Thanks everyone. It certainly is a very individual process because all kids are different and have different skill sets. Like HK and her daughter, there is no way we could just choose a school for DD. She will definitely choose as she knows her own mind. Like us though, she needs a starting point and a frame of reference. It is an entirely different education system.

It is hard to step back but we have been doing that in different ways for a while as it is necessary for any child to develop their own coping skills, how to make mistakes and how to fix them. Sure we step in where needed to facilitate something high level but DD is very good at contacting teachers and the Head of Academic if there is a problem. In the holidays she changed one of her course options for this year by email chatting with the Head of Academic and I only knew about it after the fact.

The decision here will impact on the whole family and there is hours of work just to get the whole education system in perspective, from high school through community colleges to Unis. I could not do it without all the opinions and DD has no one currently to help but us. The counsellor at school doesn't know the system. She has no friends undertaking the process to bounce ideas off.

I have found with all her classmates investigating Uni here they garner a lot of info from each other about what they have found. There is a lot of discussion about various Unis and the marks and subjects required to get into different courses. There is very much a mindset of exploration in the year 11 class not present in the year she left. It's nice to see. If DD were at school in the US I am sure something similar would be happening and she would be absorbing knowledge from many sources. Same with sitting the SATs. She doesn't know anyone who has done them so has no idea what to expect from a BTDT perspective.

I totally understand the concerns Val has raised. There is no doubt that coping with acceleration is not just about academic capability and neither is going to Uni. We are lucky with our DD that she is a motivated and capable young lady. We will support her in her choices and part of that is making sure we understand what we can about what her choices are.

Thank you Bluemagic. Sounds like you have an impressive daughter. I hope she is having a great time at school. I went to Uni at 17 and while it was away from home, it wasn't on the other side of the country. Well done.i have not heard of paying to help kids with the College process. I can now understand why you might want to do that! LOL.

I am always interested in what you have to say HK. You have been navigating a difficult road and have excellent BTDT advice. Thank you for the advice about Community Colleges.

I think heading to Uni is a big step in life whether your child is 14 or 18, gifted or not. There has been great advice here for everyone.