Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums College I need help, please.

Uh, I'm sorry you feel that way, Tallulah, but I think this is really bad advice, and I would certainly be surprised if the OP's physicist father replied with a significant proportion. I certainly am practically never bored in my academic job, and I'm sure the same is true of the people who are more talented than me. Talks and colloquia, in particular, are seldom boring, and if one occasionally makes the mistake of going to one that is, that's what the pencil and paper in one's pocket or the laptop are for :-)

Housework is not stimulating in the same way, of course, but to me "boring" is things which are neither fun nor worthwhile. I didn't see the OP suggest that everything needed to be fun.

I agree that it's possible to not go to lectures at university, but it would of course be better to find a university course that has interesting lectures.

LOL, you know a different group of people than I do. Or maybe it's just a different field. You're in math, right?

The OP is in the US, where degrees are four years, with really large general education requirements. You can't just focus on your major and prerequisites. But, with music and language interests I'd be surprised if she couldn't find interests outside math/physics.

I'm with CollinsMum on this, university is what you make of it. There are plenty of schools which do not require a specific path, some even allow you to design your own major. And when the subject speaks to you it's exciting not boring. When you find something that working on puts you in that place of "flow" it's the furthest thing from boring whether it's ancient texts or matrices.

Going back to OP concerns, and some of the other suggestions, the mentor aspect is key. Professors typically love interested students capable of working at the level they and their graduate students do, as opposed to the ones who are just there. Check out the DYS stories, almost all of them report struggling to find someone who would work with them due to age but that once they did it was awesome, fulfilling and put them on the path to where they wanted to go.

I would say the big question is figuring out where you want to go to college but also when, given your age. Research the best departments in quantum physics and see what they have, what you can tap into until you do go.

Good luck

DeHe

My personal dream is to attend MIT. However, my parents are quite protective because of my mental health, and are barely even considering letting me apply to Simon's Rock. The university I am taking classes at is a private university in a relatively large city. Again, though, my parents did not want me taking on too much my first semester. My father required that I only take one class, however, after much protesting, I bargained for two academic and one musical. I am in Introduction to Psychology, (big whoop, I know, it's a joke of a class) Intermediate French 1, which I tested into because of my previous 3 years of French, and Chorale.
What I would love to do is apply to MIT and, if accepted, drop out of high school, as they do not require of you a high school diploma or GED. My problem is my parents. They mean well, of course, but they have been very protective of me for as long as I can remember. They will take virtually any excuse to delay my higher education, including poor physical and mental health.
And yes, I have tried yoga. It left me feeling ridiculous and in slight pain.

No math? No science? Or are you doing those through homeschooling? How much will you anticipate having by the time you apply to college? While MIT doesn't require a high school diploma, they won't take you if they don't think you'll be able to handle the workload.

Is there any particular reason that you want to enter college early, rather than doing a combination of homeschool / dual enrollment until you're 18 or so?

I'm completing the math and science and other courses through homeschooling. I have a working knowledge of nearly all sciences, and I'm completing Calculus next semester.
High school is useless for me. So are my college courses. I have a difficult time doing useless work. I find no enjoyment doing work for which I've already learned the material.

Mia - find a mentor...that will give you a chance to learn at your level, and be someone to give support to your parents. I can tell you that being a parent is no picnic, and when there is poor health then the parent's role is that much more difficult. Find a mentor and start doing what you love NOW.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

More articles on Mentors:

http://www.davidsongifted.org/Searc..._frontend&site=dgdb_all&q=mentor

I get that. But in what way is Simon's Rock (or any other college that would take you now) going to be different from what you're doing now? If your dream is to go to MIT, and you could reasonably apply if you waited a year, why are you in a hurry to give that up?

It's also not clear to me why you feel obligated to take useless classes through dual enrollment. The whole point of dual enrollment is to take classes that are either fun or hard, and you seem to be saying that you picked classes that were neither.

As for boredom in academia, I definitely have found the seminars and colloquia to be very stimulating (in mathematics and some physics, as well as others outside my area of research), and I rarely have found my work boring. Sometimes, it is a bit tedious to finish up analyses or revise a paper, but most of days are stimulating and thoroughly enjoyable (especially when I can teach).

As for the formal mathematics training, I would suggest talking with professors at prospective universities about your passion and how much you have learned outside of school. I had very little formal coursework in mathematics before jumping into the field, but many professors were impressed with what I had learned on my own and were very willing to help me catch up in the field. I have found that most mathematicians/physicists are delighted when young people show a passion for their field and can help with administrative red tape.