I was grade skipped and went to college a lot earlier than most kids. I was going to finish undergraduate degree on time, but, because I was young, I decided that I had more time to explore my options - so, I took an extra year to do a double major. The second major was not in a field that I ever use in my professional life. I still got out of uni and was well established in a professional field before age 25. I have had 3 career shifts and I have been able to do those because of the early start that I had. Some days, when I am faced with big professional challenges, I don't feel intimidated and feel that the experience I had going to college early and surviving that lifestyle toughened me up.
But, an important point to mention is that I am an introvert and an autodidact. I had a few meaningful friendships throughout college, but, I was not seeking out the active social scene or wanted any popularity. I was too focused on my education at that time to worry about those things. It is not normal and not many kids are wired that way. Being younger and being unable to fit into the popular crowd was a non-issue for me.
That being said, we are doing our very best to not send our child to early college. He is very social and an extrovert and we want him to have a great social life in his college years as well as a great education.
