Is it something colleges really care about if I’m the youngest in my grade or is it an insignificant bump?
It’s not a plus. In fact, depending on how many years younger than the other students u are, it could be a detractor if it causes the college to wonder about your maturity level.
If you skipped the grade in high school, you might not be as accomplished in ECs as someone who had 4 years to work on them. If you interview, you may not come across as poised as some of your older classmates. If you took a short cut on rigor in your high school curriculum because of grade skipping in HS, that could matter. But if the skip was before that, and your credentials are comparable to other seniors, it shouldn’t matter.
At my kids’ prep schools there were many kids who DELIBERATELY repeated a grade in HS to have a size, academic, athletic & maturity advantage (i.e. “red-shirting”)
I doubt it will be a bump at all. At best, it won’t matter.
I’d always heard of “red-shirting” happening at a young age, such as postponing entrance to kindergarten so that the kid is one of the older students in their class (giving potential advantages in athletics and maturity). I’ve never heard of students doing this deliberately when they’re in high school, though. I can’t imagine how much of an advantage (if any) that would really give in their teenage years. I would think it would be more of a detriment than a bonus, and I can’t see colleges looking favorably on a student who (for no good reason) decides to repeat a year of high school.
I second @intparent. I personally skipped a grade in elementary school (grade 3), but it doesn’t let on unless my age comes up in conversation. I saw it as an immediate benefit rather than a long-term one. In high school I doubt it is terribly important unless your skipped grade was in high school (e.g. graduating early or what have you). Other than that, universities probably just see your age as a number for other reasons, not whether or not you were advanced enough in elementary or middle school to be brought ahead a year. They want to see whether that holds up now as a high schooler.
Going to college as a minor may present some challenges that kids who are over 18 don’t have to deal with, especially if that student goes to school a long way from parents. Some colleges may not be as equipted to deal with this as well as boarding schools.
My daughter went as a 17 year old, and there were some extra forms for me to sign. If she’d needed health care, there might have been more issues but she didn’t.
At the elite college preparatory boarding schools (e.g. Exeter, Andover) a sizable percentage of the kids apply as “repeats”. The colleges do NOT view it negatively at all. In some of my kids’ classes as much as a third of the kids are repeats. And you just thought the kids at these elite schools were just smarter. They are, on average, older.