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    Joined: Nov 2018
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    DS skipped two grades and will be graduating at age 16. He is applying now to Princeton at age 15. He has a competitive application. However, we are aware that elite universities have no incentives to accept young students who are unpredictable when they can have their pick from older/mature students. Do admissions look at age? If so, would it be better to be proactive and mention it in the "share any information you think we should know" section? I told my DS to mention it but I'm not sure if that was good advice. Here�s my thinking: They will probably notice his age from the birthdate anyway so instead of leaving it to chances, it might actually help to directly address it and defend it. Or should he not mention it and hope that admissions will not notice his age? Anyone here have any experience with this?

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    My son is 15 in his second semester at GA Tech (in state commuter) with Junior status. He will do an extra year at Tech to add a minor and make it a 3 year experience vs just 2. My personal belief is the IVY's would not touch him as he was denied from most of the schools he applied. When I look at his competitive profile (graduated age 14 HS, 66 college credits through dual enrollment, owned a thriving math tutoring business since age 12, travel ice hockey player since age 5, had shadowed physicians (pre-health track), 1450 SAT, clubs, great recommendations, etc.), it makes no sense. He got into UGA and GTech (in state), which at the end of they day were the only real viable options. We were not sending him away at 14 and he wanted BME / pre-med so Tech was top 3 in the country and his #1 choice. He also has a full ride academic scholarship and commutes 10 miles each day via the train. Some of the schools he was turned down from (Vanderbilt, Duke, Johns Hopkins, U Michigan, Case Western, U of Virginia). He did get an interview by a local Duke person. All of these schools told me they take younger kids and could accommodate housing but reality is why would they when they have "normal options". Many other schools that he wanted to consider were either too far away from us in GA or said they can't house a student under age 16 so we would need to relocate as a family. Not an option with 4 kids and careers. I ran into a GA Tech admissions director by chance and she said they have had maybe 1 kid accepted 15 or under in her 20 years in admissions. She was well aware of who my son was of the thousands of acceptances and we had never met. Clearly there was discussion about his candidacy. She said they accepted him because we were in commuting distance and he met profile while having completed a whopping 2 years of college classes prior to being a full fledge offical college student. She said he had to come because he had nowhere left to take classes and exceeded options under dual enrollment. I think this says everything. I think at 16 you will be far better positioned than my son was starting classes at Tech at 14 (this past summer). Many schools did say they have a few 16's but it is a small handful and not every year. I would be remiss to say my son isn't academically in exactly the right place but has zero social life at Tech. He comes and goes and his friend circle and ice hockey team are age appropriate and separate. He won't ever get back this experience and will probably not experience college until med school, at which he will enter at age 17 if he decides to go. I don't even know if he can get hired with his degree because he won't be 18 if he decides to work in Biomedical engineering. Lots to consider. Age 16 offers more options than my son had. If your son is graduating early why not consider a year of dual enrollment. He will be more competitive for college applications, in some places earn full credit for the classes and be a year older. He will then get a full college experience. You work 40 years, waiting one more year makes sense. BTW: My son was so far ahead we couldn't slow him down anymore but my other 3 who two of them have been asked to grade skip several times we have left them with their peers and found schools where they can get course accelerated. They can decide after their Sophomore year in HS to graduate early or take Dual enrollment and graduate with their peers. I used to be bullish on pushing them towards college but if you asked me to decide for you I would say wait a year and go full time dual enrollment. Good luck with your decision.


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