college316

Though I am sixteen (born in '92), I am a senior this year and applied to Duke RD. They will obviously note the fact that my birth year is a year later than everyone else's, but other than that, I didn't deal with it anywhere else in my app and I know for a fact my teacher recs didn't say anything about it either.

I skipped a grade in elementary school and have never had a problem socially/academically adjusting, I've always been the youngest but when most people find out they can't believe it because I'm a pretty mature person.

I'm worried that Duke will hesitate when reading my app because I will be a seventeen-year-old going to college with 18-22 yr olds, and they might be wary that I will be able to deal with that....do you think this will negatively affect my chances?

I have strong scores, strong extracurriculars, strong recs, etc. so there aren't any "signs" that I'd have any sort of problem being the youngest.

3321

There are plenty of 17 year old college students. No need to worry about it.

Senator Noodles

There was a 16-year-old in one of my classes last semester, and he was a sophomore. You'll be fine.

abena301

You definitely wont be the only 17 yr old college freshmen. It should not be a big deal. A friend just turned 20 this September after her graduation (she was Duke class of '08). Sometimes I am the one who feels older- as a 2nd year who turned 20 in November. And also, some kids in your class will be older than the norm because of gap years and such.

Sometimes age is really just a number.

loveduke22

My roommate had JUST turned 17 when we moved in freshman year. Your academics/ECs will speak to your maturity...don't worry about it! If you're ready for college, you're ready!

Mondo

I have three friends who started college more than a year younger.
A senior who is now 20 (turns 21 in July), a junior who is now 19 (turns 20 in September), an a sophomore who is now 16 (turns 17 in January).
I have another friend who attended another college for freshman year, dropped out early on, took the rest of the academic year off and reapplied to many colleges including Duke- starting college at Duke at 19 AND turned 20 the September of his freshman year.
It's not so rare to not start college at 18.
I almost skipped a year myself (in hind sight, it would have sucked since I would have only been able to drink legally for two months, now add a year, ) but my parents thought it was better that I whored out the APs in my school- so that's what I did instead..
It seems to be especially common for internationals who didn't go through the American school system.