<p>Not sure if this belongs here, but I have been wondering about this question for a very long time.</p>
<p>Will skipping a grade hurt/helpyour chances of getting into a top college? Will the college admission people take this into consideration at all when they are reviewing your application?</p>
<p>Skipping a grade may leave your chances exactly as they were before the grade skip, or just might improve your chances if they keep you from wasting your time. This is a very highly individual decision that depends on local circumstances in your school and your reaction to those circumstances. Just make sure you are always challenging yourself in your classes and pursuing meaningful (to you) activities besides your school classes. All of the most selective colleges in the land admit sixteen-year-old freshmen every year, and in some exceptional cases even younger students.</p>
<p>Would your parents be comfortable letting you go to the school of your choice if you were only 16 or 17 at the time? Some parents are reluctant to let their kids go very far when they’re that young.</p>
<p>^Which, to me, seems a bit silly. Since every state starts their kids at different ages. There are PLENTY of 16 year olds matriculating at universities. Of course…that is 5 years from drinking age, which is a lot different than the 3 year difference for an 18 year old. But…VERY young kids go away to boarding school. 8 year olds may be in the same dorm as 16 year olds. Bet THEY learn a thing or two their parent didn’t want to know about too. </p>
<p>I’d sure let my kid go, but everyone is different. She’s the type who BEGGED to do anything sleep away from age 6. I myself howver said I didn’t WANT to skip 2nd grade because I’d have to leave my friends. Sort of wish an “adult” had overruled that. I think we wait a little LATE to send our kids to school and off to college…IMO.</p>
<p>^
It may seem silly, but some parents are reluctant. There’s a mom on another thread whose son will be just 17 when he starts college, and she’s afraid to let him go out of state - even though his stats are high enough to get generous merit at schools he’s interested in.</p>
<p>The OP is asking not about parents’ comfort with sending 16- or 17-year-olds off to college but about admission committees’ consideration of applicants who have skipped a grade and are therefore young for their grade in school. I think the effect of grade-skipping on a college application will depend on the admission committee’s evaluation of an applicant’s emotional maturity and academic preparedness as related to readiness for college. One would hope to demonstrate that grade-skipping had been beneficial, but basically the considerations are the same as for an applicant who did not skip a grade.</p>
<p>Yes, we went off topic a bit…</p>
<p>But, the original point was that skipping a grade may hurt him personally, if his parents believe he’s too young to go far away to a school that will accept a young student.</p>
<p>So…he could “win the battle” (get accepted), but “lose the war” (not get to go because of parents).</p>
<p>From all of these replies, it seems to me that grade-skipping will not boost your chances of getting into a top college, ok, thanks guys.
However, is there anyway how you could “make” this help you, for example: writing your essay about it etc…
Im just trying to find out all the possibilities haha</p>
<p>I skipped a grade and it didn’t affect me much. It seems to me that you’re trying to use the possibility of skipping a grade to help you get into college. Want to get into college? Stop wasting your time on this and find something you love, and demonstrate that passion to the admissions officers.</p>
<p>I think you can “MAKE” it work for you. I’d be impressed. If you were able to get all the work done that someone else did in 4 years. But will that allow you any time for electives? If you’re thinking you might not NEED electives, I get that, but… in what way will you show your passion? If not in band or art, etc. Will you then have an athletic “hook”. Will it hurt or help your GPA and rank…(not having as many non-weighted courses). My D’s school highly cautions against this. I myself was a 7 semester girl - but ONLY because I HATED school. My own daughter wishes she had MORE classes in the day. So, for top schools…will you be able to get through as many AP classes as you want, and take advanced classes in the fields in which you’re interested? I know someone who graduated at 12-13. Yup. Out of Harvard about age 16, a medical doctor around age 20 or so. I hate to put much on here because he ended up a reknown surgeon (by the way…CAME to this country as a youth, don’t know the exact age or whether or not he even spoke English when he got here). The only advice I ever got (third hand) from him was - “don’t sweat the small stuff”. Doesn’t seem like much from someone of this caliber. But…he’s ill now (lost touch, might have even died by now)…I think he might have been saying he did too much too fast and lost the personal details (from what I know about him). </p>
<p>So…if your goal is to push through and show you CAN do things early/fast/well, graduate early…do it. If you want to experience all high school has to offer you…do THAT instead. Of course only you can decide. Hopefully you’ll get more answers from people who DID skip a grade themselves or have kids who did. </p>
<p>E-mail/research some of your preferred colleges, see what their requirements are, and how they react to the question.</p>
<p>My son goes to a huge high suburban school and was grade accelerated. Not sure I would let the school do that again. He has always had standout sports stats for his age…not for his grade. He is in highly accelerated classes with people who are often 2 and even 3 years older than he is. He does fine. But he isn’t THE BEST. He is top 10% and had an 800 Math SAT first sitting. But he missed learning to print and went right to learning to write cursive. It was physically very hard for him and he never enjoyed the physical “job” that was writing. I believe that he will be fine, but I think he would have been more prepared and confident in his class of 3000 students had he been the fastest, strongest, smartest instead of fast, strong and smart. He was very very confident as an elementary and Jr. High student, but not having his testosterone/growth surge until this year was a disadvantage. He is in the top 10% of his class and has a lot of friends. But I will always suspect he might have done better with more maturity and confidence.</p>
<p>As competitive as our affluent suburban high school is, his stats and ECs would have likely looked better had he stayed with his own grade.</p>
<p>@kcmd, Im on winter break right now so I was kind of bored for a while so I thought Id ask around.</p>
<p>@two other people who answered after kcmd, I would never consider skipping a grade in high school. Unfortunately it was out of my control when it happened (my dad pretty much forced me to skip from 4th to 6th grade). Back then I thought it was “cool” to be in a grade above all of the people my own age, but soon I realized that I went from being smartest to just mediocre/smart (like debrockman said) and it has taken many years for me to catch up and work my way up towards the top. Since it has already happened, I was just wondering if it could somehow work to my advantage, I am not depending on it or anything.</p>
<p>Anyway, thanks for the reply guys.</p>
<p>I don’t think skipping hurts. I skipped 3 grades and I got into college with no problem. Every one was/is amazed. I believe the colleges do look at age and take into consideration age. Age can make or break you. Depending on who’s looking at it…they will either think : “Wow, this kid knows how to challenge himself and is self-motivated.” or “This kid is too young to go to college and will have problems.” I believe most people who skipped and wanted to skip will see that it helps. (I skipped three grades but still people are still below me academically and socially. I can not stand talking to kids the same age as me. I like talking to kids who are at least 3 years older. People when I talk to them think I am older then I am because of the way I act and think unlike a lot of people.) Hope you see that skipping is great for some people and bad for others. It really depends on the person and how smart the actually are!</p>