<p>I'm just curious if kids every graduate after three years? Or, do some kids take grad level courses as u/g that can count towards a PhD or masters?</p>
<p>My son won't be one of the "stars" at MIT (you know, Intel winner, IMO or Physics Olympiad, etc.) but he's been part time college for six years. We made a conscious decision not to graduate him early so he could leave home at 18, as we would not have felt comfortable with his going far from home at a younger age. (That's our family decision and no one else's) He's filled his time with work, tons of music, chess, sports, dance, and more, in addition to his school and research. </p>
<p>However, I wonder if he'll begin to feel burnt out from going to college for so many years, or if finally being challenged will just be the ultimate fabulous educational experience and he'll never want to leave MIT.</p>
<p>Do kids like this ever decide to graduate early and take some time off before grad school? Are they able to start a grad degree while in u/g? Do kids like this drop out to pursue work, a business idea, etc.?</p>
<p>Thanks for any thoughts on this topic.</p>
<p>My son started taking university courses as a HS junior (14). He graduated at 16 with 40 college credits (all HASS subjects, no STEM courses). Most of his credits were accepted for transfer into MIT, and he got early sophomore status. He has satisfied some of the HASS requirements, which frees him to explore subjects sooner. He is going to have an amazing MISTI experience this summer that grows directly out of his previous coursework.</p>
<p>He hasn’t settled on a major “for real”, so he’s trying new things in different fields. If he wanted to continue in the same fields, I have no doubt that he would be allowed to enroll in coursework as advanced as he is qualified for. Leaving MIT after three years is definitely not being considered.</p>
<p>We strongly encouraged him to take a gap year, and it has made a world of difference in his maturity and confidence.</p>
<p>Some graduate early. My son’s freshman year roommate graduated after 5 semesters. My son will stay on for four years and end up with a lot of units and graduate courses. I think both of these things are pretty common. Some students stop in the middle to work, often because their skills are highly marketable. A kid from our high school who is going to MIT is taking a gap year so that he can start at 17 instead of 16, and so that he can have a year free of regimentation. He is spending the year doing research.</p>
<p>There are lots of options, and they’re all good. It depends on how you feel, and what opportunities come up.</p>
<p>
It depends on the department. In a department like EECS, someone who would be on track to graduate after three years might do an M.Eng. in the fourth year, and graduate in four years with a bachelor’s and a master’s. Many departments don’t have an M.Eng. program, so something like this wouldn’t be possible.</p>
<p>However, it’s certainly quite common to take graduate-level courses as an undergrad, even though those courses generally can’t be applied toward a graduate degree – they might be applicable if the student ends up at MIT for grad school (though I suspect this would vary by department), but would not transfer if a student ended up elsewhere. Still, taking grad-level courses is very useful for graduate school applications, and grad-level classes are often great fun for advanced undergraduates. Personally, I took several grad-level courses as an undergrad, and although they didn’t transfer in any way to my Ph.D. program, I really enjoyed them, and thought that they helped me develop as a scientist. </p>
<p>Other advanced students might choose to pick up a second major, or to be more heavily involved in research, rather than graduating in three years.</p>
<p>catbird,</p>
<p>My son will have about 55 credits, most in math and physics, though he has two semesters of Arabic and a history course. But, these are from a community college since we definitely couldn’t afford a university and he’s been working one on one with an online math mentor for two years, though it wasn’t for formal credit. He has 9 audited units of upper division physics from the local state univ. since the teacher let him do that for free, but I don’t know how MIT would view that. He was a tutor for college seniors in one of the classes, so I think he knew his stuff, but still MIT might just make him take everything all over. He’ll only have 6 AP exams, taken mostly in freshman year (one this year in Lit).</p>
<p>He wants to major in math, possibly physics. Not sure if he’d do a minor-maybe music?</p>
<p>At any rate, it’s good to know there are options. I’m sure my son will figure it all out.</p>
<p>Do students often take classes at Harvard in math (or other areas) that might not be offered at MIT?</p>
<p>I’m taking half graduate level courses, and at least half of the students in those classes are juniors or seniors. It seems somewhat foolish to <em>not</em> take as many graduate/upper-level classes as possible instead of graduating early given that it’s considerably more difficult to be able to register for MIT’s graduate classes after graduating if one doesn’t intend to go to grad school (or is going somewhere other than MIT for grad school).</p>
<p>
Nah – he can submit the transcripts/syllabi for courses he’s taken for credit to the transfer credit examiners, and credit will be awarded for anything that’s substantially similar to the MIT course offered. And for anything that’s not awarded credit, he can take an advanced standing exam and be awarded credit based on the grade he gets. First semester freshman advanced standing exams are pass/no record as well, so he might as well take a few if he wants to receive credit for some of the work he’s done in high school.</p>
<p>In general, all PhD programs have their own distinct requirements, and want students to either pass out of their requirements or take classes in them.</p>
<p>Taking advanced classes always should be for enrichment (a purpose for which it is great, and could aid in one’s academic development), as I have observed little correlation between the speed of getting a degree and the amount of knowledge one has coming in, beyond a point. The graduate school qualifying exams will be challenging no matter what, and one just sort of has to review when the time comes.</p>