Personally I think Early College Entrance Programs is a prep school issue. The schools are housing high school age children and are really just a BS with some unique features.
Most of them, except Bard, are a special small program within a regular college. - MBC’s PEG, UW and CalstateLA’s EEP. UW and CalstateLA’s are not residential either.
Sorry. It seems most of them are residential after all.
http://cty.jhu.edu/imagine/resources/college_entrance.html
@SculptorDad – Do you view the early college as a BS/Day school alternative?
I know one girl going to Bard Academy starting in 9th grade. I’m not familiar with other programs.
@laenen, having been a member of SF Bay area’s gifted homeschooling group for 8 years, I have seen / heard many successful academic career after those early colleges. So definitely yes.
But I have seen many many more who just stayed with community colleges until 17~18 and moving to a top college, and their career prospect seem better unless you are looking for science/engineering Ph.D right after early college. Community college seem better alternative for a gifted but not genius child like mine.
That’s dd’s favorite alternative/backup if boarding school doesn’t work for her. And that’s how she can afford to consider the JBS at the risk of coming back home after one year. This semester she looks older and is making college aged friends more easily, both boys and girls. So that’s not a bad alternative socially either.
Even if a top bs may give higher quality and more rigorous courses, community colleges may still be a better academic platform due to it’s flexibility in choosing courses. There are six cc around us, 3 of them in 15 minutes driving. She can take many cc courses until 18, without taking too many at any one of them.
@SculptorDad – my question to you wasn’t pertaining to your daughter, although I could see how you interpret that way. My question was really shouldn’t the original Early College thread stayed here in the prep school forum and not get moved to College Admissions.
Now a specific SF Bay question, can you take a dual enrollment course at Berkeley or Stanford?
@laenen, you can “flag” the first post in that thread and ask the question so the moderating team will see it. I’m a moderator, but I don’t know enough about this subject to act. Thanks!
@laenen, I can only answer what I know, which are mostly pertaining to my daughter, or at least gifted/homeschooling. 
Dual enrollment course at Stanford I never heard of it, but at Berkeley is relatively easy and is often done, through UC Extension Open Enrollment system, as they don’t seem to really care about the student age past 13 (required legal age to make an online account) You have to pay full for the course though , even if you are a CA resident. An early college student told me that it was worth the money.