@lookingforward One thing about it, if we don’t believe our daughter is displaying the maturity necessary to do college work, we can always just have her finish her senior year at her current high school or another high school. She won’t lose any time doing this, so long as she completes Freshman Comp I, which corresponds to Junior English.
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
3.29UW / 3.5W / 30 ACT should give large scholarships at a number of schools in the list above (but verify scholarships and check use of unweighted versus weighted GPA).
Academic readiness is not the same thing as social readiness.
What’s the rush? I’d be hesitant to accelerate my kid’s exposure to the college social circus (sex, partying).
I understand you won’t really kill her for not doing well, but again, you CANNOT force her to have a great GPA if she can’t/won’t do the work. Understanding WHY her grades spiraled is more important than just changing the setting and threatening her into improving. I have BTDT. For all you know, her grades this year will be even worse. Most kids who graduate early do it because they’ve shown consistent grades or an upward trend, not a DOWNWARD one. And if the plan is to start applying to colleges this coming year, you will only have the fall grades to show any significant improvem.
I do understand that even without a perfect run in her next classes that her ACT and gpa make her a good candidate for some excellent merit aid. But college isn’t all about grades and test scores. The student needs to know how to self-advocate, whether it’s to work on finding their own solution for a boring class, how to stay motivated,how to resist peer pressure, how to stand up for oneself. ESPECIALLY if it is a maturity issue, you don’t want her graduating early and being out on her own before she learns how to make better decisions.
What does your DAUGHTER want to do? Even if she only needs a couple of classes to have the minimum number of credits to graduate, she’ll have suddenly gone from thinking she had another 2 years to plan out her college list, apply, get accepted, choose, and graduate. That on top of senior year IS a lot of extra work when you’re not expecting it. My D decided at the end of her sophomore year to graduate early, and had already looked at 15 or so colleges and is a very driven kid. And it was STILL a crazy-making senior fall semester.
You’ll do what you want, of course, but from what I’ve read so far, jumping to a more rigorous dual enrollment plan and graduating early, then going straight into college doesn’t seem like the best option given what you’ve said about your D’s maturity and lack of having a positive social life.
I had a 2015 grad that applied to both Auburn and South Carolina. He got significantly more scholarship from South Carolina.
@sseamom My daughter was the one who suggested that she might graduate early a week or two ago, and in fact the subject was originally suggested by the school guidance counselor to my wife back in April. To do this, she would have had to take English III this summer. I was opposed to the idea, and didn’t mention it to my daughter.
My opposition was for three reasons. First, I thought the school would be glad for her to take three dual enrollment classes and two high school classes, thus removing her from what is a toxic environment for her for most of the day. Second, I wanted her to enter the year as a junior so she would be eligible for NMSF. Third, I would prefer that she not go off to college at 17, for all of the reasons that have been cited by many of you above.
My wife took my daughter and a friend on a college-tour road trip a couple of months ago, so it’s not like she hasn’t given it any thought. But now we have two or three months to make a final decision, which does accelerate things quite a bit.
I am sorry that HS is a toxic environment for your daughter.
One caution: I have a friend whose son graduated one year early to go to the in-state university, because there were bad influences at his HS and he wasn’t excelling despite his high test scores. Unfortunately, leaving home early did not help. His grades got worse in college because he was skipping class and doing drugs. He was too immature to handle college, and, in hindsight, that was probably his issue in HS too. Six years later he is still finding his way. Escaping HS to go to college early did not work out well in that case. I think his slightly awkward social skills led him to make bad choices in an effort to find friends.
Another comment: It is very possible that your daughter’s HS grades and test scores will improve during 11th & 12th grades. Both of my sons did much better in that second half of HS. Better GPA & scores could mean better college & scholarship options.
I wish you & your daughter the best.
Elon in NC would also give some merit aid, but you are still likely looking at ~$30K per year net. Is that out of the budget?
Seconding Unc Wilmington, adding College of Charleston, Agnes Scott, Meredith, u Arkansas Honors, Eckerd, Hendrix, Rhodes, Rollins, Trinity TX.