I knew a girl who was a friend of my DD went to Resident Honors Program at USC (one year earlier). She seems to be very happy there although USC is the school that she always wanted to go.
Early entrance program might be a good fit if the child can't wait to leave his high school and other alternatives had been exhausted. The up side is that he or she may skip the college application madness and potentially graduate from college earlier. But the down sides also need to be considered. You may have to pay more for college tuition. The child may not be mature enough to go to college yet. And also the opportunity cost: those gifted kids who can get into early entrance program can probably get into "better" schools through normal college application process one year later.
