<p>This topic also relates closely with the High School Life forum, but I wanted to post it here in College Life to possibly gain the perspective of some current college students.</p>
<p>I'm a junior in high school, and I'll probably skip my senior year to go to the University of Southern California with the Resident Honors Program (RHP).</p>
<p>I'll only have taken three AP exams (was planning to take a few more in senior year). Another thing to note is that I'm currently in the IB program, which I'll drop out of when going to college early. This means not much college credit. I've heard about IB students with lots of college credit entering as sophomores (or higher). Is this an issue? Were you glad you had AP/IB college credit (if you had any)?</p>
<p>High school doesn't suit me because of the limited opportunities in engineering and computer science. By skipping senior year, I probably won't be missing much, except general IB and AP classes, which I don't really enjoy or get much from.</p>
<p>I agree. If your high school offers limited opportunities for you, it's time to move on. Don't worry about the credits you will or won't get from AP/IB, you'll have plenty of opportunity to get all the credit you need once you start college.</p>
<p>If high school isn't challenging enough for you, then go for it. But, there's a student in my school (junior) who tried the same thing you are doing and got rejected from USC - and she had a 1460 SAT and good grades, but her class rank was REALLY low for trying to leave early (she was 8/78 in her grade - to put it in perspective, I am 8/77 in my senior class, but my 4.7 wpga would be valedictorian in the junior grade, so this girl must have had a pretty low gpa for wanting to leave early). So she's stuck at our highschool.</p>
<p>Also, going to college takes a lot of emotional changes. To be honest, as a college student I probably wouldn't want to hang around with an under 18 year old because then I would be responsible for him/her - I'm sure you are very personable, and don't think you are "lower standard" than anyone if you don't have a lot of peeps in college; it's just the way things are.</p>
<p>But, otherwise, keep it real and go for it!</p>
<p>lots of kids graduate from high school at 17 because they started 1st grade early or because they skipped a grade. You would not necessarily be younger than everyone else if you skip your senior year.</p>
<p>i'm skipping my senior year because my high school doesn't have much opportunity for me. i'm going to be an engineering major, and all my school had to offer was a crappy AP physics class, and this pointless pre-engineering elective. now that i'm leaving of course, they created this engineering prepatory program. i hate how my luck works; if only i was a few years younger. oh well. so if you don't find any reason to stay, just leave.</p>
<p>count me as one that says don't leave early. </p>
<p>College is not just about the courses you take, or it shouldn't be. Its the transitional bridge between childhood and adulthood, and you'll be making new friends, learning how to handle problems and setbacks, dating, and so on. For most people their ability to do these things increases with age; maybe its having more experiences, maybe neurology, more likely a combination. If you graduate early then you will be surrounding yourself with grade-level peers at least a year older than you, often two. If you don't have the same skills they have then the college years can be lonely and isolating.</p>
<p>Its a funny thing; you'd think that parents in affluent areas would be the ones pushing to get their kids to skip a grade ahead because they're convinced how bright Johnny is, but the truth is that the problem in wealthy communities isn't a push to promote ahead but fighting against keeping the kids behind! Look up "academic redshirting" on google and you'll see that parents in these communities are pushing to have their kids start later so that they're a year older than their peers and presumably more cognitively developed as well as physically bigger.</p>
<p>Now some people are ready to make a leap early, but for most people I think they're trying to escape something by graduating early rather than being that rare person who's maturity lets them easily mix with those a year or two older than them.</p>
<p>I graduated a semester early in 1971, and yes I was trying to escape something - high school (i don't think that needs any further explanation) . After graduating, I worked and volunteered for a semester and then started college at age 17. Of course, things were much simpler in those days vis-a-vis college admissions. For me, it was absolutely the right way to go. good luck</p>
<p>I wish I could have escaped high school. I tried to go to college early and wasn't able to. I still think it would have been the best thing for me. My own child considered starting college at 17, but in the end decided against it because he still had plenty of appropriate opportunities at home and did not want the transition into college to feel rushed. That was the right decision for him, but if he had had fewer opportunities and a malignant high school enviroment he would have decided differently.</p>
<p>i agree with mikemac that you shouldn't graduate early for purely academic reasons. I had several other reasons behind my decision, but that's a long story, so i won't get into it unless anyone actually wants to know. and i'm going to be attending Purdue next year for engineering.</p>
<p>I graduated at 16 and immediately started college in the Fall. If you are capable, the social stress/academic stress won't be too hard to handle (take into consideration that I go to BYU where a large portion of Freshman/Sophomores are returned missionaries that are 21 and older). </p>
<p>You do have a point about leaving the AP/IB program behind. I was fortunate enough to have four years of high school where I was able to take 8 AP tests which, in the end, translated into 40 Credit Hours when I entered in the Fall. Here is where the choice becomes most personal. Would you rather endure another year of high school (and perhaps a semester at a CC) and reap the rewards of some AP/IB classes or, would you rather sacrifice the possible credit you would earn and jump into a school/environment you believe to be more rewarding? That's the real choice you need to make.</p>
<p>is there a college nearby where you can take classes? that's what I'm doing now-- taking 2 college courses, and 4 high school ones. I'm rather glad I didn't start college early, as I don't think I could've left my friends and all of my extracurriculars so soon. some universities offer online courses, which could be another option. aps do get you out of a lot though... most colleges require credits in the core subjects you get in high school, and aps frequently place you out of things you need, in essence eliminating around a year of college.</p>
<p>I appreciate the 40 credit hours in the sense that my major (Philosophy) requires only 42 credit hours worth of required classes but a lot of miscellaneous classes/credits in order to graduate. My 40 credit hours translates into just a small number of major-centric semesters as opposed to a lot of semesters where I have 1-2 Philosophy classes and 3-4 miscellaneous classes just to garner the required amount of credits.</p>
<p>P.S. With the 40 credit hours, I get to geel like a real smarty when I tell folks I am, in effect, a college Junior at the age of 17.</p>
<p>hey elliot, if you're going into the viterbi school of engineering for cs, a bunch of credit hours may not help you. i know that for biomedical engineering, the major requirements and ge units are so extensive, that extra credits are of little value.<br>
btw, i forget, are you going for sure yet?</p>
<p>thanks, I'm actually planning to do CECS. although I'm pretty sure I'll go (it sounds really great), I haven't made the final decision yet. looks like it'll be pretty expensive.</p>