Skipping Senior Year of HS--Pros and Cons

[QueenIsabella]

As the title suggests, our youngest, DS16 has approached us with the idea of skipping his senior year of HS and starting college early. He's currently a sophomore, so we have some time to plan. Also, he's already been accepted to start dual enrollment--HS and college--in the fall, taking 1 college course the fall semester, then 2 next spring. The kids a thinker/planner, so I know this has been rattling around in his brain for a while. I'm looking for people who have done it (or had their child do it), or possibly teachers who have had students do this. Mostly, I'm looking to make sure we consider the ramifications.

Some more information: he's a smart kid. Really good student without much effort. He wants to be a chemical engineer. He's mostly a loner, but other kids like him--he's a loner by choice (as opposed to his autistic brother, who's a social misfit--I mention this to show that I know the difference, ha ha). His interests aren't tied directly to school--he takes ballet, violin, and is active in Boy Scouts. Most of his friends are through Scouting.

He hasn't taken the SAT/ACTs yet--this would be a priority. His PSAT score was 1250 and pre-Act was 28. He's currently taking his first AP class (World History).

Our bare-bones discussion with him has us looking at three options:

1. Attend decent engineering school 2 hours from home. He's been casually looking further afield, but we're concerned about him being too far from home at 17. We'd be open to a good argument (from him) if he wanted to be further away. One of our priorities is to get him to this school for a visit/campus tour and to talk to their admissions people about him starting early. His stats indicate that he meets their admissions criteria.

2. Attend the local branch of State U for 1 year. They don't have a Chem. Eng. major, but they would offer the basic freshman courses and higher math and chemistry. Plan to transfer to whatever engineering school after freshman year. I know that transferring wreaks havoc on financial aid, but this won't be an issue (he won't likely be getting any, anyway).

3. Finish HS on time, with as many AP and college courses as he wants to fit in. He's limited on college courses for junior year--only 2 (not sure if that's per semester or per year).

I want to emphasize that this is student-led. We're proud of him, but he's my baby, so inside, my heart is breaking that he wants to leave early. However, my job is to let him fly! So, let me know what we should be considering, any pitfalls along the way, unexpected benefits, and so forth. Thanks for reading.

 

[Southernmiss]

My initial reaction is that I would be hesitant to let him skip senior year.

Lots of growth and maturity changes happen in these last 2 years before college.

How would a not very social younger college student fit in with older peers?

Can you talk to his high school counselor about their view of your son and his idea?

I would also make a college campus visit and talk to their admissions department.

Junior year was the most challenging year to our 4. The rigor prepared them for time management and coursework.

I am a bit surprised that he has not yet taken the ACT ours started taking it in earnest by sophomore year.

Also, look at scholarship requirements. Would he meet those requirements at college by graduating early?

I would encourage him to take a few college courses, either dual enrollment, or a summer course and all the AP courses he can.

We have a brilliant college graduate son who at 23 is now struggling socially without the instant, easy friendships that are made in a school setting. And the lock downs of the pandemic caused these to erode quicker than graduating.

 

[Micca]

No advice but you have a pretty great kid there! Sounds to me like he is capable of almost anything, he's sure to make you proud no matter the path he chooses.

 

[mjkacmom]

Will he take AP calculus, biology, chemistry, physics next year? Three years of a language? Two of kids will graduate college a year early due to AP classes, saving a lot of money. Even if he’s not eligible for FA merit is usually reserved for freshmen, out of state publics are usually $50,000+ a year. That’s a tough major, he needs to have the foundations.

 

[lifesavacation]

My daughter was in a position to graduate high school at the end of her junior year. She took all her math credits in middle school and then went to a CC for her junior year.

She has a college scholarship in volleyball and then COVID hit. She wasn’t able to participate in volleyball at home so we seriously considered sending her to college early so she wouldn’t get behind. Her college is across the country from home.

We compromised and sent her in May and she started summer term. In all honesty, she wasn’t ready to be thrown into college. Those years in high school with COVID lockdowns were missed opportunities for social growth. I think it was pretty overwhelming for her. Her first week there, her volleyball house had a party and one of the boys inappropriately touched her and it turned into a huge deal because she was only 17. He was kicked out of college. LE had to get involved because my daughter was under age.

Her volleyball team did make it to the NCAA tournament and my daughter earned a starting spot during the season before an ankle injury. So she was successful at her sport. But she was miserable and decided to transfer to be closer to home. She’s now 30 minutes away. Volleyball hasn’t started yet and her new team isn’t good. She’s happy though and can come home whenever she wants and is recovering from her rocky start. I think COVID isolation really really hindered her readiness to be away from home.

Anyway, sorry that was really long. Just think through everything. Before COVID, my daughter was set to tackle the world. Two years of lockdowns had an impact. Even if your son starts early and struggles, you can always regroup.

 

[QueenIsabella]

My initial reaction is that I would be hesitant to let him skip senior year.

Lots of growth and maturity changes happen in these last 2 years before college.

How would a not very social younger college student fit in with older peers?

Can you talk to his high school counselor about their view of your son and his idea?

I would also make a college campus visit and talk to their admissions department.

Junior year was the most challenging year to our 4. The rigor prepared them for time management and coursework.

I am a bit surprised that he has not yet taken the ACT ours started taking it in earnest by sophomore year.

Also, look at scholarship requirements. Would he meet those requirements at college by graduating early?

I would encourage him to take a few college courses, either dual enrollment, or a summer course and all the AP courses he can.

We have a brilliant college graduate son who at 23 is now struggling socially without the instant, easy friendships that are made in a school setting. And the lock downs of the pandemic caused these to erode quicker than graduating.

To answer some of your questions:

I would say he's more mature than the average bear. He's also the youngest of 4, with our oldest being 26, so he's spent all of his life with older kids. That said, maturity is a concern, hence looking at closer schools versus further from home.

He actually was in with his guidance counselor when he texted me with the idea--he asked if he could take 2 English classes next year. Love getting life-changing ideas via text!

He's doing dual enrollment, starting in the fall. He'll start with calculus--an easy course for him. Obviously, if he struggles, that changes the process.

Financial aid/scholarships aren't in the cards.

He will take math and science classes as part of his dual enrollment--I think spring semester he plans to do chemistry (we figured calculus first--it would be easier), maybe Calc 2. When discussing AP classes versus college classes, someone pointed out that a B, say, in college calculus is still a decent grade that you get credit for, but if you don't do well on the AP exam, then you get no credit for the work you put in. He will have 3 years of a language and all the other necessary credits to graduate--the stickler was the 4 English credits, which is why he asked about taking 2 Englishes next year.


He won't take summer courses--he wants to work (recently turned 16 and looking for a job). This year, we have a big family vacation, and next summer he'll likely be traveling to France (student exchange) and South Korea (Boy Scout World Jamboree).

 

[QueenIsabella]

My daughter was in a position to graduate high school at the end of her junior year. She took all her math credits in middle school and then went to a CC for her junior year.

She has a college scholarship in volleyball and then COVID hit. She wasn’t able to participate in volleyball at home so we seriously considered sending her to college early so she wouldn’t get behind. Her college is across the country from home.

We compromised and sent her in May and she started summer term. In all honesty, she wasn’t ready to be thrown into college. Those years in high school with COVID lockdowns were missed opportunities for social growth. I think it was pretty overwhelming for her. Her first week there, her volleyball house had a party and one of the boys inappropriately touched her and it turned into a huge deal because she was only 17. He was kicked out of college. LE had to get involved because my daughter was under age.

Her volleyball team did make it to the NCAA tournament and my daughter earned a starting spot during the season before an ankle injury. So she was successful at her sport. But she was miserable and decided to transfer to be closer to home. She’s now 30 minutes away. Volleyball hasn’t started yet and her new team isn’t good. She’s happy though and can come home whenever she wants and is recovering from her rocky start. I think COVID isolation really really hindered her readiness to be away from home.

Anyway, sorry that was really long. Just think through everything. Before COVID, my daughter was set to tackle the world. Two years of lockdowns had an impact. Even if your son starts early and struggles, you can always regroup.

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's circumstances. This is one of the reasons why I'm less inclined to look at colleges further away. Our DD18 goes to the local State U--wasn't her first choice, but she's been thriving. She has anxiety, and having her close to home has been super helpful as she adjusts to college (she lives in a dorm, but stops by 3-4 times a week).

It's so hard to know what the right choice is!

 

[RUDisney]

I skipped my freshman year in college. I wouldn't have wanted to skip my senior year in HS. However, I was very social in HS and college.

I would look into how many free/discounted credits he could get by having a senior year with AP courses and college course supplements. That will save you a lot of money if he gets to skip his 1st year of college. I also would have gone mad from boredom if I had to retake algebra and the same English, History and Science classes that I had in HS.

I went to a local, private university with a lot of my friends. Our HS was a feeder school into that one. I have no desire to go to any of my college reunions. My long time friends and the friends with whom I entered college graduated 1.5 years behind me. Sure I knew other people, but not in the same way that I knew the students that went through orientation with me. Does it bother me? No. It's just another thing that you don't consider until school has been completed.

 

[China Expat]

As a high school administrator, I applaud your son's ambitions and passions. However, as adults, we all know that being a "grown up" is not as much fun as school (in most cases), and senior year can be a special year with rituals and celebrations. I would advise not skipping senior year and be a kid one last year. I like the idea of dual enrollment; my son did that senior year.Best to him!

 

[kdonnel]

Both of my kids did the Move On When Ready or Dual Enrollment program that exists in Georgia.

Her senior year my daughter only needed an additional Language Arts credit and a Science credit to graduate. She opted to take those at the high school and a single college math class one semester and psychology the second semester.

His senior year my son only needed an additional Language Arts credit and opted to take it and other classes at the local college not taking any classes at the high school his senior year.

Both of them really enjoyed their modified senior years.

My daughter got to spend a couple hours every morning at the high school seeing and staying in touch with her friends, and then two days a week at the college making new ones. She wanted to swim her senior year and needed to take at least one class at the highschool to qualify for high school sports. She was done with high school classes at 10:15am every day and on college days done by noon.

My son's senior year was one of the covid years. He got a much more normal experience as a full time college student than he would have had at the high school. At the college classes were in person and he got to be around people on class days. If he had not participated in dual enrollment he would have been at home on zoom alone.

 

[lifesavacation]

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's circumstances. This is one of the reasons why I'm less inclined to look at colleges further away. Our DD18 goes to the local State U--wasn't her first choice, but she's been thriving. She has anxiety, and having her close to home has been super helpful as she adjusts to college (she lives in a dorm, but stops by 3-4 times a week).

It's so hard to know what the right choice is!

It is hard to know. All you can do is really think through the options and make what you think is the best choice. If you need to change course at some point, you can do that.

 

[kanerf]

I was taking JR College classes while I was in High School. Still graduated, but also had about 20 college credits under my belt.

 

[DLgal]

I was in this position as a HS junior. I chose to do my senior year. I had huge aspirations for college as a pre med major and later medical school. I had straight As with little effort. I had a PSAT score that had Ivy league universities sending me recruitment offers for their pre med tracks. I had a 4.5 GPA. I attended a competitive university and flunked out of my freshman science and math classes spectacularly. I was not so smart among the 350 other people in those huge classes. College has a way of humbling even the brightest high school students. I pushed through and retook some classes as an attempt to do better and erase my lower grades, but in the end, I could only manage Ds, and I knew my path had to change, and quickly, because otherwise I'd be on academic probation.

My main concern is your assertion that he does well in school "effortlessly." This is a huge red flag, because college is a lot more rigorous (if he is looking at good ones, that is). Chemical Engineering is no joke of a major. He is going to need a lot of well developed study and time management skills. I honestly didn't even have time to socialize freshman year because I realized I had NO study skills since I had never needed to work hard before. I practically lived in the library. Looking back, I went into college too cocky and got a huge dose of reality. I struggled socially until I found a part time job my sophomore year.

Encourage your son to be a kid a little longer. He has the rest of his life to be an adult.

 

[luvsvacation]

I’ll warn you of a pitfall I hadn’t expected to encounter. DS decided 2 years ago when he was a sophomore that he wanted to graduate a year early. He is also very driven. We have joked since he was a small child that he was born middle aged. All he wanted to do was get his life started, he figured by skipping a year of high school that got him one year closer to being a fully independent adult on his own. He worked hard doubling up classes and taking a couple of summer classes. Then Covid hit and he decided he did not want 2021 to be his senior year because that class missed out on so much. He decided to go ahead and stay the extra year and graduate this year (2022) to have a “normal” senior year.

Let me tell you it is extremely hard to stay motivated when you know you have all your credits in and you get to graduate no matter what. He’s only going to school half days (4 hours) and just taking electives as all of his requirements are finished. Over the past year he has decided he needs his adult life to start immediately and therefor he won’t be going to college. He has no desire to spend another 4 years around late teen/early 20s age people. He prefers interacting with adults. He has started a job that he really enjoys and has gotten very invested in the stock market. He’s looking into new apartments to rent after graduation next month. He worked his butt off since he turned 16, often working 35 hours a week along with full time school and bought himself a nice car. He’s doing great except for the fact that he’s still technically in high school. He no longer feels like showing up there and I have to call every single day to excuse his absences or he will get detentions. Most of the time he’ll go in for 2 of his 4 hours…but man I’m counting down these last several weeks! I’m not upset with him. I get it. He turned 18 in September (we have an august cut off here) and he sees himself as fully a responsible adult and is irritated to still be in high school treated like a kid. The school has been very understanding and said he’s free to just not show up anymore and get Fs for this last quarter but he has always had a high gpa so he doesn’t really want to do that. So he goes when he wants and I call every day.

DD on the other hand went all 4 years and took many college credit classes in high school. She’s finishing her sophomore year of college and is working a program that is a joint bachelors/masters. With how far ahead she was when she entered she’ll be able to finish the complete program in 4 years. I’d suggest trying to get as much of college fine during high school as possible. Then your DS can probably get his undergrad done in 3 years. I think it’s more advisable to skip a year of college than high school.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I’ll warn you of a pitfall I hadn’t expected to encounter. DS decided 2 years ago when he was a sophomore that he wanted to graduate a year early. He is also very driven. We have joked since he was a small child that he was born middle aged. All he wanted to do was get his life started, he figured by skipping a year of high school that got him one year closer to being a fully independent adult on his own. He worked hard doubling up classes and taking a couple of summer classes. Then Covid hit and he decided he did not want 2021 to be his senior year because that class missed out on so much. He decided to go ahead and stay the extra year and graduate this year (2022) to have a “normal” senior year.

Let me tell you it is extremely hard to stay motivated when you know you have all your credits in and you get to graduate no matter what. He’s only going to school half days (4 hours) and just taking electives as all of his requirements are finished. Over the past year he has decided he needs his adult life to start immediately and therefor he won’t be going to college. He has no desire to spend another 4 years around late teen/early 20s age people. He prefers interacting with adults. He has started a job that he really enjoys and has gotten very invested in the stock market. He’s looking into new apartments to rent after graduation next month. He worked his butt off since he turned 16, often working 35 hours a week along with full time school and bought himself a nice car. He’s doing great except for the fact that he’s still technically in high school. He no longer feels like showing up there and I have to call every single day to excuse his absences or he will get detentions. Most of the time he’ll go in for 2 of his 4 hours…but man I’m counting down these last several weeks! I’m not upset with him. I get it. He turned 18 in September (we have an august cut off here) and he sees himself as fully a responsible adult and is irritated to still be in high school treated like a kid. The school has been very understanding and said he’s free to just not show up anymore and get Fs for this last quarter but he has always had a high gpa so he doesn’t really want to do that. So he goes when he wants and I call every day.

DD on the other hand went all 4 years and took many college credit classes in high school. She’s finishing her sophomore year of college and is working a program that is a joint bachelors/masters. With how far ahead she was when she entered she’ll be able to finish the complete program in 4 years. I’d suggest trying to get as much of college fine during high school as possible. Then your DS can probably get his undergrad done in 3 years. I think it’s more advisable to skip a year of college than high school.

You son sounds a lot like mine! Love him but sometimes... One quarter, he got a C in orchestra. I inquired--he loves the violin. It turns out, there was an assignment that he thought was stupid, so he didn't do it. GRRRRR! I read him the riot act on that one, but I couldn't get him past his dislike for the orchestra teacher (who was a pompous jerk, to be sure, but an assignment is an assignment!).

Our decision will ride a great deal on how he does with his first college course this fall. He aced Honors Pre-calc (not bragging--you would expect this from a future engineering student). That's also why I suggested he not take chemistry the first semester in college classes--it's more directly related to his major (he also aced Honors Chem, but again--you'd expect that for a future Chem Eng).

I'm concerned that the chaos of dorm life will irritate him, but that has nothing to do with his age or start date. The only way around that would be for him to go local for his freshman year and live at home--but, they don't offer his major.

 

[mjkacmom]

Keep in mind CC classes tend to be easier than university classes, I know many students who take some CC over the summer for this reason.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I had a friend that graduated high school a semester early (so in December of our senior year). In her case she was just fed up with the high school experience.

I echo scholarship check. For example in order for me to qualify as a Kansas State Scholar (which I did) you needed:
English - 4 years
One unit to be taken each year. Must include substantial recurrent practice in writing extensive and structured papers, extensive reading of significant literature, and significant experience in speaking and listening.

Mathematics - 4 years
Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, and one unit of advanced mathematics-- suggested courses include: Analytic Geometry, Trigonometry, Advanced Algebra, Probability and Statistics, Functions or Calculus. Completion of Algebra I in 8th grade is acceptable for the Kansas Scholars Curriculum.

Science - 3 years
One year each in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, each of which include an average of one laboratory period a week. Applied/technical courses may not substitute for a unit of natural science credit.

Social Studies - 3 years
One unit of U.S. History; minimum of one-half unit of U.S. Government and minimum of one-half unit selected from: World History, World Geography or International Relations; and one unit selected from: Psychology, Economics, U.S. Government, U.S. History, Current Social Issues, Sociology, Anthropology, and Race and Ethnic Group Relations. Half unit courses may be combined to make this a whole unit.

World Language - 2 years
Two years of one language. Latin and Sign Language are accepted.

Graduating early would me you weren't eligible as you couldn't just supplement this with college courses at the Community College. I did however for my French courses take for college credit my junior and senior year and was considered dual enrolled at the Community College but it wasn't that it was in lieu of taking the class at the high school.





My husband is an engineer and just understand that pressures in high school are not the same as pressures in college. I would review his maturity level as a whole for early graduation. It's not to say he can't be mature for his age just that having high test scores on standardized tests don't necessarily correlate to ability to handle pressure. My sister went to Ivy League for civil engineering and had great ACT and SAT scores but still suffered because she was NOT the top dog like she was used to. My husband knew some people in his engineering program who while quite smart struggled with the rigors of classes and completing projects on time. He knew of some people that would bring a cot to the labs to eat and sleep (and use the bathrooms to sorta freshen up) because they didn't space out their working on projects.

As far as option 2 I would consider it an iffy best to do it the way you are describing due to his intended major of engineering. Certain fields are more specialized such that excess courses are usually slimmer leaving more courses for targeted courses. I would find which college he is more interested in and look for the exact courses are required and if the courses he would take at the local branch of the State college would transfer. Even a math course may seem core but is there a specific Calc for example that a engineering program/school would require. Also take into consideration requirements can change which may impact the value of option 2. For my husband just after he graduated the engineering school removed the requirement for Humanities courses to be taken. Even for me a few years after I graduated college our alma mater (my husband and I both went to the same college just I'm a year older) reduced the amount of credit hours needed for graduation. I already had excess credits due to my dual enrollment for French in high school and a math course and a bio course and bio lab I took at the community college over 2 summers but I would have had even more. Excess courses, depending on what they were, would be like money wasted in the end.

 

[Southernmiss]

The skills to study are huge.

My 4 realized they breezed through high school without study skills.

They all hit college classes that made them learn some and adapt fast.

We have 3 biochemistry majors and an accounting major.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

He aced Honors Pre-calc (not bragging--you would expect this from a future engineering student).

I was just speaking to my husband about your question and he said they referred to one of the Calc classes certain engineers had to take as "Baby Calc". I was like "geez hun that's a bit pretentious" (he was in aerospace engineering) in any case realize that while his achievement should be celebrated and can at least be an indicator if engineering is a pipe dream or realistic it doesn't mean he will have an easy time with the college courses, not saying he would just automatically have issues but acing classes in high school isn't always the best way to figure out if someone can do just as well at the college level.

 

[NotUrsula]

Listen to DGal, she's right, at least in the "I'll finish college quicker" scenario; he probably wouldn't, and might well actually set himself back.

There's a whole lot of non-academic growing that happens 16-18.

CE is one of the most work-intensive majors that exists. I once was engaged to a chemical engineering student who was in a really challenging elite program. He had gone to one of those super-competitive public high schools and had managed that with no effort, but was shocked at how hard the CE workload in college was. It wasn't just the intellectual rigor, but the sheer volume of work. A kid who might still be growing is never going to get enough sleep (and yes, sleeping in the lab is pretty common.)

That said, there is some merit in the reach of transitioning mostly to a college workload, and getting as much of his non-technical requirement out of the way as possible, so that when he does start the CE program he may be able to lighten his load just a bit. As someone else said, taking core things like math locally in the hope of skipping forward is only likely to force him to repeat it; elite schools tend to insist on their own basic courses for core subjects. Better to knock out something like the foreign language requirement ahead of time if his target school will accept that.

One of the best things he could do now would be to get a job at an actual engineering firm, so he can see how commercial engineering really works; he'll get plenty of exposure to the academic side in school. That really successful ex of mine started working in engineering firms at 16 doing scutwork, but they recognized his talent, and he was part of a project that earned his first patent when he was 17. That, in turn, got him a lot more merit aid than anyone would ever have anticipated. He went on to a very distinguished academic career, and is now the Chair of one of the best CE programs in the US. His CV is as thick as a phone book and he owns hundreds of patents.

BTW, as you're looking at programs, pay attention to the housing situations offered. Big engineering schools often have engineering houses, where everyone else in the building is in a similar program. It cuts way down on the irritation factor of working your tail off while the very social marketing majors down the hall are throwing a loud party. (Not to say that engineers don't party, they do, but they tend to be a bit more respectful of the stressful workload.)