Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Advocacy for Early College Entrance

Our son is ready for college. He's already been successful and enjoyed taking several college level courses through places like Coursera, EdX etc. He is currently in 7th grade and homeschooled. He has the ACT scores (28 composite with highest of 32 in science) on his first attempt. I'm interested to know how others have navigated advocacy for early college entrace and worked to overcome the following challenges:

1) High school subjects (time) requirements: Has attending AP classes or taking AP tests helped?
2) 4-6 semesters or 2 years of English seems to be the minimum requirement. Is there another form of qualification that suffices?
3) College admission contact person: Is there a person or department in Universities that may be the right first contact? I have spoken with admissions people from a couple of Univerisities and they are typically unable to direct further and appear to look to check off the basic requirements only.
4) College and High school concurrent enrollment: Is there a best case scenario as to how to approach this topic and with whom?

These are some of the main questions I am currently dealing with and having trouble navigating. I'd appreciate any and all input for group members.

Thank you.

Sending you a Private Message.

You might want to start with duel enrollment at your local community college.

He is currently in 7th grade and homeschooled.

Okay, but if he's taking college coursework and is 'ready for college' then he's not a seventh grader, n'est pas?

Do you mean that he of an AGE to be a 7th grader?

Or that in some particular interest areas, he is ready for college-level work?


Or do you mean that he is, in a broad sense, ready to be enrolled as a regular college student?


Those things require very different approaches.

If he's a gifted 7th grader with an area of profound gifts and needs basically subject acceleration, then start with the appropriate department person at a local college-- or better still, at a community college (they'll be more open to homeschooled students doing this in a lot of locations). That may not require a general admission process.

If he's truly ready for college as a regular freshman student, then you're going to need to locate the person at the college who handles VERY young college entrants. There is usually someone. It's complicated because of concerns about safety/liability in some coursework and dorm settings, etc. They may want to meet with him (and you) to determine whether or not he possesses the maturity to be independent in that setting or not.

I would, however, STOP referring to him as a 7th grader in that case. Because if he's mastered the material expected of high school students, then say that an emphasize that he is a homeschooled student who is ready for post-secondary work.

In that case, what each college will want as documentation of his completion of some kind of high school curriculum is going to vary-- but you'll need to determine that by referring to your child as a "homeschooled" student who is finished with high school level work.

HTH-- Good luck!

Thank you for your response, HowlerKarma. This makes a lot of sense. Just to clarify he is classified as a 7th grader for the online school work he does, which is for the purpose of transcripts, but chronologically a 4th grader.

I am interested in the full time college enrollment as a first choice and dual enrollment as second.

I am just curious--(having considered early college i.e. Mary Baldwin for dd12, and thankfully now after moving we have an excellent public high school option that will meet her needs no longer considering it)--why are you interested in full time college now?

For me, dual enrollment worked best at a young age (around your ds's age). I was able to stay with students a few years older than me as a base grade and still participate in homeschool/regular school functions (usually much more demanding at the college level--whether it's intramural sports or the university play...). There's a lot more writing at the college level, which was an issue for me (lab notebook, composition class) as a student that young. It worked better to take 1-3 courses a semester to supplant what I was learning in my homeschool/regular school accelerated courses, and I still was able to matriculate as an upper classman when I was a bit older and ready for a full courseload of classes (and chose to attend a more rigorous university). Anyway, that was just my experience with it. There are other ways to do it, especially if you live close to schools with programs for young students.

Ahhhh. Well, in that case, I suspect that a college admissions officer's answer is going to be "you've tried middle school work-- maybe you need to accelerate further into demanding secondary courses at a higher level." Because you're going to (probably) need external validation for the fact that your child already has MASTERY of the entire high school curriculum.

Four years of English literature and composition, four years of math (through calculus, probably), four years of science (including biology and physical science with labs), four years of social studies (including civics/government, history etc), and at least two years of foreign language.

The problem with even very high SAT/ACT scores is that they don't really monitor about half of that.

You could try some SAT subject tests, I suppose.

But you say that he's taken AP coursework? What were his AP exam scores like? Or did you mean would that be sufficient?

Here's the thing. At your position, we were very much in the same boat. My DD was pretty much melting down over the fact that schoolwork was stultifying/mind-numbing.


But high school has been different. It's the greater pressure for extracurriculars (which she has developed a real passion for) and also the greater VOLUME in terms of expectations.

We filled with community ed classes in areas of interest while she was your son's age-- taken side-by-side with a parent, just because it was easier that way. For those, which were ungraded, she just needed individual instructor approval, which was always forthcoming once they'd met her and us.

The other thing I want to be sure to add is that you are very very right to not just make him "tough it out" for years and years with material that is so inappropriate.

Are you using a virtual school or are you homeschooling? If it's the former, do you mind noting if you're with one of the big nationals like K12 or Connections? We've been with the latter-- and honestly, I'm glad that we didn't bail and send DD to college when she was in middle school (chronologically 5th grade) when we strongly considered it.

Honors and AP coursework has been able to-- with extracurriculars-- somehow be "appropriate" for her. No, the work itself isn't all that challenging... but it also doesn't take her eight hours a day, which I think is too much for a 10-13yo. Given the greater volume of written work as you go up in level (we've seen this even with AP), that is a serious concern for PG kids.

So. She's not with true peers-- but then again, sending her to college won't put her with very many of them either. She's with the top 1% of her graduating class, and they are 3-4 years older than she is. Most of them need 8-9 hr to manage her courseload, but she does not. It frees her up to do other things. If she were taking four or five college classes, that workload would be higher, and would cut into her free time. A lot. I want her to have time to just be a young teenager.

The other advantage to running through high school graduation requirements (which you can probably do in 3y if the school is willing to work with you) is that yes, it gives you (parents) a little more breathing room, but it also makes college admissions easy. Well, not "easy" with a kid well under 16, but you know. Once they have a diploma and the test scores, there's pretty much no way for them to say no.

Dual enrollment credits are also accepted onto high school transcripts by most schools where I am-- and certainly by Connections.

That's the other route that I'd explore. Try a community ed class and see what your child's comfort level is. Turns out that for my DD, she felt like a "little kid among grown ups" and it was borderline uncomfortable for her-- because they TREATED her like a kid. She wasn't truly part of the peer group in that setting, which was disappointing.

KWIM?

I know this is a HOT topic. Personally I do NOT advocate full enrollment in college at this age for even the brightest. First just because he can do well on a college assessment does not mean he has all the skills necessary for college level classes. My husband started taking college classes at 14 (at Stanford, this was in late 70's & his parents lived in town), but only in math. This was long before EGPY or online college courses. My in-laws decided to keep him in regular classes and only accelerate where necessary. I WENT to college with an 11 year old boy, and that was a huge disaster in the end. He was NOT socially really to be in college. After getting his BA in math he went back to junior high. (LONG story for another time)

For home schoolers there are lots of great options online for him to take high school/college classes and to be challenged while still being a kid. One huge advantage of the internet. One example is standford EGPY where your son can take college courses. There are many great gifted summer programs. Perhaps he can take a class or two at a local community college. Have you seen, http://www.aleks.com/. (Disclaimer I know the people behind this program)

I want to also ask the question. WHY? What is the goal at having him in college now?