<p>I am new to this Forum and have a couple of questions I hope some of you can help me with. Please bear with my ignorance of how this works, as I'm a newbie at Forums.</p>
<p>My son is on pace to graduate high school (private, distance-learning) in 3 years with a gpa above 4.0 due to all his Honors classes. He'd graduate at 17. How do colleges view that accomplishment? Is it a real bonus? Because he is so academically intense, he has basically no extra-curricular activities. He has just been offered membership in the National Hnor Society that just opened a chapter at the high school and we are looking into the time committment for the projects. Would NHS membership be a real plus for college admission?</p>
<p>Definitely encourage him to get involved in things outside of academics; colleges really value that. But of course follow his interests and preferences--don't force him to join any activity he doesn't want to. But doing something nonacademic, be it a job, volunteering, sports, the arts or...whatever, might be a great opportunity for personal growth/social experience for your son as well as making him more competitive for colleges.</p>
<p>okay, well... first of all, NHS is no big deal to most colleges</p>
<p>I tihnk it will hurt him a lot if he doesn't have any extracurriculars. I don't know about graduating early. I think that largely depends on what is said in his teacher reccomendations.</p>
<p>I'd do something special for that final year. Colleges will still see how he graduated in three years. I think taking a gap year and making it productive would certainly help compesate for a lack of extracurriculars.</p>
<p>Thanks to both of you for quick replies! With regards to the EC - that's always been a concern. His interests are history and writing. He has written some extensive research papers for school that I expect we'd submit with his applications, but that isn't an interest that gets him involved with a group. One of the reasons I'm looking into the NHS is that it requires some leadership projects and I figure it fills in some of that EC gap. I don't have much info on the NHS requirements - only that it will take 56 hours of work during an 8 week period in the spring.</p>
<p>As for post-graduation - we are considering his having a "gap year" when he would get a job and take a couple classes at the JC. It's too soon to make that choice, so timewise I'm going on the assumption he'll go to college right away. Is it common to defer your college acceptance for a year?</p>
<p>alrite unfortunately your stuck between a rock and a hard place, unfortunately colleges dont value NHS as much because almost everyone in the USA with a gpa of 85 or abve is in. Also, colleges don't care about your average if you dont participate in ec activites. Try to talk him into joining the Newspaper and Yearbook clubs if hes into writing. Get him into some kind of sports or jobs. And unfortunately, its extremely hard to take a break of a year between hs and undergrad college, unless there is a very good excuse, students are pretty much forced into going right into college. And finishing hs in 3 yrs is not a "huge" accomplishment if all he does is write essays and do his hw. Im not trying to offend you, but really talking him into going to hs for all 4 yrs and helping him divide his time between school and activities so that he does well in both will be much better in the long run, as that is what really counts. Most colleges actually see finishing in 3 yrs as a thing that will hurt instead of help him, actually.</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, I'm somewhat in your son's predicament. If all goes well with financial aid, I'll be graduating this year at 16, after 3 years of high school, and matriculating to Cornell University next fall. Like your son, I have quite a high GPA and enough credits to graduate early; I don't have great ECs, but I did accentuate the ones I did have. If your son put a lot of time into his writing, then perhaps he should write an essay about that, etc. </p>
<p>Most colleges allow students to defer for a year. Another option, though a lot weirder and more expensive, is one that I was considering: doing a "gap year" at a prep school. I was considering doing a year at Choate or Andover, but of course that's not for everyone.</p>
<p>i know people who graduated early and basically didn't get into the college of their choice at all. i also know ppl with amazing gpas and sats who didn't get into top schools either.</p>
<p>colleges really like to see people who are involved, because there are tons of people out there who have 4.0s and 2400's on their SATs who also find time to be in tons of ec's. </p>
<p>in my opinion I'd tell him to stay in school for that 4th year, take some easy classes, and join some clubs his senior year so he has that to put down on his transcripts along with that 4.0 it would look a lot more attractive to those top schools.</p>
<p>But then again, it might be a little late. Colleges are wary of the "padding" that comes along with admissions; they usually aren't too interested in last-minute club memberships or a plethora of new sports.</p>
<p>I am graduating high school in three years,and I am applying to colleges this year. Most of the colleges that I contacted (Northwestern, Rice, WashU, and etc.) basically advised against it, unless the applicant is able to hold their own against applicants that have all four years, including extracurriculars and academics. It also depends on what type of schools that he is wanting to apply to. </p>
<p>NHS is not really a bonus, because different schools have different types of NHS. For example, at my school NHS doesn't really do anything important, it's more for putting it on your application as an honor (which is why I refuse to join), but at my cousin's school the NHS is very active in helping the community and promoting scholarly excellence. If your son is thinking about applying to "top" schools, he'll need more ECs than just membership in NHS. He can make it a bonus, if he takes an active role in it, like gaining leadership and starting programs to help people, it could be a good start. If he is a freshmen, he has time to find some ECs that he is interested in. ECs should never be done to impress a college (so don't "pad" the activity resume), but at the same time colleges like to see ECs that are interesting to the applicant, keep in mind that some top colleges practically brag about how many 2400s and perfect 4.0 people that they reject. </p>
<p>If you are concerned about his chances at schools, I can update you on how I do, so that you know what to expect in admission for three year grads (although you should take it as a grain of salt, because admissions can change from one year to another, and your son and I are different people).</p>
<p>I would have him do a gap year, but instead of having him take classes at the junior college, why doesn't he to volunteer work or Americorps or something? More classes just continue to reinforce his academic strengths, which he doesn't need. The reason colleges care about ECs is that it shows involvement in the community, whether that be school community or otherwise. If he doesn't get involved in non-academic pursuits, he still hasn't shown how he will contribute to the college community. Please consider a gap year of community experiences. And NHS - it isn't necessary, but it wouldn't hurt. So it's your choice. ANd I disagree with DSoke - no one is "forced" to go right into colleges - colleges often have more respect for people who have had productive gap years.</p>
<p>Gap year baby! I highly recommend it, it did wonders for a good friend of mine and if your son is strong academically but weak extracirricularly than this is a great opportunity to catch up and have a great time.</p>
<p>Your son sounds like a really bright kid; here's how I see it.</p>
<p>One of my friends skipped two years of schooling (before high school, so he still had 4 years at a private school) and graduated when he was 16. He had a decent gpa, probably around 3.6 UW, which is good enough to be in the top 20% at my high school. My school send about 20% of its graduating class to ivy-leagues + stanford each year. However, this kid got rejected from his top choices, including Dartmouth, because they were concerned about his maturity level.</p>
<p>So yes, it is impressive that your son will graduate early, but you should try to make sure that his academic maturity is shown to be adequate by his teacher and counselor recommendations, and that his essays also show a tone of maturity and eagerness to learn. It's not the age so much as the skipped year in this case, because some seniors do graduate at 17 (I will, and I didn't skip a year).</p>
<p>If that doesn't work, there is still hope. My friend took a gap year without any impressive activities and got into Dartmouth the next year. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the suggestions. I appreciate hearing from so many people. As for the lack of ECs, that has always been a concern, of course, and is made more difficult by the fact that my son is, in the most descriptive word, homeschooled. He is not in a traditional school setting so does not have the opportunity to work on the school newspaper or yearbook, etc. This does, on the other hand, give him unique opportunities that might appeal to colleges. One of his teachers suggested he start submitting articles to magazines with the expectation they would not be published. Strange as it may sound at first, "collect those rejection letters" because it shows an effort and interest in seriously pursueng writing. We're also looking into having him do tutoring this spring/summer for kids about to enter middle school.</p>
<p>For those of you who wrote that you are also completing HS in 3 years, we'd love to hear how it works for you. Congratulations and best of luck to you!</p>
<p>Thanks, also, for the information about NHS. I tried to do some research on NHS last night (before finding this Forum) and didn't learn much. I'm not surprised it is inconsistent amongst campuses. For us, the benefit to accepting membership would be the service projects my son would have to do, thereby giving him some sort of EC. On the other hand, as I look at the time committment and dates involved, it would be very difficult for him to accomplish the work. That's the fence I'm currently sitting on (ouch!) and I thank you all for explaining NHS 'in the real world' to me.</p>
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My son is on pace to graduate high school (private, distance-learning) in 3 years with a gpa above 4.0 due to all his Honors classes. He'd graduate at 17. How do colleges view that accomplishment? Is it a real bonus?
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colleges aren't going to say "wow, he graduated in 3 years!" so this is no help. As others have pointed out, maturity is always a concern with younger grads. As for the lack of ECs, it depends on what level school he's aiming at. Most colleges in the country accept most of their applicants, so he can get in somewhere. If you spend some time on the search, you can find a good fit. However for elite colleges you need good ECs because they have plenty of applicants with them. And kids who graduate in 3 years sacrifice one year of ECs compared to their fellow applicants. As Stanford says on its website
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We want to see the impact your participation has had on that club, in your school, or in the larger community. With extracurricular activities, a sustained depth of commitment is more important than a long list of clubs you have joined.
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<p>As for taking classes at a JC during a gap year, be careful here! I know that at the UC schools (Cal, UCLA, etc) you can apply either as a frosh or junior, period. And if you've enrolled at any other college after receiving your HS diploma (except for summer school before frosh year) you can't apply as a frosh. I don't know how many other schools this applies to, but want you to be aware of it up front.</p>