<p>My son would be 14-years when he graduates with a degree in mathematics/economics. What are his chances of getting accepted into a grad school in N.East or California? He has excellent GPA, GRE scores and also great recommendations from his professors.
Does anybody have a comment?</p>
<p>I doubt you will find many parents out here with experience in this. Have you contacted the Davidson Institute for Talent Development in Reno, NV?</p>
<p>His professors should also have some suggestions on grad schools.</p>
<p>Normally, the student’s professors and academic advisors are the one’s who are best able to help with this issue.</p>
<p>You may also want to ask this question in the Grad School Forum. Go to the main page where all of the forums are listed, and scroll down to find it.</p>
<p>
Here or anywhere else. THere aren’t that many students like this. I think LoremIpsum’s first kid was very yuoung when he graduated college and I think LI wrote he went to grad school but I can’t remember for sure.</p>
<p>I owuld think a prodigy like this would already be getting a lot of attention at the school he attends. Or have I watched “Good Will Hunting” one time too many?</p>
<p>Good luck to him.</p>
<p>I assume he would be treated as any other applicant for grad school except for his age which should not be a factor in math/economics area.</p>
<p>The main issues come in terms of housing, transportation, maturity to handle grad school environment. Unlike undergrad where you find mostly18-22 year olds, the age groups are very diverse in grad school. when i was in one, I encountered people much older than me at 23 (about 30-40% my age group). There were some in 35-40+ doing their PhDs and one had 8 children, the oldest a senior in high school.</p>
<p>Bovertine - I am thinking of the other movie - Little Man Tate with Jodie Foster and ,</p>
<p>vijay12, if your son is 14 and looking to apply to grad school, I doubt that he’ll have much of a problem getting into one. He probably might get overwhelmed with attention, to be honest. </p>
<p>(This is coming from a 22 year old who is applying to grad school and getting smoked by competition because he spent too much time playing Xbox when he was 14)</p>
<p>On a more serious note, some people can offer advice here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/</a>, the grad forum on CC, which gets surprisingly light traffic. A better place on-line is the forum on GradCafe (thegradcafe.com), where you can seek advice from grad/post-grad students w/ profile and interest matching. Graduate school is pretty specialized/field-focused; you can’t go to everyone for advice for this.</p>
<p>A number of years ago I had a student who started at my university’s Honors College at the age of 12. His parents were professors at the university so he lived at home but to our great surprise, he fit in very well with the other students socially and intellectually (I think our other students thought of him as their very smart younger brother.)</p>
<p>He graduated at 16 and went directly into a math Ph.D. program at an Ivy far from home. He did beautifully and now is a professor at a different Ivy.</p>
<p>Top math/econ graduate programs (typically doctoral level only) rarely accept applicants from average undergraduate programs. If your son graduate from a good BS program, has some “meaningful” research experience and thus good research references, and has research interests that match well with faculty expertise and needs, he should have a good chance regardless his age.</p>
<p>One of my son’s classmates was 16 when he began grad school at MIT. I haven’t heard of a 14 y.o. Living far from home. Is it possible for him to work in a lab for a year or two? </p>
<p>Other than the maturity issues, I think his profs would be the best at making suggestions for grad schools.</p>
<p>I suggest you talk with Nancy Hertzog or one of the other profs at the gifted center at the UW.
What school is he currently at?
[The</a> Halbert and Nancy Robinson Center for Young Scholars at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA)](<a href=“http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Resources_id_10187.aspx]The”>http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Resources_id_10187.aspx)</p>
<p>Is there not a suitable school in your area?
Has he thought about a gap year?
He’s a little young for the Peace Corps but there may be other programs in your area to broaden his experience.</p>
<p>Those who know your son best, his professors and advisors, will be able to answer this for you. If he has great recommendations, then I would imagine he has an excellent chance of getting in somewhere. Unlike undergrad, the student’s recommendations from profs and mentors have an enormous influence on the selection process. They will guide him as to what schools to apply to, as well as what communications he might pursue ahead of time to get to know the various departments and the research going on within them, which will help your son make a decision based on a fit with his own research interests.</p>
<p>If your son’s mentor really knows your son well and has a good reputation within his academic specialty, he should have no problem finding a good match.
Also, if your son’s profs think he is brilliant but might benefit from a year or two off to do research or explore other life experiences, I’d listen.</p>
<p>14 or not, waiting a year or two between undergrad and grad school may not be the best thing. He’s going to forget a fair amount of the material.</p>
<p>If he doesn’t want to take a gap year, then don’t suggest it.</p>
<p>So he can’t work on his own? He needs to be in school?</p>
<p>Well, I was talking about stuff not related to his field, such as, for instance, the Peace Corps.</p>
<p>OP- how far down the road is college graduation? Is it next spring?</p>
<p>NO! to waiting just because of age. The gifted are different, especially the extremely gifted such as this student. Definitely contact experts in gifted education such as the Davidson Institute mentioned.</p>
<p>Our son is mid range gifted and started college at 16 (with a fall birthday)- 2 grades ahead of his agemates. He could not have worked, gone abroad or done many things as an underage person for a useful “gap year”. He had two HS students in a freshman Honors science course- one was a 14 year old girl. You do not tell such an intelligent person to shut down their brain for a couple of years until their age catches up with their mental development. You make accomodations just as you would for someone on the other extremes of the Bell curve. This child does not have a peer group available to have a typical life experience- there simply aren’t enough people to relate to on the same level in any given location.</p>
<p>States generally have laws requiring minors to be in school, but usually have exceptions- especially for HS graduates. Kids at 14 are used to being in school. This child NEEDS the intellectual lifestyle a college campus provides and at the grad school level. Not any different than being away from home at a boarding school as far as hands on parenting is concerned, arrangements need to be made for being underage. Being part of a grad department is a lot more attention than being an undergrad at any age.</p>
<p>I’m going to guess that someone with a math and economics degree at 14 has pretty theoretical interests, and it may not serve them to go to work even in an financial/economics field. </p>
<p>I agree that there is no point in waiting unless they want to.</p>
<p>Can he stay as an undergrad possibly for a couple years? Do research and take some grad classes where he is, finances prohibiting? Somehow I feel that there’s a huge difference between 14 and 16. Whether or not he’s smart enough isn’t really an issue, but it’d be a lot less odd for someone like me to be friends with a 16 year old than a 14 year old for instance.</p>
<p>^ ^</p>
<p>No. I agree with those who say someone of his talents/capabilities shouldn’t be held back for the sake of perceived “immaturity” due to age. I’ve known of some kids who started or were in the middle of undergrad as young as 10-14 who were mature and able to live as traditionally aged undergrads. Had one undergrad classmate who graduated from my college with honors at 17 and a few 14-15 year old sophomores/juniors who may have looked young…but acted and were treated no differently than the rest of us. </p>
<p>Also, OP’s son is only a year younger than one kid from my HS who graduated at 15 and went straight into a STEM PhD program. </p>
<p>If a 15 year old can do it without having gone through undergrad, I don’t see why a 14 year old with undergrad cannot.</p>