My DD will graduate from HS when she is 16 and will go to college just before 17. She is every bit the 5th grader now, and fits in according to every standard. This being the case, I cannot imagine that she will not want to go to college with her peers. And because she is so like her older friends, and because I can look back at how I was when I was 16, I have no doubts at all that she will be ready and successful. In fact, she already has a list of colleges that she in interested in going to. Some of her criteria are that it be a mid- to largish-size school that is approximately 3 hours away -- "where I'm on my own but can get back easily for the occasional weekend if I want to." She is a very reasonable and mature child who makes friends easily and has a reasonable plan for her education at this point. The only thing I hate about her grade-advancements is that she's going to leave home 2 years earlier than she normally would (I'm going to miss having her around!), but her school situation is what's best for her all around, and I'm totally confident she'll be ready.
Interestingly, I'm not as confident that DS7 would be ready to go to college at 16, and that is one of the main reasons we're just sticking with the single skip and subject acceleration, although it's not quite enough. I'm pretty sure he'd want to go to college straight out of HS, and I'm pretty sure we don't want him in that situation. But, as with everything, time will tell!
I'm a firm believer that each child has different needs and all you can do is do your best to meet those needs, whatever that means.
