How do you like the idea of sending a 16 year old to college? A cousin of mine is thinking of accelerating his daughter’s education by dual credits as she finds school too easy. She is youngest in her family and has a reserve personality. Intellectually mature but too sheltered. They are feeling confused if this is going to be good for her or a disservice to her.
Could they encourage her, instead, to involve herself In a number of intellectually challenging ECs as a way of keeping her stimulated? Also, perhaps other ECs that could help with social maturity , at least for another year until she is 17?
Lots of high school students take dual enrollment courses these days. If her high school work isn’t challenging, this might be a good idea for her. They need to be aware that these courses will appear on her college record.
But, is it the case that her hs doesn’t offer APs or that she is taking them and finds them too easy?
My take on giftedness (and asynchrony in particular) is that you are unlikely to fit in with your peers, no matter what you do. Is this girl mature enough to handle loneliness? Homesickness? Is she good at cultivating mentors? Trying new things even when there is risk involved? How does she handle failure? Does she have the time and freedom to develop other aspects of her personality besides her intellect? These are the questions the family should be asking.
Depends on the kid. Depends on the college. Depends on the family dynamic.
Another idea (if they can afford it) would be to send her for a gap exchange year abroad, living with a vetted host family if she graduates at 16. I believe AFS may have gap year abroad programs, and have (in conjunction with some other accredited exchange programs) scholarship programs for either high school and/or gap year students that (I think) are funded by the State Department. Or perhaps a regular high school year abroad instead of a gap year. A high school abroad may be more challenging academically than what she is used to, not to mention the growth of mastering a language and culture.
Could be life saving. Could be a disaster. Can’t tell without knowing a lot about them. Generally the parents know the best though. Perhaps your cousin can join CC and ask about her specific concerns?
He isn’t much of a phone person let alone forums. He is meeting some college consultant though. I doubt he’ll send her abroad by herself if he is concerned about her going to live in dorms.
Can she stay enrolled in high school but keep taking more college courses until the normal time of high school graduation?
That may keep her engaged academically but let her have a few more years of maturity before going to college for real.
Dual enrollment is not a big deal. Many, many kids do it.
How old is the kid now? Is it possible she can go to a more rigorous high school? Private? Magnet? Be aware that the quality of dual enrollment courses is all over the place. Some may not be as hard as AP’s. As others have said, it depends on the kid. One of mine had just turned 17 when college started and it wasn’t a big deal.
Yes, the year abroad isn’t for everyone. In my opinion, though, as long as a student is living within a vetted, reasonably sheltering host family, interacting primarily with kids his/her own age, ideally with other children/teens in the home, I think it could be a more age-appropriate solution than a partying college dorm situation, especially where others are more sophisticated socially. I know that many exchange programs emphasize that the student is to be treated as a member of the family, not as an independent boarder, and host families must go to ongoing trainings, meetings etc. AFS host families are not paid, so the motive for hosting is for cultural exchange, not money.
In some countries (i.e. in Latin America) girls may find themselves more chaperoned and “mothered” more than they are used to. I am speaking as someone who volunteered with AFS in my US community for eight years. Each AFS student throughout the world is assigned to an adult, trained volunteer liason (completely different than the host parent) who is responsible for insuring the safety and well-being of the student. The student has contact info for the liason at all times and the liason must make contact with student and host family regularly and document these contacts (I was a liason for one to two students every year.) At ages 16 and 19 many years ago, I participated in two six-week family homestays in Spain and Denmark with The Experiment In International Living (even though my parents were normally very strict, frugal and protective.) I was very shy, young for my age and socially awkward, and these these experiences were literally life-changing. Not here to promote these organizations…just putting it out there as options for people who would ordinarily not consider them. In the last two years I have known of two students in my small-town area who won full scholarships to study abroad (one for a year, one for a summer.)
Oh. Dual enrollment and not sending her away at 16. I misread. Well then. It’s really not a big deal at all. 16yo dual enrollment isn’t even “gifted” thing in big cities. Many college classes are actually easier than high school AP courses.
My girlfriend elected not to send a 16 year old girl to sleep away college and I don’t blame her. Dual enrollment did the trick at a university she could drive to and she started college a couple months before her 18th birthday, I think as a sophomore almost junior.
Might she look at Early College, like Bard at Simons Rock? It’s specifically designed for high school age kids who need college level classes. She would be with her peers that way.
Is she just considering dual credit classes (not uncommon) or did she skip through high school (by examination) and is set to graduate at 16 (less common)? Gifted as labeled by a school (and for that matter finding school to be too easy) does not always equate to exceptionally or profoundly gifted. She may just be very bright and/or the curriculum not challenging enough. If she is not exempt from courses/set to graduate at 16, I would definitely look into the most challenging curriculum they offer (usually AP DC). If she is indeed graduating, then I would seek the advice of a psychologist that specializes in gifted youth to assess her readiness and best options.
As said above-depends on the kid, the family, the school, the college in question, etc. Our state offers dual enrollment through community colleges that is a huge draw for many advanced HS students, especially those who are asynchronous, because a senior might be able to take for example, Calc 3 at the CC while taking a traditional say, history class. Some CC’s here offer a wide selection of challenging courses and all have agreements with various state and some private in-state colleges to transfer credits towards a 4-year degree. Some even offer 4-year degrees on their own. These classes are free for high schoolers, so some can begin at a 4-year college as juniors at age 17 or 18, with no debt. But the quality of CC’s vary widely from state to state so you’s want to investigate.
My D graduated HS at 16, having started kindergarten early and basically skipping her junior year of HS by taking summer classes and an extra senior year class. She is very driven and mature, not into risk-taking and quite capable of advocating for herself. We supported her applying to and attending college early and she is thriving. But she chose a school with strong freshman support, a curfew and single-sex dorms for freshmen, and that is very small, just as her HS was.
She has two older siblings, including one who tested as highly gifted, and going to college early would have been a disaster for him, as he was NOT mature at all at 16. But he did fine in community college dual- enrollment classes, then joined the Navy, which worked out well. Different strokes. She also has several friends in DE and they plan to transfer to UW as juniors when they graduate HS this spring. It’s a great college and this will be good for them, as they are all first-gen and don’t want to go far from home.Again, different strokes.
It’s all very well to say “dual enrollment”, but it’s not always that easy. We are surrounded by colleges, but when I looked to see what was available with public transportation it was almost nothing. It’s an hour and 40 minutes to the nearest community college. And when I looked for computer science courses for my son to take none of the nearby colleges offered a thing. Distance learning isn’t that much fun either.
I graduated from high school at 16, but took a gap year living with a family in France so I turned 18 the week I started college. I think I’d have been fine if I’d started the year before, but I’m glad I took the year to do something completely different. I’ve known other students who did a Rotary with their extra year. I highly recommend it. Learning to speak a language fluently is something that has proved endlessly useful, sometimes in not all together predictable ways.
My dh’s roommate started college at 15. I never realized at the time how young he was. He was a pretty typical math nerd. I helped him get better clothes sophomore year. He had a girl friend by junior year.
Plenty of 16 year olds take dual credit courses. If they can make the transportation work I would go that direction
We’re lucky that there are 8 community colleges in the greater Seattle area, and that we also have an excellent public transportation system, so it’s a good choice for many, many kids. At D’s HS there is one just a few minutes away by car, so the kids tend to car pool.