<p>S-2 finished in 3 years but his school did that by having him skip 11th grade. That gave him the senior status when he applied to colleges, and let him go to senior prom. He lost the opportunity to have a GPA ranking from the school, but he wasn't in line to be a val or sal. The absence of any class ranking, plus the perception of possible social immaturity (not so, but they don't know him), might have nixed his chances at a few schools to which he applied. </p>
<p>He wanted the 3-year h.s. in order to take a planned gap year doing an overseas project. Unfortunately, he misunderstood the messages from his top choice university regarding their gap year policy. When he asked them, before applying, they said that students do gap years. After he was accepted, he began to file papers for the gap year and was stopped. What they meant by gap year was that they'll release you from campus for a year, but only after you've already put in a first semester. </p>
<p>That pretty much wrecked the project, for which he'd already raised some private scholarship funds. Where he was accepted was so competitive within his major he decided he couldn't risk reapplying the following year. So he cancelled the gap year project and went to college a year sooner than he'd hoped. </p>
<p>Whatever you do, PLEASE do all your research with care. Son's result turned out fine, and he's thriving at this university, but there were miscues along the way. </p>
<p>If you decide to complete h.s. in 3 years, and I'm not saying you should, and go immediately to college (not sure that's a good plan, either) ..and you're searching for financial arguments to sway the Dad, an obvious one is you'll begin earning a post-graduate salary one year earlier in your life.</p>
<p>You have to figure out if you're really in a hurry or not.</p>
<p>I was in pretty much the same position as you were last year - I wanted to graduate high school, but my parents weren't into the idea at all. They were concerned about me missing fundamental 'high school experiences' and, of course, about the expense.</p>
<p>Most of my friends had graduated the year prior, and quite honestly, I felt as though there was nothing keeping me at my high school. I still had classes to take, which sounds like a major obstacle in your path, but I really just didn't want to be in school.</p>
<p>I was planning on applying to our state school (UIUC) for engineering and would've been happy to go there a year early.</p>
<p>I stuck it out through my senior year and regretted pretty much every minute of it. Honestly, there wasn't anything in high school that I feel as though I would've been particularly sore to miss. I'm greatly looking forward to attending an East-coast private school next year, one that I had aspired to attend since I was little, but honestly, I think that from both my perspective and that of my parents' pocketbooks, we all would have been better off with me graduating a year early.</p>
<p>If you get into RHP at USC, I think you're guaranteed some minimum scholarship (maybe quarter tuition? I don't remember exactly) and lots of those students get higher like 1/2 tuition. Of course this is on top of USC's regular need-based financial aid which is usually considered very good. (and no, there are no out-of-state fees at USC)</p>
<p>Whether you want to stay or not is up to you, but I'd just like to point out that "the senior experience" just isn't for everyone and you shouldn't feel pressured to stick it out if you really don't want to and there are alternatives available, like RHP. You're not going to get much out of a "senior experience" if you end up unhappy most of the year.</p>
<p>(on the other side, if you do think you'd miss out on something you really want to do, that's worth a lot of considering too - though it doesn't sound like it :) )</p>
<p>Thanks again to all for the advice. Although I know that I might miss part of the "senior experience", I really feel that my senior year will simply drag on. I'm not interested in early entrance only because of my lack of math options, but because I feel that I am really ready to be done with high school and move on to college. I really like the programs at USC and NAASE at UIowa because they are meant not only to transition the student from high school to college life but to provide an enriching experience and guide the student along the way. While I know I could possibly get accepted to more prestigious schools if I simply waited a year, to be honest USC is one of my dream schools, and UIowa is a wonderful school in a great town with some excellent programs.
Thank you also for suggesting CMU, another of my dream schools. I looked into their program and feel that it might be right for me, but I will need to investigate further.</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong>
I talked with him about it and he didn't completely reject the idea, which is a start. At first he questioned why I would want to skip my senior year, and I answered honestly, causing him to consider the programs. His biggest concerns were:
1. Me going out of state for college (i.e. When will I ever see you?)
2. Sounds Expensive (what a surprise)
I am excited, though, that he is at least considering the idea, though he doesn't seem all that open to it.</p>