<p>Another agreement with Calmom and Mini - there are always exceptions, but even the intellectually advanced kid may well not be emotionally ready to live on his or her own, and the liability of the college would be great. Skipping one's senior year and beginning college at 16 is quite different.</p>
<p>calmom: I agree about the difference in maturity, but I don't know where colleges would draw the line in terms of what age is mature enough. If anything, it'll be a horror story of what happens when a very promising student doesn't get proper advising. If my friend had waited one more year she would've been a shoo-in at many of the LACs she was looking at (she was not interested in the Ivy League).</p>
<p>Thank you all for the advice and different perspectives. I decided to make an alternate plan for staying my senior year, just in case I alternate and keep going back and forth. I want to have some padding to fall back on, if I decide to change my mind at the last minute. Also, I didn't know that you could reapply if you were rejected the first time around. I might consider doing that, but first I have to get a good PSAT score. I emailed the schools that I'm interested in...most of them replied back with the generic replies saying that they get lots of email and it would be better if I called or looked on their websites. Some of them said that it would take them a couple of days to answer it, but they would still answer it. Some of the schools I know I will have to call to discus it with them. Hopefully, I will be able to contact them before admission gets really busy.</p>
<p>I might take a gap year or become an exhange student. There are so many possibilities out there...</p>
<p>I have to go and run some errands for my parents, I will be back to finish that thread of thought. Thank you all again.</p>
<p>Maturity is a big issue. One of my twin daughters has decided to graduate a year early (actually she did her soph/jr years together), and so will be a senior this year. When she identified a top choice school, the Dean of Admissions scheduled an interview with her just to establish her emotional readiness.</p>
<p>Just to let you guys know, Harvard along with most top tier schools have a early college program. I saw the requirements as I was looking through CMU's application and it's a good idea for those who are ready. Most schools say that you should have exhausted the tough courses at your school and your reason should be 'my high school isnt challenging me enough'. They normally require you to contact an admissions person and they have to approve your application before it will go through. I know that someone from my school got in Harvard early, which I think is crazy because there is no way she exhausted courses at my school(our math goes up to differential equations, bio goes up to dna 1/2, neurobiology, cs goes up to ai,supercomputing,etc., chem goes up to orgo). Anyways, its definately possible and I think you can get in with less difficulty granted you have decent SATs and good reasons for going. I suggest actually going up to campus and trying to get some time with important people in admissions so you can one-on-one chat with them(more mature than letting your mom/dad explain to them!). Tell em your situation and more than likely they'll be impressed and approve your applicatioin at which point, if ur scores are good, you have a great shot.</p>
<p>thesiren, as the parent of 2 kids who have participated in short foreign exchanges, I would highly encourage you to look at the possibility of either a junior or senior year foreign exchange. Consider the possibility of either a junior year exchange or senior year exchange, as well as a gap year. </p>
<p>My daughter did a semester exchange in her junior year - it has messed up class scheduling tremendously, but was well worth it. I think a full year exchange would have been better -- but that would have made it more difficult to graduate high school on time, so she wanted to go only for a semester. The problem with a semester exchange is that just at the point when the student begins to get really comfortable with the host language, its time to come home. So generally year-long exchanges are the best way to get the full value of the experience.</p>
<p>A person for whom I am concerned is also wrestling with this dilemma. The only courses available at her high school senior year will be AP Calculus, science research, and AP Latin, which would be a self-study. If she stays, she'd have to enroll in a local college to get a 4th English credit, as she was accelerated in that subject. There are other science courses to take, but apparently they're not very challenging.</p>
<p>However, if she graduated early, she'd lose a lot of potential college credit in the form of AP and dual enrollment, and she'd have to take the SAT, SAT IIs, and ACTs this year. Also, she'd miss out on NMS, and lose a scholarship. She wants to apply to a school that requires a diploma, so she'd have to take an extra English credit online this year.</p>
<p>Does anybody have any advice? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>How many courses does your friend have to take?
So far, I count 3 plus English. Is there no 12th grade English class she can take besides AP-English Language? What about AP-American literature? or a non-AP course? My S loved his class on semiotics. I would have been happy for him to take a course on Shakespeare of Russian literature, both of which were available to 12th graders. He also enjoyed his arts elective course.
It looks to me as if your friend would be better off staying through 12th grade.</p>
<p>She goes to an overcrowded public school, and options are slim.
She has 4: AP Latin (self-study), AP Calculus, Science Research, and dual-enrollment English. There are no other English classes, as she will have taken both AP Language and AP Literature. The only other English classes are those available if you downphase- in other words, they're the same material, but less challenging.</p>
<p>Could she take college classes? If she will be a junior, she could spread the more advanced classes over two years instead of one. My S took two foreign languages instead of just one, because he had holes in his schedule.
Re NMSF status: she could still qualify if she takes the PSAT as a junior yet decides to graduate early. Some qualifiers are college freshmen by the time they make finalists.</p>
<p>It's nice to know that you can still qualify for the Natinal Merit Scholarship, if you are graduating early, in the junior year. There are many options I can do that will be benificial to me, it's all in deciding which ones I should do.</p>
<p>To Willow: The girl you are talking about sounds remarkable.She is ambitious, and you can tell she likes to learn. I hope she can come to a solution that will help her.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It's nice to know that you can still qualify for the Natinal Merit Scholarship, if you are graduating early, in the junior year. There are many options I can do that will be benificial to me, it's all in deciding which ones I should do.
[/quote]
You need to fill in the graduation date correctly to be eligible.</p>
<p>Marite--actually, my son filled in "junior" and finished HS at the end of his junior year. He was still eligible even though he was a freshling when a semi-finalist. They took his college grades for first semester. He even sent in his paperwork weeks past the deadline, yet still became a finalist. No money was forthcoming, but he did get a nice certificate.</p>
<p>I think the key is why you're accelerating. If it's just to be the youngest kid on campus, colleges will detect that. If you've exhausted everything you can get locally (and done very well), you have a valid reason.</p>
<p>To willow - why doesn't your friend look on this as a semi-gap year? Take what courses she can from her h.s. and work, do community service, immerse herself in a sport, music, other e.c.? She could look at this as an opportunity, not a disappointment in her school's offerings.</p>
<p>Dmd:</p>
<p>My S's counselor made quite a song and dance about eligibility. S took PSAT as a sophomore, filled in sophomore, but also put down 2005 as his graduating date. Apparently, there are two different boxes. GC may also have mentioned early graduation in his rec.
No money for S, either, but a nice certificate.</p>
<p>I remember a homeschooler who took PSAT as a sophomore (and filled all the boxes accordingly), and after that she decided to graduate early. Her parents contacted NMSQT with the correction, and she got the certificate, too. I don't recall at what stage they corrected her graduation year, it was not very late in the game, but they already knew her scores by then.</p>
<p>The blog of Matt McGann, an MIT admissions officer, </p>
<p><a href="http://matt.mitblogs.com/%5B/url%5D">http://matt.mitblogs.com/</a> </p>
<p>has a 29 July 2005 entry, "Doogie Howser, et al.," that is of some relevance to this discussion.</p>
<p>Great link, token -- that blog entry also links in turn to an article here:
<a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/08/issue/news_feature_norm.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/08/issue/news_feature_norm.asp</a></p>
<p>The Technologyreview.com article looks at the backgrounds of several youngsters at MIT - and is very positive about the accomplishments of all the students, but makes this observation:
[quote]
But there is a common theme running through all their stories: disrupted, and at times outright broken, relationships with the schools they attended.
[/quote]
As a former young person who also graduated early and entered college at age 16 - I found that I really related to that characterization and the account of one student who felt "miserable" and "out of place" at high school. So while I don't think anyone should make life decisions solely because things are bad at home - I do think that reinforces my feeling that it is more than just an academic decision. For kids who are enjoying their high school years and actively engaged in ec's -- it may be better to stay in high school and take some online courses or local college coursees to supplement a deficient curriculum. Life is not a race.</p>
<p>My son was not interviewed by Tech Review for this article. His relationship with both of the high schools he attended was just fine. In fact, he's a welcome guest on both campuses when he visits. He was just hugely bored with high school and chose to leave.</p>
<p>My S, who graduated early had a good relationship with his high school and some wonderful teachers. But he also felt the need for more intellectual challenges and fewer scheduling conflicts.</p>