<p>My birthday is in June, so I'm 16 now. I'll turn 18 in the summer after my freshman year, but I'll be 17 my entire first year. I'm sure many freshman have been in this situation, and I am wondering what (if any) social or economical issues you've encountered.
I'm applying for schools across the country from my parents.</p>
<p>I had multiple friends start college at 17. They all turned 18 freshman year (November, December and March), but there weren’t really any social problems. Obviously they couldn’t go out, but they could still drink on campus at parties etc.</p>
<p>I’m young - turned 18 right before freshman year. I didn’t have too many problems besides the fact that my friends will be able to go out to bars and over 21s before me. I could see a problem with a lot of other things though. People don’t realize it because most people on campus are over 18, but if you’re not yet, you still need your parent’s permission for so many things. Medical stuff gets hard because your parents have to sign off on all of that. Also a bunch of activities (including clubbing) are only for 18+ but like I said no one realizes that because most people don’t have to worry about it. Also, random fact, if you have to participate in psych experiments for credit (like I do) you absolutely have to be 18, so you wouldn’t be able to do it.</p>
<p>Ultimately, it’s not a big deal socially, but when it comes down to little details its a huge pain.</p>
<p>I turned 18 two months into my first year at college. The annoying part was that my parent had to sign all my forms with me, since I was minor. Other than that, I was fine.</p>
<p>I’ll only be 17 the first month of me starting college. I start fall of 2013 in August and my birthday is September 14. I think it won’t make a difference really. For the most part people will just call you a baby and what not. THAT gets really annoying, especially because I act way older than my age and most people mistake me for being older than I am. But I don’t think you will have a problem. Just make sure to get a state I.D. because there are some clubs that have a 17 and older limit. You just have to figure out some things to do that will be fun for everyone. If all else fails, you could always hang out with the people who don’t party. They’re sure to be fun if you guys can come up with some things to do besides getting drunk.</p>
<p>I was 17 for my first month and a half of college. Ultimately, it wasn’t a big deal, though annoying at times. </p>
<p>You don’t realize the little things you can’t do until you’re 18 until it’s urgent (i.e. buying over-the-counter medicine at Target). Also, having to get parental signature on numerous things is a pain. If you would be attending school in a college town, being a minor would be a problem too if you’re into going out to bars/clubs…they’re all 18 minimum. </p>
<p>However, none of this hindered me socially, yet I’m also not into that kind of scene.</p>
<p>I’ll echo what a lot of people I’ve said thus far. I attend a residential early college program (so not quite the same thing, but close), and the biggest thing has been the minor status for legal things. I know that our program has us all sign a notarized form giving us our own authority for heath things on campus (I’m not exactly sure what the form is), but the end result is that I can go to the health center on campus for most things, like immunizations and antibiotics and other routine things.</p>
<p>Just a note: I started going to the doctor on my own when I was in my teens (probably 16 or so), and I never had any problems except if any procedures had to be done (like one time when I went to a sports doctor and he thought I should have a cortisone shot). So I wouldn’t worry about that sort of thing.</p>