<p>There is a girl at my high school who is a junior but applied to Dartmouth, Williams and Harvard. She got into Dartmouth and Williams and was waitlisted at Harvard and now she is dropping out of high school to go to college a year early. She won't have a high school diplmoa. </p>
<p>Is it really worth it to do this? Are there really benefits?</p>
<p>So she didn’t graduate early? She’s dropping out and going to college? I don’t think that’s allowed. If you don’t graduate I’m pretty sure most unis will rescind your acceptance.</p>
<p>Your friend’s situation is very unusual – that of applying as a junior and getting accepted at a very selective colleges.</p>
<p>In practice once you obtain your college degree, what you did in high school is no longer an issue in job applications and the like.</p>
<p>That said, that she did or did not get a high school diploma or its equivalent is something that only the high school GC counselor and registrar can confirm. It seems somewhat unlikely to me that there wasn’t a cleaner closure than what you state.</p>
<p>So if the underlying question in your post is whether this is a good idea – that to apply as a junior and skip senior year. In 99.99% of the cases I think that it isn’t. Only in special situations may it make good sense, and these need to be considered one by one by the student, the student’s parents and the high school.</p>
<p>Many students choose to do this every single year. It is much less rare than you think. </p>
<p>Sometimes the HS awards a diploma after the first year of college. Sometimes it doesn’t. But the truth is that no one really cares about your HS once you have a college degree.</p>
<p>The hardest part is making networks as a junior in high school.</p>
<p>Much has been written in CC on the pros and cons of leaving high school early for college. Many of those who did it in their past said it worked for them, while lots of others said it was the worst decision they ever made and they wish they could start over (and finish high school).</p>
<p>I suggest you search for some of these threads. They may be long but they’re quite informative.</p>
<p>Wow, I didn’t even know that you could do this.</p>
<p>I did this many long years ago; so did my husband. The only drawback is when applying to summer jobs in college, because you look like (are, in fact) a HS dropout, and most low-wage employers care more about that than the fact that you’re currently attending an elite college. Once you graduate from college, it becomes a total non-issue.</p>
<p>I cannot recall ever being asked whether I had a high school diploma in any interview for a position as an attorney.</p>
<p>I thought entering a selective college required a high school diploma…? Are you sure this girl isn’t graduating a year early?</p>
<p>Private colleges can establish the entrance requirements they choose. They can also choose to allow exceptions to their policies. In my case, I was a recruited debater; I’m not sure whether the college made an exception or didn’t require a diploma in the first place.</p>
<p>One of my colleagues at work did this many years ago. She hated high school and was so glad to get out of HS - she said going to college a year earlier was a good experience. Her situation is a little unique in that she lived at home and she went to Boston College. Her parents were very vigilant about her because she was so young.</p>
<p>The main issue with going away to college is maturity level. Some kids have trouble handling being on their own after 4 years of high school but others may be mature enough to handle it, even a year earlier.</p>
<p>My brother applied to HYP+MIT as a junior and got into MIT and is currently a senior and absolutely loves and it was definitely the right choice for him (he couldn’t graduate because, despite taking graduate level math classes, he didn’t have enough HS math credits). I think it is mostly a function of maturity, my brother was very mature, but i know lots of smart people who might be able to get into those sorts of schools, but really aren’t emotionally prepared enough as a junior. Also, if you are very smart and really want to get into the top universities, it is practically absurdly difficult to do. My brother had a high GPA and near perfect SAT, PLUS huge hooks in mathematics (graduate courses while in middle school, high scoring AMC/ARML/USAMO/USAMTS, Clay mathematics institute things as a sophmore, MOsP), and there is little doubt in my mind he would have gotten into HYP as a senior applying, but he got rejected/waitlisted from those 3 (MIT is rather quirky and little more accepting of younger applicants). </p>
<p>So my general recommendation is, if you really are an uber-strong applicant that is really hating HS, apply to your top schools and your safety is just staying for a final year and re-applying.</p>
<p>You definitely do not need a high school diploma to attend many top schools. Off the top of my head, I can remember that neither Swarthmore nor Dartmouth require them.</p>