<p>I have a friend who applied to MIT this year as a junior. How does MIT view students who want to skip their senior year and perhaps get into college without a diploma?</p>
<p>I'm not sure. Seems pretty cool your friend is skipping grade 12. Aslong as your friend's previous high school years have shown great strengths in academics, he might be a shoe in. If I am not wrong, lots of american students tend to take APs in early years because it's implemented in the curriculum ever since you start middle school. In Canada, we are only allowed to take AP in grade 12. So, MIT would view him as any other applicant maybe, but base his application on the courses and GPA he earned.</p>
<p>In general such a student will be at a disadvantage, even with a very strong academic record. Because of the intensity of its undegraduate education, MIT is going to be very concerned about the level of emotional and intellectual maturity of a student that applies a year early. While a year may not make a lot of difference in maturity at 25 it certainly does at 16 or 17, particularly if you have to deal with a lot of stress. There would have to be some very compelling reasons for MIT to admit a student that skips senior year. Having exhausted the advanced classes at his high school would not be a sufficient reason. The student can always gain additional experience by taking courses at a local community college or university, get involved in research, take a part time job. If he has won the USAMO it may be a different story.</p>
<p>For most students, they are generally better off taking more classes and also doing more extra curriculum and research stake up on awards since there is really no advantage for applying early. You can do a lot in a year. For me, being a senior is just super fun! we get all the good parking spots and you can finally be like the oldest in the school. He should at least try to get a hs diploma if he is graduating early( by taking the required courses) , even if some colleges doesn't care.
And about the advanced classes. about 2-3% of the kids at my school run out of math classes in sophomore year, and about 20-30% are done their junior year, you don't see all of them graduating early. If you are out of classes for a subject, take it at CC, online stuff, or explore advanced classes for other subjects. it shows you have initiative to take opportunities.</p>
<p>i very nearly skipped 12th grade, too. good thing i decided against it... i did some pretty neat stuff my senior year. i still kind of got the experience of being young anyway since i also skipped first grade. i had my cake and ate it too?</p>
<p>in any case, there's really no hurry. faster != better.</p>
<p>I have to admit,my first thought would have been that MIT would have ignored the fact that he applied as a junior and just considered him like any other senior applicant. He would just be at a disadvantage because he had a year less to take really amazing classes, get outstandingd awards, partcipate in prestigious ECs etc. But if he had all that a year early, I don't see why MIT would have ne probelm accpetiong him. Although, reading what other people said about maturity and whatnot does make sense, so I don't know how MIT would view this.</p>
<p>And I'd ahve to concur with most everyone else on this: there's not much advantage to getting in a year early.</p>
<p>Yea, his academic credentials are more than enough: 4 time USAMO qualifier (since 7th grade), USAMO honorable mention, and team member for one of the other olympiads for the US (it'd would be too easy to find him if I said which). </p>
<p>The emotional/social maturity aspect is what I was wondering about too.</p>
<p>Matt wrote a blog</a> entry about this a while back.</p>
<p>He says
[quote]
Younger students are not a huge population at most colleges as at MIT, but each year we do admit, after careful review, a number of early- and mid-teenagers, those who, even though young, would truly be a significant part of this community... with these students' applications, we'll for the most part treat them as any other application, but we will ask a few additional questions: Why is this student applying to college now? Have they exhausted all of their resources? Do the teachers support this decision? Does this student have the emotional and social maturity to be a successful college/MIT student?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'll add that it's not particularly rare to be a relatively young student at MIT, when you add the kids who graduated high school early with the kids who skipped a grade in their early years and the kids who were sent to school early in the first place.</p>
<p>My mom did this (at MIT). She always told me not to do it.</p>
<p>MIT will sometimes admit people young, but I think they are less likely to be admitted, for the reasons that Mollie quotes Matt as saying.</p>
<p>In my personal, non-scientific experience, the people who come in significantly young tend to have a rougher time mentally/emotionally than people of a normal age.</p>
<p>At an MIT presentation a few years ago, one parent stood up and asked a question on this topic. "If my son graduates high school a year early, will that help his chances for admission at MIT?" I admit that I am not a perfect mindreader, and perhaps sometimes I am somewhat cynical, but it appeared to me that this father was trying to brag and/or to intimidate the other parents and students at the presentation. The answer from the MIT admissions officer was excellent. "As long as your son has exhausted the courses available to him at his high school by his junior year, then we will not hold it against him if he applies in his junior year" (These quotes are only paraphrases, because I do not remember the exact words). The father appeared to be very disappointed when he sat down, while the other parents/students seemed to all be relieved.</p>