Please share your thoughts on this route for a very mature 15yo She is currently looking at Mary Baldwin university so any information on their pig program from somebody who has attended would be valuable thanks
Can you tell us exactly what you mean by “skipping high school”?? If she’s 15, I would imagine she’s already either a freshman or sophomore in high school?
Having been the kid who applied to college to start after my junior year, and being married to someone who was graduated early, I’m personally not a fan of fewer than four years of high school unless there were truly extreme circumstances and no other workable options.
Since your DD is 15 already, is there a reason you’re looking at PEG, rather than Mary Baldwin’s Early College program for 16 and 17yos? What’s the problem that she’s hoping to solve?
I started university very soon after my 17th birthday. It was too early for me. The academics were not a problem at all. I wasn’t ready in other ways.
I am not a fan at all of the idea of skipping a year of high school. Skipping all of high school seems a lot worse.
As clarification, I personally am not opposed to starting college young, and my own kid is on track to start a few months after turning 17, having completed four years of high school. My concerns have to do specifically with fewer than four years of high school limiting college choices in a way that night not be obvious to a 15yo.
I wouldn’t be flatly opposed to starting college a few years early than “normal.” It depends on the individual and to some extend, on the family.
The kid will likely need more support from the family than usual.
My D was homeschooled since she was 8 (before the end of 3rd grade at a private school) until she entered college, a flagship state univ., at the age of 16. She completed HS at 13, but realizing that she was not mature enough for college life, we kept her at home and taking on-line college-level classes until she was 16. She was one of the youngest students, probably the youngest, in many of her undergrad classes. And she was definitely the youngest PhD student (19 yrs old) in her group when she started the program 3 years ago.
It worked out well for us, but required much discipline and hard work from everyone. The fact that she was an Aspie (still is) made things a bit more difficult.
But we have no regret at all.
Going to college earlier than usual works out well for some young people but not others.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to predict which ones.
My sister and I both went to college a year early. I had skipped a grade in elementary school, and she did four years of high school in three. I was noticeably immature and socially awkward, and I had always had trouble interacting with kids who were older than me. She was sophisticated and socially adept, and she easily made friends with people a year or two older.
Yet I had a good experience in college and she had an awful one. It turned out that I was ready for the independence of being away at college at 17. She wasn’t, but she didn’t realize it at the time. She could have benefited from that extra year of high school, which would have given her a little more time to grow up.
I wish it were possible to say which kids will do well if they go to college a year (or two or more years) early and which kids won’t, but it’s not an easy thing to predict.
I think the original post needs a little more clarification. Can you explain what you mean by “skipping” high school and what the program at Mary Baldwin entails?
High school can be socially difficult for mature kids, and it can feel boring and limiting. However, there are ways to address those problems by enhancing high school years with experiences and activities outside of school, as well as providing alternative methods of education (online, extension, community college).
That said, for some, entering college early can be helpful, if they are truly mature enough and academically prepared. Age and maturity don’t always mean the same thing 
I’m not opposed to gifted young people starting college early. Some kids, there is no delaying college and they should be allowed to go at 10 if they need too. However, I think if you CAN put off university until 17 or 18, the chances of that kid having a full and positive “college” experience are higher.
Fwiw, my eldest did a grade skip in elementary and then moved to a duel enrollment program through a local community college At 15. She took all her classes on campus and she liked it. She left for the university at 17. She could have graduated at 19 but decided she wanted the full experience and and took the whole 4 years (graduates in May at 21.) I’m very glad she took that time now that she’s gearing up for “real life.” Our middle started school a year early and has opted for a project based charter that also made it possible for him to take courses at a local university “for fun.” He heads off to university full-time this fall at 17. I’m just throwing out those scenarios as options in case you are also looking for ways to hold-off on college.
I know kids capable of the academics no doubt. But college isn’t all about the academics.
I had friends who did the “early college” route. And honestly it wasn’t a wise choice.
There is a huge growth spurt from 17-20 that takes place on a social and mental level. Don’t let your kid get left out of that learning/growth experience. It’s very easy to end up with no friends and no direction.
Not only could someone young get left out of social experience but they can also graduate too early to be seriously considered for employment. (I graduated early and barely made the age requirement for licensure for my profession).
My opinion is take that “free” time and add some experiences that you might not otherwise try. Try new things while you aren’t sweating over grades. Not to make a better college resume but to try to figure out where you want to go in life.
Mary Baldwin PEG is designed for highly gifted, mature teens who are college ready intellectually but not socially. So part of the discussion above doesn’t apply since the student would essentially be in boarding school but with college level classes.
For this reason, a program at one of the top boarding schools, which reach above ‘normal’ high school, would also work in offering challenging classes and keeping the child with peers.
Thanks for the clarification of the original post.
Since she is considering leaving HS at 15 without finishing that curriculum it sounds more like a transfer to an academically appropriate situation than just going on to college. Sounds like an excellent opportunity where she would be with academic peers close in age.
My son did the early entry plus elementary grade compression/skip so he did all of middle school and HS with the same students. He was able to be a full participant in the HS experience. Years later he told us how bored he was (not surprised given his downtrend in senior grades)- kid should have told us at the time (and it would have been great o have today’s online capabilities absent then). He was NOT the youngest in his honors physics class while 16 turning 17- a 14 year old girl from a local HS was in the class doing the state’s youth options route.
Gifted kids are a misfit with most of their agemates. To repeat- any opportunity to be with peers who share development sounds great. Meeting intellectual needs with those who are at similar stages in other parameters as well sounds good. When she is even a few years older she can always shift gears to go elsewhere if that is what meets her then goals.
We have friends whose D did it. Honestly, it wasn’t a very good experience. And then she was out of college and in the job market at a very young age. I’d suggest you find ways to supplement your kid, and keep them in normal HS. Look at summer programs like Davidson THINK, community college classes, encourage an EC passion like art or music or debate or Quiz Bowl. Look outside the school in your community for ECs where she can interact with adults.
One thing to remember with the “I skipped a grade” and “I was a young college student” and-it-didn’t-work-out stories is that
- No one can go back and try the other option-- perhaps staying in high school would have been worse. Teens developmentally want to be "like everyone else" but if your IQ is such that you're ready for college at age 15, being like everyone else isn't really a life option. You're unique in a way where it's hard to find peers. (Except at gifted summer camps and such designed to collect people like you from a multi-state area.)
I went to school at the “usual” age at a small research university but I probably have a higher-than-average IQ. One of the things my univerisity did was merge some of the 400 and 500 level classes where the advanced undergrads and the first-year grad students were in the same class. I remember seeing the curves for one of the tests we took. It was two bell curves - one for the undergrads and one from the grads. I was the lone point between the two peaks. At the top for the undergrads, but alone at the low score end of the grad school curve. I think that “aloneness” is a fact of life for certain kids at certain stages of life. (I wasn’t so smart that I was that alone in all my classes, but I certainly felt it in that class and a few others. The kids who are true outliers probably feel it more often, regardless of where they are.)
- Programs for and just the general understanding of gifted kids changes over time -- so what happened to today's adults may be different from what would happen for today's teens. Also, can I say that the internet is amazing? In terms of academic challenges, you can roll your own on the internet without leaving the comfort of home. I have a daughter who is publishing a scientific paper wth a mentor she met online. If you aren't registered with a gifted program, I would look into it and into finding mentors online - both for fellow parents considering similar options and peers for your teen.
My kids both did dual-enrollment at the local community college, but really only my younger one did a course schedule anything like early college (full time, degree track). One of the nice things about staying home and commuting to college classes is that they didn’t have to be uprooted from the rest of their life to find academic challenges. They still did family dinners and music lessons, and they had their choice of high school or college after-school activities depending on where they felt they felt at home. I would look into commuting options as well as options where she would live in a dorm.