<p>My son left high school early–no diploma and in fact they refused to give him one when asked–and went to MIT at age 16. He did not have straight As (although he had some) nor did he have a great work ethic. What he did have was a hunger for challenge. He finished MIT after 3 1/2 semesters with a semester off and is now starting his own company at age 21.</p>
<p>My feeling is: senior year of high school is overrated.</p>
<p>I think sometimes parents need to roll with what’s happening. Last year my daughter decided to combine 11th and 12th grades during this year in order to attend college a year earlier. She drove her plan hard. After lots of conferences, the school (and we parents) bought her plan. She’s a plain old B student who finds high school intolerable at best. Why confine her there when she has dreams of so much more? I don’t see her as not-finishing-what-she-started but instead as finishing-what-she-started-faster-than-most. She’s taking two English classes and two social studies classes as well as the other stuff she needs to get out and, academically, college will certainly not be this crazed. My two older kids (one a college grad, one a college soph) look at her workload in wonder. It took me a while to understand and trust my daughter’s motivation, but now I say mazel tov! By the way, she’s already two for two in acceptances (with seven more to hear from). “Success” has many definitions, I am finding. Now only if my EFC wasn’t more than I personally earn in a year (thanks, step-dad)!</p>
<p>My D combined grades 11 & 12 for a variety of reasons, due to her youth we had her do CC so she will be 18 in university- she is applying to two of them, one already admitted her with a large merit award and the other one will be an easy public safety admit.</p>
<p>It worked for HER, it is very unusual and a very personal decision. One of her sibs could have stayed in HS another year and loved it, another sister graduated young and did not recommend that her little sis go away to school too young and she was not straining to get away from home, so her plan evolved.</p>
<p>4tocollege, I posted a similar question here 3 1/2 years ago and received very thoughtful and helpful responses. Our son also left high school after his junior year. He told us three days after the school year ended that he could not bear to go back in the fall. He had taken mostly AP classes with seniors and felt that while a couple teachers were good, he could no longer make forward intellectual progress. He is also a musician and needed to make a teacher change. He was already a year ahead so it meant entering college at age 16. This all transpired on the way to a sample lesson with a professor at an LAC 2 1/2 hours from our home. While he was in his lesson, I went and talked to a dean that I had met on a previous visit. The dean said that every year the school has a few students that feel they are in a similar situation. She contacted admissions for us and set up a meeting for our son with a counselor that handled double degree students. We submitted his application two days later. I think his high school was happy that he found a solution as the GC hand delivered the application for him. He performed an audition the following week. By the end of the summer, the school board agreed to accept his college classes in lieu of his high school senior year so he could graduate with his class. He ended up transferring to a larger LAC after two years, but felt his first two years were exactly what he needed. </p>
<p>He is on track to graduate in 2009 (five years) with double degrees and a minor in his new field of interest. People still ask him if he felt it was the right move. He tells them that he is grateful that we took him seriously enough to help him find a solution and that he is extremely happy and challenged.</p>
<p>Our family is grateful to the posters at CC for sharing their experiences on the board. We have two very happy sons who have benefited from information gleaned from this forum.</p>
<p>Something else it’s important to note, if you’re applying to private schools, it’s important to have your high school on board with your plan, since you need letters of refernece, etc. And sometimes, the high school won’t be on board, and it can hurt your chances. Someone posted a story like that, their GC was deadset against it, they got into a state school but no private schools.</p>
<p>Of course, if your goal is a state school, it may not matter at all. I applied to my state school, I didn’t even tell anyone at my high school I was doing it. No need.</p>