Gifted but young for college

Parent Cafe
55

Lots of great viewpoints here, so this may be redundant, but I’ll throw in a few tidbits anyway.

  1. I started college at Simon’s Rock (a zillion years ago) and I think it’s an amazing, unique place which can be a godsend for a very particular kind of student. What I typically tell people is that they advertise themselves with the whole “why wait to go to college?” we’re-here-for-your-gifted-kid approach, but you must understand that most 15- and 16-year-olds who opt to go to a school like this aren’t just gifted, they’re maladapted for one reason or another (including myself in that, btw – no judgment). It’s a population with a higher-than-average segment of kids who’ve experienced real abuse/trauma, are “different” in ways other than simply intellect, and lots of mental illness (much of it undiagnosed). At least that’s how it was when I was there. For a kid whose needs are simply intellectual, I’d be wary. I echo others who suggest visiting.

  2. I have two 2E kids (meaning, they are both profoundly gifted but also learning/developmentally disabled in various ways), and one would’ve crashed and burned if accelerated to college early and the other skipped a grade/dual-enrolled and has been better for it. This is highly individual.

  3. To follow on the last point, I think a huge portion of deciding situations like this must be based both on what the student thinks they want and what their proven stress tolerance is. Sending a kid to college who doesn’t want to go is clearly a recipe for disaster. Keeping a kid home who’s absolutely ready and resilient could also be. But what about the kid who wants to go but has a track record of not managing stress well…? That’s where it’s time to get creative. Some 16-year-olds are ready for college and some 20-year-olds aren’t. For parents finding themselves in that “let’s make a deal” window of student readiness vs. parent worry, that’s when it’s time to get serious about school fit. How far away is it? How big is it? Single-sex? Supports in place? Etc.

Best of luck to your friends in figuring it out. Personally, I’d stress that any decision is “the right decision for right now.” If/when it stops being the right decision, you make a new one. Very little is forever.