<p>"the benefits of an easy senior year "
There are NO benefits of an easy Senior year, as far as College Admission committees are concerned. So be careful.</p>
<p>What I'm leaning toward at the moment (though I'm talking to my counselor monday, so who knows what new ideas that'll give me) is applying during junior year. I figure that if I'm accepted, great. If I'm not, I'll joint enroll and try again the next time around. Does anyone see any potential problems or disadvantages to going to Caltech after junior year, if I got accepted? Also, does anyone know if Caltech would allow me to, if they accepted me after junior year, defer matriculation until after senior year?</p>
<p>(Your counselor might not like it very much since it decreases their graduation rate and makes the school look bad. I know my guidance counselor heavily discouraged me from applying early. You might want to avoid talking to him/her until the last possible moment. But then again, your relationship might be different.)</p>
<p>With regard to deferring your acceptance, I think it's likely that they would allow you to do so provided you told them what you were going to do and they found it interesting. However, I know nothing about deferring except that there's one person in my house who deferred a year to learn all kinds of crazy stuff, including taxidermy.</p>
<p>Ok, so I talked to my counselor. I'm not sure that I believe what she said, but here it is anywho:
Going early to college would be a social problem. Don't do it. Not getting a high school diploma is a big risk to take; what if you dropped out of college? Colleges will look DOWN on joint enrollment; take AP instead. AP is better because it is a standardized curriculum, and Caltech wouldn't realize that GT curriculum IS great. You should have a "normal senior year" (which for me would include taking orchestra for credit and taking some random AP social studies, mainly to fill slots, though I'm sure I'd like it some. I'd only even be taking one math and one science...), and start some organization with all the time that'd free up. </p>
<p>Can anyone comment on the social aspects of going to caltech early? Can anyone (especially Ben Golub, if you're out there) comment about the Caltech perspective on joint enrollment? Just looking on the decisions thread, joint enrollment seems to be very well received.</p>
<p>Well, I'll be heading to Caltech one year early next year, and the only bad thing I've noticed about not having a "normal senior year" is having to pay $80 for prom -- the other components (having to sit through a boring three-hour graduation ceremony, taking lame required classes, etc.) I haven't really missed. Of course, it'll be worse if you don't have friends in the senior class or take senior-level classes (it'll be harder to talk to your junior class friends once you're accepted to some college and they're still working their butts off studying for the SATs).</p>
<p>Once you go to college there's a pretty good chance people won't notice you're a year younger unless you take the time to emphasize it.</p>
<p>
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Not getting a high school diploma is a big risk to take; what if you dropped out of college?
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</p>
<p>If you're so into diplomas and whatnot, you could always just transfer to a lesser university and get a diploma there. Also keep in mind your counselor probably does have an ulterior motive (raising the graduation rate and making the school look better). If you wanted you could promise to transfer credits back from Caltech or something (so you technically get a diploma).</p>
<p>In my freshman class, a bunch of us were 16 and one was 15. Socially and academically it made no difference. Unless you're really immature, which probably isn't the case, you shouldn't have a problem. Also, joint enrollment probably won't look bad. You are going above and beyond what all the people with "normal senior years" are doing. </p>
<p>Anyway, as long as you believe me about the social aspects for younger students, her advice does not seem to conflict with applying early.</p>
<p>I was referring to the social benefits of an easy senior year. Also, what I meant by an easy senior was not that you shouldn't take AP classes or whatever, but I would figure if you're looking to apply early, these classes aren't exactly the most challenging things for you.</p>
<p>In terms of taking AP versus GT, I really doubt that Caltech would look down on GT classes as opposed to AP credit. Yes, AP is standardized. At the same time, AP don't exactly set the bar very high and it's not like GT is some community college.</p>
<p>"If you're so into diplomas and whatnot, you could always just transfer to a lesser university and get a diploma there."</p>
<p>Since a lot of state schools tend to require diplomas or equivalent, if you had to transfer to one from Caltech (for whatever reason) you may be at a disadvantage without one. But if it comes to that you can probably trivially get a GED.</p>
<p>If I were you, I'd take the extra year of high school. But not because you won't get in if you apply soon. If I were betting with 50-50 odds, I'd bet on you getting in applying as a junior. This is far from a certainty -- but still good chances. There are very few people who would be in that category at this stage. I sure wasn't. </p>
<p>To answer your direct question, Caltech looks positively on the joint enrollment stuff (i.e. taking college courses early) and basically Caltech admissions would like everything you're doing and you would have a good chance.</p>
<p>But getting into Caltech is not really a very big deal, especially once you're at Caltech. You should be thinking longer term and about excelling at a truly elite level at whatever you set your mind to. For that, taking this extra time to do research, read wise books, and take college classes is a much better bet than becoming a standard-issue Caltech frosh a year earlier. </p>
<p>Caltech during the first year is a whirlwind of requirements during which your creativity, intellectual freedom, intellectual self-confidence, and broader intellectual development get somewhat suppressed in the name of getting very much more capable technically than you were before. I.e. you're eating at a banquet in a big group and you're not ordering off the menu. And you don't get to decide when to stop eating.</p>
<p>High school is a lot like that too, most of the time. Don't get me wrong; those things are very important -- that's the way you learn the raw material -- but it would suck if things were like that all the time. It's good to have your life punctuated by times when you have more freedom to decide what you want to do and to feel a little more powerful and unique. Being an exceptional high school senior doing basically whatever you want to become smarter is a lot more fun than being a year-early Caltech frosh without having had that experience. I promise this is true, especially given the wealth of opportunities in your area.</p>
<p>Looking back, the times when I matured the most were the last summer and senior year of high school, and then the last summer and senior year of college. By that point you're a pretty big fish in your current pond, you usually have a good deal of respect from your elders, and you have the freedom to do what feels best right then. I think it's during those times that your mind integrates all the things you've been stuffed full of, and those are the times when you get to define yourself as a person. Plus you get the rare opportunity to truly have some time to yourself every day to choose what you want to do that day without things hanging over your head. If you pass that by in the name of accelerating your life a year, that's silly.</p>
<p>There are of course exceptions... if you're actively miserable in your current environment, go somewhere else. But in the absense of that, you'll be a lot happier and go a lot farther by soaking up the last and best parts of your current experience. Life's not a race and those who don't realize that lose it.</p>
<p>Well that pretty much settles that.
Unless it's just a logistic nightmare to joint enroll, I'll go that route.</p>
<p>Thank you a million!</p>