>
<p>I would also like to know if anyone has been accepted into a selective/highly selective school after graduating their junior year. Please post!</p>
<p>My (current) sophomore daughter had this same question. It would not have taken much for her to be able to graduate high school a whole year early. And, because of the school cut-off age in our State, she would still be the same age as most matriculating college freshmen. So, age maturity wasn't an issue.</p>
<p>The advice I received here (and in looking at other threads) was to check with the colleges she was interested in. It was not an issue of not yet having a high school diploma. (some, but not all schools require a high school diploma or equivalent). She would have that and with pretty much all the same credits/courses she would have at the end of four years. But, she would have done it in three.</p>
<p>We did as suggested and asked several universities we visited how that would be considered. A couple of the admissions offices we talked to were Stanford and Princeton. Those two both told us that although they do accept applications from 3-year high school graduates, they are at a disadvantage because the 3-year high school grad does not have the same 'profile' as a 4-yr grad. That primarily came down to the opportunities to exhibit leadership qualities and to mature emotionally and intellectually. </p>
<p>Those two admissions representatives advised my daughter to take advantage of that 4th year and explore things she might not have done otherwise; to join a club or activity she hadn't had time for before; to hold offices. They both said that although the 3-year grads were not actually set apart and penalized for graduating early, in effect, they would have to be that much more 'stellar' to make up for the advantages the 4-year grads had on them in terms of leadership and intellectual growth.</p>
<p>The public universities we talked to didn't seem to have as much to say about it.</p>
<p>My daughter is in the same boat. We had a long talk about it, and she feels more strongly about moving on to college early, then waiting and better filling out the expected profile for an applicant to a super-selective private school. It was quite interesting how unequivocal she was about it after giving it a few mintues thought. She's an extremely strong student and test taker, so even though she's only 15, she has all the scores she'd need to be a strong applicant anywhere. But she's ready to move on, and feels that since the state univ. is more objective in their admissions requirements (which she's met) then she'd rather go there early, get into the honors program, and generally move ahead. She also already has some credits from the community college anyway, so that's something she can apply toward a degree that she may well not be able to do at a private.</p>
<p>She figures she'll go for prestige when she's looking for grad schools.</p>
<p>It's all fine with me. Whatever she wants to do. She may not even wait to complete three years of high school level work. As it stands she could start with just the two she has. If that's the case, though, that first year at least she'd have to live at home and go the public regional univ. here for one year. She's just too young to live away from home for now, in my opinion.</p>
<p>So, I agree with the posters above. If you are set on attending a selective private, you probably would be best off filling out those four years as strongly as you can. For some kids, though, they'd rather move right on to college early and state universities will usually be a better bet. Another option would be to put in a year or two at a public and try to transfer. Tranferring is a little iffier even than freshman admission, though, so that's something to keep in mind. (Also the financial aid implications, often not as good for transfers.) </p>
<p>It's all good. Just depends on what you want.</p>
<p>THe Common App (which Barnard uses) asks if you are graduating early, they want to know why.</p>
<p>there is a difference between graduating early because you have the credits and graduating early because you have exhausted the most rigerous cirriculum that your school offers.</p>
<p>Barnard states:</p>
<p>
[quote]
A recommended high school program would comprise </p>
<p>four years of work in English
three or more years in mathematics
three or four years in a foreign language (ancient or modern)
three or more years in science with laboratory
and three years in history. </p>
<p>The remainder of the program would include additional work in the aforementioned subjects with the possible addition of music and art.</p>
<p>Barnard</a> College Admissions</p>
<p>
[/quote]
</p>
<p>However, keep in mind that there will be many students who will apply who will have stronger than the recommended high school programs.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that you will be evaluated based on the strenght of your high school cirriculum; that you have taken the strongest cirriculum your school offers and you have done well.</p>
<p>Does your school offer AP classes? Have you exhausted those couses?
Does your school offer dual enrollment of college courses for high school students? Have you taken advantage of them.</p>
<p>It will not serve you well or to be of any advantage to graduate early if you have left rigerous courses on the table. The more selective the school, the better the game you had better bring to the table because others are no doubt bringing their "A' game.</p>
<p>i know someone who graduated early and went to Northwestern. They took many many classes and ended up taking the same classes a typical high achieving senior would by the end of junior year. However, I have the feeling that it adversly affected them in college admissions since their scores were not as high as they could have been the following year. It is only right for certain type of people and make sure you have an extremely heavy courseload to make up for not doing senior year.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much! I am incredibly grateful for all of the helpful feedback I got.</p>
<p>I do believe that I will have exhausted the high school curriculum by the end of my junior year. I plan on taking AP Lang & Comp, AP Stat, AP Human, AP Physics, and AP US. I also have experience living on my own in Paris, Tokyo, and NYC because of the work I do outside of school. Hopefully, that will be enough to prove to the admissions office that I am ready to join their freshmen class.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I would also like to know if anyone has been accepted into a selective/highly selective school after graduating their junior year. Please post!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I know a girl who graduated a year early (last year) and got into Cornell.</p>
<p>In case anyone was wondering...</p>
<p>I called both NYU and Barnard admissions and they told me that there are no special requirements for a junior graduating early, besides demonstrating that you have exhausted your high school's course offerings.</p>