<p>I have no answers, lots of questions. One of my twins has asked about graduating from H.S. and starting college a year early. I know that she will be emotionally ready for that, and believe that she will be academically ready as well.</p>
<p>I would like to hear parents views on the pros and cons. And also how the admission counselors view such an application.</p>
<p>Will your daughter have exhausted the curriculum at the high school? That is, irrespective of whether she has enough credits to graudate, has she taken all of the hardest math offered, the hardest English offered, etc.?</p>
<p>How old is your D? What grade is she in? Hanna's questions are excellent starting points for discussions with her.
Another question would be: are there alternatives to graduating early? Why does she want to graduate early? Is it the academics? the social scene? Are there college courses available?
My own S is graduating early, but he has been taking college classes since 9th grade, and has even exhausted the offerings available in evening classes in his field of interest; most of his friends are graduating (and some have already graduated). As well, he is not particularly young (turning 17 soon), so he will not be an exception in college. Another consideration is that he knew from 9th grade that he would want to graduate early so he took all the tests necessary to do so, doubled up on English to fulfill the 4 year requirements, took APs, etc... so that his record was comparable to seniors. </p>
<p>As a matter of fact, adcoms do not give points to early graduating students. To the contrary, if there is any weakness, the tendency is to advise the student to stay another year in high school and address this weakness, ascribing it to lack of maturity. We were also counseled by one adcome not to apply EA in order to build up a longer and stronger record (but S disregarded the advice, feeling his record was strong enough).</p>
<p>If she is looking at selective colleges and above, in addition to Hanna's list, has she exceled at ECs so as to compete with those who have the extra year to assume leadership positions, have the extra summer for a good job, etc? Are scores high enough that one more shot early senior year won't benefit her.</p>
<p>IMO, it's just much harder to have as great an application after three years as after four. I think some believes it looks good to have done high school in three years, but I don't think most colleges are impressed. If my child hated high school and wanted out, I would suggest a year abroad if you can afford it or community college classes in conjunction with home schooling.</p>
<p>More info: She is in the IHS program, and will not really have "maxed out" her courses, although she would have fulfilled all of her requirements both for h.S. and most colleges. Her EC's are outstanding, espically in leadership: Student Gov't, regional VP of youth group, on Governor's health task force (by invitation)' works as a paid aid in H.S. based head start classroom (she wants to be a child psych).</p>
<p>There are indeed courses she could take at the local flagship U, and she will indeed do that if she sticks it out for her senior year. Her motivation is both social (kids seem to immature for her) and academic (kids --- even in IHS -- are not into learning for the love of learning in her opinion).</p>
<p>She has not yet taken the PSAT or SAT, but the PLAN put her in a range to score about a 32 on the ACT.</p>
<p>It depends what kind of college your D is considering applying to. The more selective, the more competitive her profile needs to be. There is a distinction to be made between fulfilling requirements for high school graduation and meeting criteria for admission to highly selective colleges. While your D will have addressed the first issue, she needs to putherself in the strongest position to meet the second. For example, a score of 32 on the ACT is very good, 35 or 36 would be even better. Will she have taken a few APs by then? A lot of students applying to colleges nowadays have taken APs or will be taking IB exams and/or college courses. </p>
<p>By the way, USA Today is carrying an article on senioritis and interest in revising the 12th grade experience in a variety of states.</p>
<p>USC has a program specifically for students such as your daughter.</p>
<p>For what it's worth, my S is going to stick it out as a senior next year, rather than enrolling early (he is ready). Several things hold him back:</p>
<ol>
<li>He wants to be 18 at the start of college, and not less mature than the other freshman males. But this may not translate for your D as she sounds very ready to go.</li>
<li>He has found a topic to pursue in 12th grade that will enhance his education, and perhaps even be more accessible in 12th grade than it will be during freshman year (more flexibility on schedule). Does your D have something special she would really like to do if she stays in hs?</li>
<li>Son wants to get a job, and have some other hs expereinces that were "scheduled" for senior year. Is this an issue for your D?</li>
<li>I do believe that colleges are less than enthusiastic about skipping a year of hs. So I don't think early hs graduation will be a net positive contributor to your D's enrollment chances...but maybe she is already accepted somewhere that she would like to go?</li>
</ol>
<p>By the way, Carnegie Mellon also has a program to promote early hs graduation, with a summer offering that leads up to early admission. The program is called thier APEA. The link is here:</p>
<p>Concerneddad, From what I know about this particular daughter of yours, sounds like graduating early would be a very do-able choice.
Hope the other twin won't be jealous. :)</p>
<p>marite: Since she is in IHS, shw ill take a few IB tests next year. She wants a top LAC -- she really loved Whitman.</p>
<p>While there are many things she could do her senior year, she just feels like getting on with college. There are always ECs, and internships, but I think she is always just wanting to forge new relationships with like-minded kids.</p>
<p>Makes sense for non lottery schools like Whitman.</p>
<p>Concerneddad:</p>
<p>If she is focused on Whitman, she could ask an adcom for input. By the time my S applied EA to colleges, he already had the scores of 4 APs and had taken several college courses; so it was easy for adcoms to evaluate his application. While one adcom, without knowing the details of my S's record, suggested applying RD, the MIT adcom said there was no need to wait until RD since he had a full enough record . </p>
<p>The problem with IBs is that the exams are scheduled in the summer, am I right? This means that she may not have the kind of record my S was able to present to colleges. It may not matter; again, a talk with a Whitman adcom would greatly clarify things. Other colleges might want more information on which to base their decisions. In that case, perhaps applying RD and taking a college course or two in the fall might be very helpful. </p>
<p>Finally, she needs to investigate whether she will be allowed by her high school to graduate early and if not, if the college will allow her to matriculate without a high school diploma. Some do, but not all. And some high schools make students jump through hoops. My S put in his request at the end of sophomore year.</p>
<p>As the quality of our public high school has gone down, I am noticing more kids graduating early. The 4x4 block schedule makes it pretty easy to get the "four years" of this and that done in three years, as well, and there are so many problems at the school that more and more I'm hearing about kids who just get the requirements done as quickly as possible so they can get outtathere . . . A lot of these kids that are graduating early go to the local community colleges but one last year was accepted to MIT.</p>
<p>Here is the USA today article on "reducing senioritis". One solution - get rid of the last semester of the senior year.</p>
<p>Carloyn, my other daughter would not mind it al all. She is very happy "growing up slowly" and would not be in such a rush to leave her horse!</p>
<p>I apprecaite all the input so far, and not sure what she will pursue when push comes to shove. But, it is helpful to have all of these point sto consider.</p>
<p>dadofsam: the suggestion is not unlike the one that has circulated for years about making the lasy year or term of law school a clinical experience.</p>
<p>Concerneddad:</p>
<p>If there is a chance that she will want to graduate early, now is the time to work things out with her school about how to fulfill the requirements, what kind of paperwork will be needed, etc... She can always change her mind.</p>
<p>thanks marite, we will.</p>
<p>concerneddad, I echo the statements from people who said talk to Whitman. Good luck.</p>