Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Ivy League Admissions.

CFK, the credit thing is a serious concern only in terms of scholarships and class standing, as far as I can tell.

It does matter in that if you come into an institution with college credits, the college itself may deem the student something other than a "freshman" on the basis of those credits, making them ineligible for financial aid offered to 'true' freshman who come in without earned (as opposed to AP) college credits.

I do not know of any specific instances in which a student has been made to apply as a transfer student on the basis of credits earned prior to high school graduation... but one does hear stories about it from fairly reliable sources (like faculty).

It's true that some institutions won't accept dual enrollment (or CLEP, or AP) credits anyway as transfer credit, though they may still consider them in determining placement.

It just varies too widely to say for sure. There certainly seems little harm in doing dual enrollment for a child that needs more than their local school can offer, though. Aside from cost, obviously.

I gathered that our local high school's plan for dealing with this would be to offer credit by exam (or simply do it quietly based on her grades in more advanced coursework and performance on standardized tests) and simply graduate my daughter officially once she outstripped what they could offer, which would have been during her sophomore year. Yet another reason we didn't go back to our local B&M school, given that DD was 12 at the time and this would have left her without much of a high school transcript for colleges to even look at.

They recommended what CFK has done, incidentally-- to 'withdraw' to homeschool and send DD to the local community college or University (if we could get her seated, that is, in light of her age) as a homeschooling student. On our dime, of course. LOL.

We did NOT do that primarily because DD is a polymath and therefore it wasn't that difficult to get her to a place where she'll hopefully be ready and promising in terms of entering a good-to-elite school at age 15. If she'd had a single area of profound ability, though, it would have been MUCH harder to choose to go this direction.

In that case, we'd have opted for the path that CFK's family has chosen-- because there would have been little choice.

Instead, we've been hothousing a few spots in order to get them up to speed for a general college experience rather than encouraging immersion in a single passionate interest and ability area.

Different kids, different solutions, KWIM? The thing that irks me is that the virtual school is likely exactly what killed some math interest in my DD by not offering much direct instructional contact in secondary. It's been sad-- so 22B, in your case specifically, I'd say to take it as it comes. I would not be planning very far ahead on the basis of elementary experiences. Wait and see what happens in Algebra I, Geometry... much could change there depending on how your school handles those courses.

CFK, just curious, what types of schools were these? State universities? Private universities? LACs? Ivies? Or a mixture? Thanks.

Clarifying my previous post
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....Re_Ivy_League_Admissions.html#Post163162
I'm not sure if dual enrollment would be the right term for what we'd be looking for. By the time our son finishes calculus he'll have enough high school math credits (even though he wouldn't be in high school yet).

So he'd be needing university maths courses to keep moving in maths (while doing needed high school courses in other subjects), but he'd only need university credit (not high school credit) for maths.

So it would really be a case of taking some university courses totally independently of the K-12 school. I know there are other options like AoPS for some courses, but university is the logical choice for courses that will have to be taken eventually anyway.

Anyone have experience with this?

Also CFK, what does it entail to "graduate" from homeschool?

Don't recall where you live, but I think it is not Minnesota. Here there is a program called "UMTYMP" (pronounced "um-tee-ump") that the most gifted math students in the state often enroll in.

http://mathcep.umn.edu/umtymp/

Obviously just specific to our state... but I suppose a few other states may have something similar. I am sure the posters out here would know!

Well that looks pretty good. We don't have anything like that.

Caltech:

Applications for transfer admission will be considered from students who have completed their secondary school education and have enrolled at a college or university and earned credit for courses. Students concurrently enrolled in a secondary school and a college or university should apply for freshman admission

http://admissions.caltech.edu/applying/transfer

MIT:

I have been attending college during high school. Should I apply as a transfer?
The transfer process is intended for students who have finished high school and completed at least one year of college. If you are still in high school, you are considered a freshman applicant regardless of how many classes you may have taken at the university level.

http://mitadmissions.org/apply/transfer/faqs

Harvard:

Students who have completed one full-time year of college in a regular degree program in lieu of their senior year of high school (under an early admission plan) should contact the Admissions Office before submitting an application, but generally, if the courses were taken for credit toward a high school diploma, candidates should apply as a freshman.

http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/transfer/eligibility.html

Yale:

If you are currently jointly enrolled in high school and college, you are not eligible for the transfer program, but should apply through the freshman admissions process.

http://admissions.yale.edu/transfer

Stanford:

Students who are dual-enrolled in both high school and college programs should apply for freshman admission.

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/application/transfer/credit.html

Parents, including me, have complained about the $60K/year cost of many schools. Even in a mediocre economy, the elite schools are competing on the basis of amenities rather than trying to economize:

http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=63166
How Students Eat Now
By Theresa Johnston
Stanford Magazine
July/August 2013

You are buying a patent of nobility.

Nobles always eat well, that's part of the package.

Thanks everyone. This is helping me brainstorm. Some more questions.

If your student is home schooling or in a virtual school, what do you do about science labs (e.g. for physics, chemistry, biology)? Do colleges have concerns about the lack of lab experience?

Generally (for any type of school, but also more particularly for a school without little or no lab facilities) is it better to take an AP course, or to take the corresponding freshman college course in a university (while the student is in high school)? Under what circumstances is one or the other better? In particular what do "elite" universities think of either option taken at an "average" high school or college? How about doing the freshman college course and then taking the corresponding AP exam as well?

The context of these questions is the idea of a student accumulation a lot of AP and/or college credit before graduating high school, and then hopefully having two options; either getting a BSc in 2-3 years at the local uni, or getting into a more elite uni albeit without necessarily getting full credit for past coursework hence needing 4 years.

ETA: local uni = state flagship (but not a really good one. Median SAT scores would be in 550-600 range.)

The average SAT scores at our local high school are comparable to those of the state flagship, so the SAT scores of the students in AP classes (who are better-than-average high school students) would be higher than those at a community college or a nearby state university (which is less selective than the flagship). In addition, AP courses at the high school are easier logistically. So AP classes may be better than equivalent college classes for us.