<p>I decided to post this question in the parents forum, because I know some of you have children who have graduated early. My dad talked to a friend who used to be part of Princeton's admission staff. My dad's friend said that now more than ever, high schoolers should not be graduating early, because admission into colleges are becoming more competitive every year. That same guy said that they wouldn't bother accepting someone who has graduated early, even if they did have good credentials. Basically, graduating early is an automatic rejection. </p>
<p>I had some fears about that, and I asked one of my teachers (who used to attend Rice) to talk to her friend who was part of Rice's admission staff. The person said that it really did not matter, as long if you had taken a challenging courseload, had good scores, good EC's, really good essays, and maybe a supplement explaining why you were graduating early.</p>
<p>I don't know what to believe anymore, so I was hoping if you all can give your thoughts and opinions on the issue... In today's competitive college admission, if you graduate early will it be an automatic rejection?</p>
<p>There are a lot of variables, so I think it's dangerous to have any BLANKET statements about what will or will not happen. You may wish to contact the schools you're interested in attending & ask them how they view graduating from high school early.<br>
My son's friend has had a miserable time at the local high school (junk teachers), so he's been able to enroll in college next year, which is his senior year in high school. He'll take ALL his classes there, but I believe he still will graduate officially with his high school class. He also was chosen for a free summer course at University of Wyoming.</p>
<p>My son is fortunate that he has been able to attend a very challenging private high school where he has been able to take AP courses that cover the same or more extensive & intensive content than college, so we have not had to consider alternatives to high school.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider is emotional/social maturity. One reason we held both of our children back in PRESCHOOL is so that they would have more time to grow socially and emotionally (because academically they could have been fine beginning kindergarten at age 3). It has been wonderful allowing them extra time to just be young & not have to face the social & peer pressures sooner than necessary. Initially, they were angry that we held them back, but now they are GLAD & we have no regrets.</p>
<p>Independent study is sometimes a good option for folks who need more challenge than they're able to get in the regular coursework. Many states also have "Running Start" or similar programs, which allow selected students to take some college courses while still in high school.
Good luck & hope you are able to get some answers.</p>
<p>Well, my son didn't graduate, just left school at the end of his junior year (no diploma), and he's doing just fine at MIT--he'll be a junior in the fall (he'll turn 19 in September). Some schools will accept you at the end of your junior year (MIT and CalTech are two), and some won't. Try checking the college's admission stuff for "early entrance."</p>
<p>It does not mean automatic rejection, but in most cases it will put you at a competitive disadvantage because you will have less courses and less time to have really excelled at things at high school. The competitive colleges will not count it against you that you are graduating early - but if that means you have 3 years of foreign language, 3 years of math, 3 years of science -- and are competing against students who have 4 years of each or have managed to get in a 5th year of some of those subjects... those students will look better. </p>
<p>However, some student elect to graduate early because they have already been on an accellerated track and may have exhausted their high school's offerings. So in that case, sticking around for another year of high school may not be much of a help -- that is, if a student has already taken the highest level of math and all the science courses offered at their high school, then taking 4 years to graduate could make things worse, not better, as the senior year courseload would look suspicously light. </p>
<p>So the question is: what is your application going to look like? Colleges won't hold it against you for graduating early, but they aren't going to give you any extra boost or forgiveness for deficiencies in your record, either. So do your planning carefully.</p>
<p>I would have exhausted all of the English, Spanish, Social Studies, and almost all of the math by the end of eleventh grade. If I was to stay for twelvth grade I would be taking only AP Calculus or Statistic, and one of the AP sciences. In order to be enrolled at my school and still get credit for classes, you would have to have atleast four courses, so it wouldn't really work in my case, because I was on a accelerated track. Not that many people make it past Pre-Calculus or any of the pre-requisites required for the APs at my school, so the AP classes are planned in a way that you can't take both Statistics and Calculus, because they are going on at the same time, due to lack of enrollment. The school wants to make everyone's schedule look somewhat balanced. If you want to take any AP classes and make it work..they will all have to be in different subjects. I know it's weird, but they say it works for them.</p>
<p>In that case, you fit the criteria I described in my 2nd paragraph - there's no point in staying. Are you going into 11th grade now? The main thing to do would be to explain (briefly) the situation on your application.</p>
<p>I'm going to the tenth grade, bbut in the second semester of ninth grade to the first semester of tenth grade, the counselors like to know whether or not you are graduating early , so that they can work on our plan for the next couple of years. You can change your mind at anytime, all the way up to the PSAT. By October, it's pretty much set in stone, because you'll have to indicate on the test which grade you are in. If you are graduating early and in the tenth grade, you will have to fill in the eleventh grade box, in order to be elgible for the scholarships.</p>
<p>My S graduated early and will be going to H; Marmat's S graduated early and will be going to...Princeton. From my S's school, I know one other early graduate who went to Harvard and another who went to Yale.
Here is what my S did: he was advanced in math and science, so he ran out of high school courses early and had to take college courses. He knew, going into 9th grade that he probably would want to graduate early. He took the PSAT in 10th grade, which you should do if you plan on graduating early. He didn't fill out the 11th grade box, but wrote his graduation date--2005-- in and qualified for NMF.
He worked out a plan to fulfill all his high school requirements, which involved doubling up on English so he could have 4 years of English, and taking enough electives.
He was told by an adcom at Harvard that it was advisable to spend all four years in high school. Later, he was told he should apply RD to build up more or a record to be judged by. At an MIT admission info session, I asked the Dean of Admission about this, and was told he already had so many college courses, he did not need to build more or a record.
Marmat's S had more or less the same profile as my S insofar as he has taken a slew of college courses.
There are some very prestigious colleges that do not require a high school diploma; Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford are among them. Some do, including Brown. Whatever the case, it helps with highly selective colleges not just to have exhausted what your high school is offering, but to have taken some college courses as more and more applicants now do so. If you do wish to graduate early, you need to have a very strong record, as adcoms are inclined to think that a young applicant would be better off if s/he were better prepared. In other words, your youth will not be an asset. If you can build up a strong record, however, don't shy away from early graduation. It's great that you are considering what it takes now, at the appropriate time. You can always change your mind.</p>
<p>Mine "graduated" two years "early" (whatever that means) - actually, she never attended high school. She had no diploma, didn't take the PSAT, and had no trouble anywhere except for one small school on the west coast. She did have 66 college credits, from both two- and four-year colleges. Might she have applied to different schools two years later - oh, perhaps. Would her admissions profile have lookied different? I would hope so. Did "graduating" two years have an impact on admissions decisions? Not that we can tell.</p>
<p>Someone from my school decided to graduate early and got into Penn ED. I don't think it's an automatic rejection. Typically everyone stays four years at my school, there are definitely enough courses to take, although the requirements are all fulfilled (except for English) by Senior year. You just have to give a good reason to be graduating early.</p>
<p>
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If I was to stay for twelvth grade I would be taking only AP Calculus or Statistic, and one of the AP sciences. In order to be enrolled at my school and still get credit for classes, you would have to have atleast four courses, so it wouldn't really work in my case, because I was on a accelerated track.
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<p>Unless you have taken these courses and already have college credit, I think it may be worth you while to stay and take 2 electives (other AP's )or college courses for H.S. credit.</p>
<p>The reason that I state this is the 4 years of math is pretty much going to be required at the selective schools that you are applying to. Many seniors who you will be in the pool with will have taken the AP calc and an AP science and you could benefit from taking these courses.</p>
<p>From what I have seen on the boards, for students who have graduated early and gone on to college is that they had stellar academic records, took advantage of everything that was offered at their H.S. (part of the reason they maxed out).</p>
<p>I need to test for understanding...
[quote]
I'm going to the tenth grade, bbut in the second semester of ninth grade to the first semester of tenth grade, the counselors like to know whether or not you are graduating early , so that they can work on our plan for the next couple of years.
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<p>Are you looking to leave H.S. at the end of your sophmore year or the end of your junior year. In addition to your completion of classwork, schools will also want to know if you have the maturity to attend college at such a yound age. (if you leave at the end of sophmore year you would be 15 turning 16 or just turning 16)</p>
<p>I want to leave at the end of eleventh grade. If I decide to graduate early; I will be 17 by the time I attend college. I will have four years of math by the end of eleventh grade: Algebra I Honors, Geometry Honors, Algebra II/Trig Honors, and Pre-Calculus Honors. I don't know if they would view it as rigorous, because it wouldn't have Calculus in it. </p>
<p>Most people at my school never past Pre-Calculus, because they weren't accelerated back in middle school. I didn't feel I was strong enough in math to begin the acceleration track in the seventh grade, so I decided to begin it in the eighth grade. I took Macroeconomics and Jazz II (highest level of Jazz at the school) at the local college this summer, and I did well in them. Those classes will count towards my high school credits and GPA as honors courses. I go to a public school, so that kind of puts some restrictions on attending the local college's classes during the day (no early dismissal for underclassmen).</p>
<p>
[quote]
I have a 14-year-old friend who will be a college freshman in the fall (she's turning 15 in November). Based on her experience, I don't think it's a good idea to apply at such a young age. </p>
<p>By all objective standards, she was a excellent applicant to the LACs she applied to, including Macalester, Grinnell, and Marlboro: valedictorian with a 4.0, unusual ECs (one of them was bellydancing), good SATs (mid-1400s), wonderful writer, and so on. She was rejected or waitlisted everywhere except Simmons College, where she will be attending in the fall.</p>
<p>According to her at the time,</p>
<p>
[quote]
macalester rejected me. i don't think they read my application.</p>
<p>edit: that wasn't true. macalester did read my application. like. a lot. the only objection they had was from the dean of students, who said that if they put me in a dorm with old people i would want to party hard/have sex with them and that would get the school in trouble. which sucks. but. it makes sense as a general rule i suppose? i don't know. but. it's better than a total brushoff. and it means i could get into macalester as a transfer student, since (supposedly) everyone else liked me, even the woman who sabotaged my interview. </p>
<p>such is life.
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<p>She seems to have come to terms with it now, but I know it was a disappointment--I'm not saying that Simmons isn't a great school, but they don't even offer her intended major--especially since her age was essentially the only reason she didn't get in elsewhere.</p>
<p>I suppose it could work, but the problems outweigh the benefits, IMHO.
<p>It really depends on where you want to go to college. If your choice is your local state school then you are probably fine. If you're applying to highly selective schools, you should stay and try to cross enroll at a cc to at least get in clac and some other advanced classes. I think your school will have to let you do this if you have exhausted what's available there. There are also classes nights and weekends at most ccolleges.</p>
<p>I want to apply to highly selective schools. I haven't taken the SATs yet, so all the schools on my list would be considered reaches, except for University of Houston (top 10 % rule). In order to get credit for Calculus at my school from the local college, you will have to take three semesters of Calculus I, Calculus II, and Precalculus. Would colleges see if I took Calculus I at the local college, even if the school won't accept the credit, and won't let it appear on the transcript?</p>
<p>If you are looking to apply to selectivve schools then there is an expectation that you are taking trhe most rigerous courses your school offers (regardless of what everyone else is taking) and doing well in those courses. </p>
<p>If your school offers AP, then you should be taking APs. That is why recommeded that you stay and take the AP courses. Since your school offers AP calc, then you should take it at your high school vs taking it at a community college.</p>
<p>You know, one way to answer the question is to apply in the fall of your junior year to your top choices, then re-apply the next year if you don't get in where you want to. That was my son's strategy. As for the PSAT year, he put down that he was a junior. They said about 100 students (of their 16000 semifinalists) every year go to college from their junior year; they were clear it wasn't an issue at all.</p>
<p>thesiren - from what you say, I think you should plan to graduate in 3 years, but if you are reasonably good with math, you if possible, you should also take pre-calc in summer school - so you can take calculus in your final year.</p>
<p>Thisyearsgirl - I think your comments about your 14 year old friend would not apply to someone who will be at least 16 at the time of entering college -- it is just that there really is a significant difference in maturity with younger teens, and I can see why most colleges would be reluctant to take on that degree of responsibility for supervision. I can't quite put it in words -- because I am also aware that there is a difference between 16 and 18 -- but I can see why people running a college would be very concerned about their responsibility and liability for a younger teen residing in their dorms.</p>
<p>If you go back 60-70 years or so, graduating from college at 19 was closer to the norm than the exception. Students entering at 15-16 just wasn't considered particularly odd.</p>
<p>We have a friend entering his senior year at Harvard who is 17. Naturally, the gatekeepers had to decide he was mature enough. (He was also a homeschooler, and had no official high school transcript to show, which was the same for my d.) Are there social issues? You bet. But no school is admitting an entire class of 14 or 15 or 16 year olds. They evaluate everyone on a case-by-case basis, and, yes, if the student is younger, they will look extra hard (as they would if the student was older than the norm.) It's just an extra hoop to jump through, and some schools might be uncomfortable with it, and some not.</p>