If D were to graduate early, she would have to double up on some classes in order to do so. Thus, she would not be graduating early because she has maxed out of the options at her high school (other than the math options, which she will max out on). Though she has dealt with not feeling challenged in elementary and junior high schools, she thought once she was in high school and taking AP’s that she would be fine. And this may be the case as she progresses. However, her push to graduate early (and she has been pushing us hard on it) stems from the fact that her freshman year was mind numbingly, not challenging to the point that she would just sit there and zone out during class. She achieves perfect grades with very little to no studying and while she of course did the busy work associated with her classes, she said she felt she was not learning much and said it was painfully boring to have to sit in class in general. We are new to our school district and I was not expecting her to feel so unchallenged in this high school, especially based upon the great reputation of her new school. I guess it took me some time to realize that her challenges stem from being a quick learner and really, she would have the same issues no matter which high school she attended.
Your point is well-taken mom2aphysicsgeek and that has been my concern from the beginning. It would be one thing if she needed to graduate early because she had maxed out on all her subjects. However, she just wants to be done with high school in order to move on to college (with the expectation that she will be challenged in college).
I will speak with her about becoming active in the AoPS forums and about taking their online classes. You definitely have given me a lot to think about. My gut tells me that she probably should stick it out and not graduate early. I just need to figure out what we can do to get her more challenge for this upcoming school year in particular, since she will only be taking one AP class and the rest honors/pre-AP. I am mostly concerned about her getting through her sophomore without going nuts with boredom. I suspect her junior and senior years will be better as se takes more AP classes.
And thanks bookworm for the suggestions on the colleges that have early admission programs. I have just begun researching this as well. I will take a look at the colleges that you mentioned.
FL started a program after my son had already left. In this program, gifted HS kids can take many classes at the local Us. For some kids who are tired of the HS experience, this really works well.
I was under the impression that GA tech doesn’t give much merit, except maybe instate students who quailfy for Hope scholarship.
I am not an expert but seems to me that your D should plan on not graduating early but taking what’s available at HS at the most advanced level and supplement with outside resources to delve deeper into subjects she enjoys.
I think the danger of graduating early is finding a college that is appropriate for a 16 year old. I went to college when I was 17 (graduated 1/2 year early) and it was hard. I’m not shy (some would call me downright bossy), I had lived in that town for 10 years (my parents moved and I hated my new school, so graduated and went back to college in my old hometown). It was still hard being the youngest. School wasn’t the problem, it was the social part, the being responsible for all kinds of things like dentist appointments and balancing a checkbook.
My daughter was 17 went she started (she’s just young in her grade). As a parent, it was HARD to leave her in that dorm, and I knew she had a coach watching out for her. The school was small, the town is sleepy, and it was still hard. She fit in so much better a year later.
If your plan is to graduate early and take a gap year or live at home and commute to college, that might work. If it is to send your child to live in a dorm, pick the college wisely.
The safest course of action would be for her not to graduate early in order for her to have ample time and opportunity to work on her studies and EC’s such that she will be at her most competitive upon graduation.
Since you all have raised excellent points, I have made an appointment to discuss this further with her school counselor. It is interesting that her counselor had actually recommended that she consider graduating early. Though this counselor had no data or information on the ultimate success of early graduates in terms of getting into competitive colleges, etc. because she said that extremely few students graduate early from the high school–it is rare.
I definitely will talk with my D about exploring other enrichment options for after school. Though we will still have to deal with what to do to make her sophomore year more challenging during her school day so that she has something to look forward to when she goes to school. Maybe we could sub in an extra AP class for an elective.
I do think that she would be mature enough to handle early graduation and would be fine on her own at college, since she would be 17 at that point. Having said that, I guess you never really know how a kid will react to it until he/she is in the situation. But I completely agree that we would need to choose the college wisely.
Thinking this through with you guys has really helped me decide on a course of action. My plan is to focus on what can be done to challenge her in 10th grade and see how things go. We don’t need to decide on an early graduation plan until the end of 10th grade. Though truthfully, I think she should stick it out for the full four years.
And mommdc, I have heard the same that Georgia Tech does not give much merit. Thanks to lurking on CC for many years and learning about how to fish for merit, we were very fortunate in that my older D received very generous merit offers from some amazing schools. I am planning on using a similar strategy of seeking merit for this D–hopefully we will have similar success.
Thanks again for all of the thoughtful replies! They have all helped!
I poked aroud the common data set (CDS) for Georgia Tech and found out that there are ALOT more male than female students, that they offer dual enrollment, and that in 2014-15 about 500 students received non need-based aid, average amount about $6,000.
Are you in a public high school in Georgia? If so, and you are within commuting distance of nearly any public college campus, there are scads of opportunities for DE, for free. Even if you are not within commuting distance of a college but your daughter will have AP Calc BC out of the way before her senior year, Georgia Tech offers Calc II and III through their Distance Calculus program. It requires the high school to provide a proctor, a room (at 8 AM) and a/v equipment to stream the lectures. Not sure if it available to private schools, though.
@PurplePlum - The programs I mentioned (e.g., USC Resident Honors and Bard’s Simon’s Rock) would not require her to double up on any classes – they are designed for advanced HS students to skip their senior year and enter college a year early. Some of them let you complete your last two years on a college campus; others are four year programs.
No, we don’t live in Georgia…but thank you so much for the head’s up on the Distance Calculus Program! I love that idea for her senior year. I will bring that up with her counselor when we meet.
LoveThe Bard–I have heard of those early college entrance programs and am in the process of making a list of them. I like the early college entrance idea better than her graduating early by doubling up on her courses. I’m not a big fan of her overloading herself with double courses just to get out of school a year early. I told her we will evaluate all options but that more research was needed, plus another meeting with her counselor to really explore everything.
And mommdc–she does need to explore joining some clubs and it certainly would not hurt to look into the yearbook one. She is a multi-sport athlete and thus far her sports have taken up much of her after school time, not leaving much time for other EC’s. I know she wants to balance her athletics with other EC’s, so that’s another factor to consider.
On early graduation - I heard that universities didn’t want to admit applicants that were still minors because of the additional liabilities, unless the applicant was truly exceptional. That is only hearsay; I don’t have anything to back that up. My D, going to college at 16, was a counter example. But you may want to check out that “rumor.”
On college-level classes taken in HS - Even though the school doesn’t accept them as transferable, are not “wasted,” especially classes in math and science. I’m sorry to again use my D as an example. Most STEM students don’t have sufficient basic knowledge to participate in research until the end of their sophomore year. My D, having already taken more advanced classes, started her research the first summer after she entered UCB. By the time she graduated, she’d already had 2 years of research experience. That was a big factor in the admission to PhD program.
On writing - I think this is the most underrated by STEM students. As late immigrants to the US, both my wife and I realized the hard way, that language, or to be exact, the ability to communicate, was the greatest challenge. We essentially “forced” our D to take challenging English classes at a very young age. She didn’t really like it, but ended up writing very well, taking AP English Language and Composition when she was 13. She later realized how “lucky” she was, being “forced” to write well, and thanked us for that.
Have you looked into any other schools for her? Are there any good charter/magnet or private schools with more challenging curricula? I’ve heard good things about Stanford’s Online High School program – perhaps you can look into that or homeschooling…
Yeah, we did look into other schools for her but being new to this area, she was resistant on attending a private school and wanted to stay with the public school. I am definitely looking into online high school as per your suggestion.
Pentaprism: I appreciate you telling me about your D and I do agree writing is important for STEM students. I know my older D who is in a STEM major in college complained about her language arts classes, but also now recognizes the benefit of having worked on her writing and taken AP level English classes. When she was a high school freshman, she was blessed with an amazing English teacher who demanded a lot from her students, but really taught them how to write and analyze. Unfortunately, thus far, my high school aged D has had no such luck with her English teachers, though the 10th grade teachers are supposed to be really good, so we shall see.
I will use this summer to investigate, research, and plan the best course is for my kid. Again, thanks so much for the thoughtful comments. I appreciate them very much…