<p>Kenf,</p>
<p>I guess that is the difference between doing what is right and what is easy.</p>
<p>That depends on your perspective. If you are in high school, you should finish it. If you are in college, you should finish it. That’s not to say that you can’t change majors, drop IB, etc… But in this case we are talking about dropping high school. YES, he may have enough credits to graduate. Unfortunately, we are debating too many “What Ifs”. The original poster has never come back yet to define “BURNED OUT”. Until that is defined, any speculation is not founded.</p>
<p>In my son’s case with me wanting him to “Finish what he started”, it had to do with his IB extended essay and HL/SL tests. If he wasn’t doing in well in the IB program, then I wouldn’t have a problem with him dropping the program and returning to normal classes. In his case, he is a straight “A” 4.0 student in the IB program. His reason for not wanting to finish the extended essay or the HL/SL tests is because only 2 of the 7 colleges he applied to give credit for it; and of the 4 schools he is very serious about, it doesn’t really matter. So in his case, the reason to “Finish” is more of integrity and work ethic than it is about education. It’s a proven fact that one reason most employers go after college graduates and separated military personnel isn’t so much for the education aspect as it is the discipline and determination of the person to finish what they started and not quit. In my opinion, quitting is a very easy bad habit to start and very difficult to get rid of.</p>
<p>But a student dropping the IB program in their junior year; a college student changing majors or taking a year off; is not quitting. However, when I interview people for a job and I see college credit but no degree, it makes me wonder. If I was an admissions counselor at a college and I saw a GED, I would wonder. If I saw an early graduation because they had enough credits, then I would want to see some stellar grades and course load. This is all natural. When someone goes outside of the norm, questions arise. Again however, none of this means anything until the original poster defines what they meant by “Burned Out”. Is his grades all straight “A’s” and he’s bored? Is he a “C” student and doesn’t like school? Or is he someone who has a difficult time completing anything he starts? Hopefully the OP will clarify for us.</p>
<p>“If you are in high school, you should finish it.”</p>
<p>Why in the world should you finish it? If you are ready for college, why not go to college? There are lots of reasons not to finish high school:</p>
<ol>
<li>You max out what is available at your high school, so your senior year you’d have to take college courses anyway even to have a full schedule.</li>
<li>You have something very specific you want to study that is only available in college, and you don’t want to waste time on the 12th grade curriculum.</li>
<li>You are not happy in high school. It is not a good environment, but you’d likely do better in a college environment.</li>
<li>You have long-term educational goals that will take a long time, and you want to get a head start.</li>
<li>You chafe under the overly structured style of high school and learn better in a more independent environment.
etc. etc.</li>
</ol>
<p>Sticking it out for the sake of sticking it out is just silly. The main advantage of sticking it out is that, for many people, it offers much greater choice of potential college. But for many people, that’s not the case, or not worth the trade-off.</p>
<p>thanks everyone for the replies. Let me explain “burnt out”. My S is an A student, already taken 2 AP with 5’s on both, this year taking 1 AP and 4 IB exams. He is involved in 2 varsity sports, band, Boy Scouts, President of NHS, and a bunch of other civic activities. He is feeling unstimulated by the teachers in his HS. He feels that they teach directly to the AP/IB exams. There is no creativity or discussions encouraged. He is craving more academic stimulation. The local CC has some courses to offer, but very few are available in the evenings after school hours. The IB program will not allow him to take CC during the school day. He is interested in the program at St. Johns in Annapolis, but I am concerned with the distance away from home being his first time away. There is a 4 year Honors college about 2 hours from home that also allows for “dual enrollment” that is not too late for the application. </p>
<p>My fear is that if he is not stimulated he might lose his fervor for learning. He has stated a few times in the past that he might not even want to go to college. He seems to have gained some enthusiasm since learning about early admittance possibilities.</p>
<p>Your son is a perfect example of someone who should leave high school and go to college early.</p>
<p>Two thoughts: Simons Rock is part of Bard College and admits kids to college during their h.s. aged years. It’s in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. </p>
<p>At our S’s h.s. they let him “skip 11th grade” rather than “graduate a year early” so that he was a Senior in his final year, attended his Sr. Prom and all that junk. When he applied to college, he was applying as a Senior that autumn. A problem was they couldn’t assign him “class rank.” We had no time to visit college campuses, but he knew what he wanted fairly well without the visits. It was very rushed, however, compared to the thoughtful processes of my older 2 kids. </p>
<p>I am sure he didn’t want to be home alone any more, after the older two sibs left for college. He’s very happy to have taken off a year earlier than we ever expected.
Actually, he intended a gap year but the college that admittted him (to a competitive, creative program) wouldn’t hold his place to the next year, and he didn’t want to risk losing his acceptance. So his gap year abroad will hopefully morph into a Junior Term abroad instead.</p>
<p>I “skipped my junior year of hs”. My transcript hs showed my 9th, 10th and “12th” grade courses. I know two other students who did the same—one is now at Caltech, another at MIT, and I’m at Brown. We’re all rather happy with our decisions. </p>
<p>It was something I thought about for a long time. I took my SAT II’s at the end of my sophomore year, my SATs the very beginning of my junior year, applied to 3 colleges my junior year, and only fully committed to the idea of going to college early when I sent in my “Yes! I’m attending!” card that spring. Every step of the way I kept in mind that it was okay to back out and decide to go back to high school if I wasn’t absolutely sure. By the time the decision came, I knew very well that going to college was right for me. But it wasn’t a hasty or rushed decision made out of temporary desperation. I sat on the idea for nearly a year.
I’m not saying everyone who makes this decision has to think about it for a long time, but it should be a thought out and very deliberate decision to go to college rather than to flee the stress of high school. Junior year is always the most stressful year, anyway. The seniors tend to be more relaxed. </p>
<p>Your son sounds like he might be a competitive applicant. He sounds like someone who, in his senior year, would probably have a wide selection of colleges to choose from.(In my mind, being a competitive application is about having choices–the ability to possibily attend a ‘top school’ if you so choose, but to not be bound to it. Just because I have the money to buy caviar, for example, doesn’t mean I’m going to prefer it over a delicious and cheap PB&J). He probably still has a shot at rolling admissions, but the deadline for most schools has passed, so he’ll have to decide whether he wants to face the “What Ifs” of the schools he could’ve chose from had he waited another year. I only applied to my top choices that year, because I didn’t want to settle knowing that I might’ve done better the next year. As it turned out, I got into my first choice anyway, but it would’ve been another important aspect of the decision.</p>
<p>Will he be graduating from HS, or will he be applying as a HS junior, without diploma? Many schools will consider early graduates, but fewer will admit kids that did not finish HS.</p>
<p>I also skipped 11th grade, graduated from HS, and went to college early. Although I was ready academically, it wasn’t a good idea because of my lack of emotional and social maturity, and I spent the next two years focusing more on partying than studying. For a more mature kid, it could work. Obviously this kid has the intellectual ability to do well in college a year early, but that’s not the only, or perhaps even the most important factor.</p>
<p>Is there any way your son could be reclassified as a HS senior if he has enough credits to graduate, or could if he went to summer school? Even if it meant a non-IB diploma, that could look better for adcoms. Has he visited the honors college, does he like it, and would that still be one of his top choices if he stayed in HS another year? Is not allowing him to take CC classes during school hours a policy of the IB program or of the HS itself? Does he want out of the IB program in particular or HS in general? Think through all the possible questions and pros and cons before deciding, and don’t rush into a decision.</p>
<p>With a clearer picture of the situation, I now see your son could indeed contemplate college. The issue now becomes whether he can apply to some good colleges at this stage. Beyond the issue of application deadlines, there is the high school diploma to consider; some colleges accept applicants without a high school diploma (for instance homeschooled students) others insist on one. Will he need financial aid? Scholarship application deadlines may have also passed.
Since you are in Florida, is UF one of the schools under consideration? Is he eligible for Bright Futures? Has he taken the SAT or ACT and the SATIIs he may need to apply to top colleges?
One scenario to contemplate if he is on target to fulfill his high school graduation requirements by June is to take the next year off. He take some courses at the local cc, work and earn some money while applying to colleges in the fall in a more leisurely and thoughtful manner than he could right now.</p>
<p>Simon’s Rock is a great idea. Small nurturing and designed for students of high school age. St. John’s would be a great choice - it’s so tiny it’s more like going to boarding school, however I’m not sure you can still apply. At least it seemed like in my nephew’s case the group interview was a major part of the application process. (He’s now very happy at their New Mexico campus by the way.)</p>
<p>Simon’s Rock is really appropriate for a younger student.</p>
<p>maybe graduating in december of his senior year would be an option to consider? he could then either start college classes in january or take the spring off and then start classes the following fall. what is the h.s.'s policy on early graduation?</p>
<p>oh, you guys are good! I truly enjoy all the possibilities posted. In fact, I am going to show him all these posts to help him make some decisions. This board sure saves on counseling costs!!!</p>
<p>My D knows someone who graduated a year early because she was smart, bright and “ready” to move on. She is now a Soph. and has really fallen. She is now a party girl and making some bad decisions about friends and activities. All her Freshman friends have left her due to this. There is a reason for Senior year in HS, it is emotional maturity, that EQ vs. IQ. Graduating in Dec. and taking courses at a local college seems like a really good medium.</p>
<p>4tocollege - I don’t know your S at all, so I’m not in a position to advise whether he should, or should not skip his HS senior year. Doing such is highly unusual, and there are reasons that it’s unusual. Your S may be the exception — not knowing your son I can’t address the upside. But the downside potential of beginning college too soon certainly dwarfs the downside of finishing his IB program.</p>
<p>NewHope33, that’s easy for you to say, but you don’t have to sit through another year of high school and finish the mind-deadening IB program. We’re talking about a real person here, with real hopes and dreams and needs. Some very bright kids thrive in high school, some suffer through it, and some needs to take creative and “unusual” steps to make it work for them.</p>
<p>Part of emotional maturity is finishing what you start. Why is IB “mind deadening”? Will the OP’s son jump to an Honors program at college and find it “mind deadening” in two years? Again, I don’t know the people involved and the boy may be VERY mature, but jumping from one thing to another to keep him happy and not bored is not mature. Maturity might be finishing the program, but looking for outside programs, volunteer work, job, etc. that will fulfill him. Our HS has a program where IB students can intern locally with Drs. , lawyers, etc. after school. Perhaps this would be a better way to “liven up his mind”.</p>
<p>This is what the OP wrote: </p>
<p>"He is feeling unstimulated by the teachers in his HS. He feels that they teach directly to the AP/IB exams. There is no creativity or discussions encouraged. He is craving more academic stimulation. "</p>
<p>That is why I said “mind-deadening”. Even good high schools are very limited in what they can offer the brightest students. Going through 3 years of high school, doing extremely well, and then moving on to college is not “jumping from one thing to another.”</p>
<p>Has your son visited St. John’s at Annapolis (they also have a campus at Santa Fe). The school is excellent for the right person – but a visit is imperative to see if it is the right fit. I would suggest that he not compromist on college choice just because he feels like he won’t get much out of his senior year. What he will get is choices. Maybe he could graduate mid-year?</p>
<p>St. John’s does not require a high school diploma for admittance, so it is an option – they don’t take many juniors, however.</p>