<p>Does skipping a grade help or hurt your chances? I'm a 16 year-old senior in HS and will be 17 in this June. That makes me 17 all of freshman year and 20 senior year. Think college admissions office likes or dislikes this?</p>
<p>It shouldn't impact your performance - afaik, they won't consider it a 'special circumstance'. Skipping a grade is entirely in your control, and you made the choice.</p>
<p>It might only help explain away a small blip in your grades - which grade did you skip?</p>
<p>I don't think they will care so much, except perhaps wonder why. I can't see it helping you, nor will they be any more lenient toward you.</p>
<p>It won't make much of a difference especially if the grade you skipped was in elementary or middle school. I skipped 1st grade, so I doubt they'll even notice I'm a year younger than most applicants.</p>
<p>I don't think it matters.</p>
<p>It might cause a bit of concern to adcoms because they'll wonder about maturity. 1 year isn't that big a deal, though.</p>
<p>Even though you didn't ask, have you thought about taking a gap year? Many colleges will grant this automatically, including some of the most prestigious (Harvard, for example, offers this in every admission letter). And if you don't get into the colleges you hoped for, a year off used constructively can boost your chances if you reapply.</p>
<p>The reason I bring this up is that 1 year makes a big difference at your age ; an extra year's experience of social interaction, dating, etc. goes a long way. Think of yourself this time last year; I hope you can see some differences! And its not always 1 year age difference, BTW; often its 2. There's a thing called "academic redshirting" where parents in many affluent communities intentionally hold their kids back a year before starting 1st grade so that they'll be more mature and ready for school. So some of your fellow frosh won't be 18, they'll be 19!</p>
<p>I never knew that had a name. My parents did that to me, the school encouraged it actually. So I'll be 19 come freshman year. It works out nicely because we can legally drink before anyone else in our year.</p>
<p>There are tens of thousands who go to collage at 17. It's a non issue as long as you're prepared (ummmmm grammar ..."17 in this June.)"</p>
<p>^ummm.."in this June" is grammatically correct.</p>
<p>Concerning the "academic redshirting", a more likely reason for this is that the child was immature at an early grade and the parents and teachers felt that he would be better served by having an extra year to mature. Certainly, in the long run it doesn't matter.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I never knew that had a name.
[/quote]
Yeah, you can google "academic redshirting" and find articles about it. Most claim it doesn't help long-term, but I think the people concluding that made their decision in advance of their "research". I've seen lots of kids who weren't able to handle the work and turned off entirely to school, an attitude that persisted. If they had an extra year to get ready who knows how it might have turned out?</p>
<p>You contradicted yourself.
[quote]
year isn't that big a deal, though.
[/quote]
[quote]
1 year makes a big difference at your age
[/quote]
</p>
<p>But, anyway, one year seriously does not make a big difference at all. My small senior class has a three year age range (16, me to 19), but the only difference in maturity and ability are "normal" differences seen among kids teh same age. The only time it would matter is if you were extremely young, say starting college at fifteen or remaining sixteen through the entire first year. </p>
<p>I have never heard of a school, though, that does not take physical and emotional maturity into consideration when skipping kids.</p>
<p>Personally, I feel as mature as ever, and doubt skipping that grade would change my experience at all. And for those of you wondering, I skipped first grade - not such a huge deal. Does it <em>help</em> at all? Make the officers think your mental capacity is greater than average? Anything?</p>
<p>I was posting on this recently and the overwhelming consensus was that skipping a grade, even in high school, does not give you any any special consideration by adcoms. In fact, skipping a grade in high school works against you because they still expect you to have all of the EC's and test scores that somebody has who did not skip a grade.</p>