Early college?

[HSHS]

Is there anyone here who's had kids go to college early and if so, at what age? What were yours and their experiences?

 

Thank you. :)

[Nan in Mass]

There are. One woman here had a daughter go away to college at 12. Others have children who have gone a few years early. Some went to college early themselves. Some have children who take college courses at home. Hopefully, they will come speak for themselves. If not, you might be able to do a search for past posts. -Nan

[zaichiki]

What do you mean by going to college early? Are you including a year early (like 17)? What about dual enrollment? Taking classes that many high schools would offer at a community college?

 

Or... do you mean living at college?

[Pamela H in Texas]

DD: classes as a preteen; dual enrollment at 14/15; currently full time. Mostly good experiences. Definitely not for everyone but fine for her.

[Ellie]

My dds began taking c.c. classes when they were around 14yo. They were not accelerated, though; we just did c.c. instead of high school, and they graduated from the c.c. when they were 17 or 18. Some of friends' dc did start c.c. that early, and graduated in two years, then went on to 4yr college and finished in two years.

[AnitaMcC]

Is there anyone here who's had kids go to college early and if so, at what age? What were yours and their experiences?

 

Thank you. :)

 

My twins are 14yr old, 9th grade. They will be attending jr college next semester. Ds will be taking fundamentals of chemistry and Dd will be taking music theory type course and maybe something else.

[SkateLeft]

My oldest took four classes at a state university last summer, including 2 writing classes, as a 12 year old. She just turned 13 in July. It was a great experience for her, and she loved every minute of it.

 

This year, she's going to take a handful of CLEP and Dante exams, and plans on attending college full-time starting in 11th grade through Minnesota's PSEO.

[Piano&ViolinMom]

and plans on attending college full-time starting in 11th grade through Minnesota's PSEO.

Is tuition for college dual program free in Minnesota?

[Piano&ViolinMom]

This year, she's going to take a handful of CLEP and Dante exams,

Sailmom, what would CLEP scores do for your dd? What about taking AP tests later instead?

[LittleIzumi]

I could have gone at 16 but we were in the middle of a rural area and there were none close, so I worked for a year and then went straight into a university across the country right after I turned 17. It was fun, although some of my high school coursework was more challenging than the GEs I was taking freshman year, even the Honors courses. I always thought that was odd. I think it's just because it was back to the basic level of courses, and they seem to expect the freshman to have forgotten everything they learned in high school :confused:

[SkateLeft]

For eligible 11th and 12th graders in Minnesota (including homeschooled students), the state will pay tuition and books for college courses. A student can attend either full or part-time and apply the credits earned towards their high school program.

 

Here's the info from MN state colleges and universities:

http://www.mnscu.edu/students/specialprograms/pseo.html

 

As far as taking CLEPs and AP exams, my daughter will likely do both. She will have to take AP English next year, since she's already in 10th grade honors English this year. There are CLEP and Dante exams available in a wide range of disciplines and have no minimum age requirement. It's possible to complete nearly the entire MN transfer curriculum with exam credit. When we lived in California, we would have passed on the CLEPs because they would not have been accepted by the UC, however every state college and university in Minnesota awards CLEP credit. The plan right now is to probably have her take CLEP and Dante exams, and then finish up her degree in 11th and 12th grade through PSEO. When she "goes off to college" it'll probably be as a graduate student, and hopefully with a lot less debt than if she'd gone through four years of undergraduate work at the university. (Though we plan to help our kids pay for college, there are four of them! hehe) There's a website that offers some information on taking the exams as a homeschooler:

http://clepprep.tripod.com/cleplessonplans/

[Piano&ViolinMom]

For eligible 11th and 12th graders in Minnesota (including homeschooled students), the state will pay tuition and books for college courses. A student can attend either full or part-time and apply the credits earned towards their high school program.

 

Here's the info from MN state colleges and universities:

http://www.mnscu.edu/students/specialprograms/pseo.html

 

As far as taking CLEPs and AP exams, my daughter will likely do both. She will have to take AP English next year, since she's already in 10th grade honors English this year. There are CLEP and Dante exams available in a wide range of disciplines and have no minimum age requirement. It's possible to complete nearly the entire MN transfer curriculum with exam credit. When we lived in California, we would have passed on the CLEPs because they would not have been accepted by the UC, however every state college and university in Minnesota awards CLEP credit. The plan right now is to probably have her take CLEP and Dante exams, and then finish up her degree in 11th and 12th grade through PSEO. When she "goes off to college" it'll probably be as a graduate student, and hopefully with a lot less debt than if she'd gone through four years of undergraduate work at the university. (Though we plan to help our kids pay for college, there are four of them! hehe) There's a website that offers some information on taking the exams as a homeschooler:

http://clepprep.tripod.com/cleplessonplans/

Sailmom, I am glad to know that your dd has very good support from the state, with full tuition scholarship for dual credits. Go for it ! Our state do not offer any support. My son completed entire Calculus 1, 2 and 3 along with score 5 in AP Calculus by his 9th grade. But without any support from the state, we can not think about spending $1,000 to $1,500 just for a course. We also do not want send 14 year old son away for a college now. He has excelled in most, and we do not know what to do.

[2cents]

Our son started college when he was 15. He enrolled as a dual-enrolled homeschooler and from that point on just took college courses toward his major in college full time. We continued to keep him a homeschooler for county purposes until HS graduation so that he would receive his Bright Futures scholarship award. Our experience has been great so far. He is doing very well and never had any problems transitioning to college but then he has always been very self-motivated and mature.

[Piano&ViolinMom]

Our son started college when he was 15. He enrolled as a dual-enrolled homeschooler and from that point on just took college courses toward his major in college full time.

Did your state support your son's (full time) dual enrollment financially, like full tuition payment?

[2cents]

Did your state support your son's (full time) dual enrollment financially, like full tuition payment?

 

Tuition was free. We only had t pay for books. :)

[Piano&ViolinMom]

Tuition was free. We only had t pay for books. :)

Although books are pretty expensive, free tuition itself would be a BIG help to dual enrolled high school students. Nice to know your son received full free tuition support from the state for his full-time dual enrollment. Such state support is just 'dream' to me. We have no support from state nor from the district. My son has advanced too quick in everything and we just can not find any option what to do when he has still 3 more years in high school. As a high schooler, every single course in college would cost us $1,000 to $1,500.

[8filltheheart]

Jenny in Florida sent her dd to Mary Baldwin College at age 12 or 13 (I think.....I can't remember. Does Jenny still post???) Her dd is truly one of those that is significantly advanced across the board.

[Maryalice]

I am always reluctant to post because I oscillate between feelings of 'been there done that' and feeling that I have no idea what I am doing. But here's what my experience has been. My #1 son took dual enrollment college class and AP at 13 yo and I fully graduated him at 15 yo. He went on to graduate summa cum laude with a double major of polysci/economics. He is now in his last year of law school when kids his age are still working on a 4 yr Bachelors. My #2 dau took dual enrollment college classes and CLEP, during high school and fully graduated high school at 16 yo. She is graduating this year with a BS Math and Econ and going to grad school for her PhD after that. I never considered them "gifted". I never had their IQ tested. I heard it once said that we can't mold our children, but maybe our job is to 'unfold' them. I tried to facilitate situations that helped them grow. Looking back, was it the right thing to do to have them 'accelerated'? I don't know; they have had challenges. My son has probably lost some opportunities because he was competing with 'kids' 8 years older than him for law firm positions, but he had other opportunities he might not have gotten if he blended in with the crowd. But I do know that God can take my mistakes and just like the GPS, "recalculate" until they are going where He wants them to go. My #3 son is probably going to graduate highschool at 18 and take a super senior year to work as an EMT and knock off some boring freshman classes at a local college and then go on to a 4 year pre-med program. My other 2 dc, well, I'm not sure yet what direction they will take.

[Crimson Wife]

One of my sorority sisters was a graduate of PEG at Mary Baldwin. She joined our sorority as a 19 yr old PhD. candidate in order to have more social opportunities with kids her own age. She ended up leaving with a Master's at age 21, worked for a while, and then did PhD. in a different field at a different university. She felt that PEG had some good points and some bad points but overall she was glad to have done it.

[HSHS]

Thank you so much for all of your answers! (: I've been reading all along but I just realised I haven't replied yet. We were in touch with Mary Baldwin and DD loved the woman she spoke to but it's way out of reach financially. When I found out the SAT score average was way below what DD's been scoring on practice tests I got my hopes up that she's get a merit scholarship as well as some need based. She'd get $13k in merit but there isn't any need-based for internationals. So that had to go out of the window which DD was pretty upset about. It seems all of the accelerated programs other than that don't have international aid either. Besides, Mary Baldwin was the only one I felt would have been 'right', the same as DD. Ahh. :(

[angela in ohio]

My dds began taking c.c. classes when they were around 14yo. They were not accelerated, though; we just did c.c. instead of high school, and they graduated from the c.c. when they were 17 or 18. Some of friends' dc did start c.c. that early, and graduated in two years, then went on to 4yr college and finished in two years.

 

Ellie,

 

As I've expressed before, I value your experience and opinion highly. Dh and I are off to meet with the community college admissions director soon with 13 yo dd. Did your dc take any classes from you for high school or did they do everything through the community college? I'm trying to wrap my brain around how this works: do they take college chemistry 101 instead of high school chemistry or do you start them in the introduction to chemistry type class?