My daughter is 12 and, if she continued on the same path, would be starting college at 16 ... not as early as some, but early enough to make me concerned.

I think I would actually feel more comfortable with traveling for more life experience (with a group doing non-profit work or something along those lines) than starting college early.

To me, early college for my daughter (because she's very independent and would want to be on her own) would mean having a group of peers around her that are all a couple of years older than her, are drinking around her, engaging in risky behavior around her -- I can't possibly expect a 16 year old to make the right decisions every time in that situation.

A gap year working with a non-profit, traveling and doing hard work for people who need help would be much more helpful to her in my mind. She would be surrounded by people who are still older than her, but it would be a much more diverse crowd, age and experience-wise, engaging in a mix of activities -- some good and some bad for her. And she would have an easier time making better decisions knowing there are people there that she's accountable to.

I would only feel comfortable with early college if it was either the first two years at a local community college (something I think she would rebel heavily against) or a very unique college that has an environment well suited for making the good decisions. She's probably not getting into the best of schools - that's not what she wants for herself and the paths she is exploring don't require it.

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