<p>ConcernFather, the one thing you do not want to do is give him so many college credits that he becomes a “transfer” student when he applies to college. That will rule out all top universities for him. As long as the college courses count toward his primary and secondary education, that will be fine. But if he starts taking too many college classes outside of his school’s curriculum, he and you may end up disappointed.</p>
<p>I have another idea for you. Instead of worrying about actual coursework, have him concentrate on teaching himself depth in subjects he already knows. I’m sure the school will be willing to give him independent studies to accomplish this so he satisfies course load. For example, maybe he could research/read on the history of science. Or go learn about the life and work of, say, Oppenheimer. Or learn how to build his own computer. Or do a research paper on scientific ethics. You could also tie in philosophy and logic. Writers such as Rebecca Goldstein and Alan Lightman tie physics into their fiction, and he could analyze them and the driving force behind their works. The possibilities are endless. These projects, when approached as “courses,” will deepen his learning without making him too advanced for college.</p>
<p>". . . have another idea for you. Instead of worrying about actual coursework, have him concentrate on teaching himself depth in subjects he already knows. "</p>
<p>I totally agree with this. My D actually benefited by going to a very unchallenging middle school because she had vast amounts of time to read independently. I think this fueled her knowledge base and literacy enormously. At the time I was very frustrated with her very lousy school but I look back and think it was all for the best. Also, by the time she got to her very rigorous high school, she was ready to work extremely hard. Many of her classmates who had been challenged to the max since a young age were kind of burned out. I think it all worked out for the best for my D although she is by not means as extraordinary as the op’s child.</p>
<p>This is a frequent topic of discussion among parents of precocious children. So far, I have not found any college for which that is a problem, as long as the young learner takes college courses as a high-school dual-enrolled student, and doesn’t matriculate at an undergraduate college for a formal degree program. MIT, for sure (because I asked Matt McGann), lets you take as many college courses as you like in your pre-college days, and still lets you apply as a freshman admission applicant. Harvard and Caltech do the same (I know cases) and Yale does too (I checked its website). There may be some cases of California students who take courses from California community colleges then having to enter UC campuses as upper-division transfer students, but I need to check the facts on that more. The bottom line, according to the research I have done thus far, is that a student who takes college courses AS HIGH SCHOOL can accumulate as many college courses as he or she likes, and still apply to all the usual highly selective colleges as a freshman applicant.</p>
<p>tokenadult, I completely agree. Just a couple of notes:</p>
<p>I recall some difficulties with UChicago mentioned on this board some time ago; the problem was that the student was (AFAIK) in the WA state’s “Running Start” program, and was getting his AS degree while being a high school student. Apparently, the “being in a degree program” status was presenting a problem, and UChicago considered the student, well… kind of matriculated. So, they told the kid he will be considered as a transfer student.</p>
<p>Now, some public universities do allow such students to enter as freshmen; but nevertheless, they do not give those students an option NOT to transfer all the college courses taken in high school. Thus, the student quickly HAS to be declared a sophomore or junior; and he HAS to declare his major right away - ready or not. But it looks like private universities usually allow students to forego their credits freely (or just don’t allow to transfer them at all); we all remember the girl who went to Smith with about 60 college credits accumulated before matriculating, and she didn’t use any of them..</p>
<p>The most extreme case I know about is a girl who had 162 quarter credits from the U of MN (when only 180 credits were required to graduate with a four-year degree) who nonetheless applied to Caltech and was admitted as a freshman. She liked her time at Caltech, and graduated in three years.</p>
<p>We didn’t push S to take more courses since he’d been already advanced on everything among his peers. Our approach was to connect the dots and find his passion and his intellectual peers.
each summer (and from time to time) we’d work with him to get a selection of books he’s interested to read. This definitely broadened his view on things and knowledge he accumulated. Some of them he’s read couple of times “The Millennium Problems”, “Black Holes & Time Warps”, “The Elegant Universe”, medical books (influenced by his mom) and etc. He would sometimes described things with us such as what looked like when things got closer to the speed of light. And one time he had high fever when we stayed in a hotel. We had to call emergency. When the doctor asked him if he had a stiff neck. He immediately asked the doctor if he had spiral meningitis and needed to the painful treatment he read somewhere. That surprised everyone since he was 8. The point is that if kids read a lot, they will make connections and broaden their knowledge.</p>
<p>Similar to the situation that ConcernFather has now, my S was with high school student since he was 9 and everyone treated him nice. But issue was he didn’t have his peer. We tried something else on sports and he really enjoyed with his peers. The real turning point for him to find intellectual peers was when he started debate the first year in high school. I’d say that it probably consumed majority of his time, more than any course or other topic he’s ever spent time on once he tasted the furious competition and excitement on each tournament. He’s constantly on line with his debate buddies. When we did college visit last year, he would hang out with his debate friends in the city we visited. Once he had his TASP circle, he’s had couple of reunions with TASPers and they would really talk about things they were interested in and hanging out in bookstores. These circles of friends and peers are really important to him and they are competitive on the similar level.</p>
<p>Things can change and will change. We noticed that after the first year of the high school, S was dramatically changed on lots of things. He was not passionate about math anymore even though he did well and took statistics and Math VI, but wouldn’t spend any extra time on it. That’s ok with us as long as he’s still interested in learning and kept balanced.</p>
<p>im a student posting in the parent’s forums…sorry</p>
<p>but im just awed at your son getting 5’s on all those exams. I have gotten 5’s but I studied about 2 hours EVERY day for 3 months and had a complete conceptual understanding of those topics (up to AP level). He must be a natural genius.</p>
<p>Token and Marite, I tried to make clear that college courses are okay as long as the school counts them toward graduation. Summer college courses and courses that the high school doesn’t recognize may be a problem. There was a student who posted a couple of months agowho got an associates degree – and then found out that she had too many credit to even transfer. She could not go to any of the four year colleges she had set her sights on. Maybe the difference was the degree?</p>
<p>I think the crucial difference is enrollment in pursuit of a postsecondary degree. Any number of credits appears to be okay, as long as they are part of a learner’s “high school” program.</p>
<p>From what I have seen, token is exactly right. At least at colleges that attract a lot of accelerated students, having lots of college credits is no problem at all. Remember, the average student admitted to MIT has 4-5 AP’s, so students with many more college courses are a dime a dozen. These colleges are familiar with the issues- comparability of the courses the students may have taken with those that would be taught on their campus, need for stimulation without overwhelming kids by placing them in classes for which they are not prepared, how to complete the distribution requirements with upper level or graduate courses… All of these questions will be well trodden ground at places that token mentions.</p>
<p>Remember, your son will not care at all about how many credits he has. The college will not make him repeat stuff he already knows. If he enters having completed the coursework for an undergrad major in, say, math, then he will do a regular degree program, but take graduate math courses instead. He will hardly be the first person to do that at these places, and he will be unlikely to be the only person in his class doing that.</p>
<p>It is just possible that some large state universities, whose undergraduate missions are different, may be so bureaucratic that they do force him into undesirable academic options. If so, just don’t go there. He will have lots of choices of colleges to attend.</p>
<p>When the time comes, contact the elite colleges, and they will be delighted to explain how it works for kids at this level.</p>
<p>I’m not sure whether the problem was the degree or not. When I inquired from Harvard about its policy regarding college courses, I was told that as long as a student was not registered full-time in a college, that would be okay. I expect that some high schoolers may take college courses above and beyond the numbers required for graduation (e.g a fourth year of a language when the school requires only 3) but as long as they are not registered full-time in the college, it is still okay. The person who answered me actually used the phrase “four courses” which is the standard load at Harvard. I suppose this person assumed that anyone taking four college courses would be a full-time college student, aiming for a degree.</p>
<p>S had 9 college courses, enough for a full year of college, but they were strung over three years, so it was okay. It would not have been if he’d taken 8 in a single year.</p>
<p>Someone who got an associate’s degree would definitely be expected to apply as a transfer student.</p>
<p>Slight bump because I wanted to say HELLO to Concernfather and let him know that my son and I are somewhat in the same position that you are in. My son accelerated early on and is now a junior at the ripe old age of 15 (just turned in October). What made the acceleration the best for him was complete cooperation of his teachers and the administrative staff, availability of club sports so that he could still participate in peer activities, and the words and wisdom of others that have gone before us.</p>
<p>One thing that hasn’t been mentioned and that is somewhat of a lifesaver for us is the addition of a foreign language. My son took to his foreign language like a duck to water, and has already travelled to Germany with his class and will go on an exchange again this summer with his class. Something about learning another language and doing the accompanying travel really “matured” him in ways that staying home will not. If you are unable to find language classes as his high school, any local community college offers them and most of the credits transfer (I think). </p>
<p>Anyway, hopefully I’ve added something for you to think about. My son will be going to college at age 16, and believe me - that’s a bit hard for this mom to face. So, from a mom to a dad - if you don’t have to rush things, don’t. His academics will be there, but the time you have to parent him will run out before you know it. </p>