<p>My son almost always got to bed before midnight. Most “need it the next day” assignments are busywork and sometimes you just have to do a little triage and take the hit of a few lost points for late or missed homework assignments. Of course it helped that he never ever had to study for a math or physics test and that he usually had near 100% or over (with “extra credit”) on tests to offset lost points on homework.</p>
<p>My son had a different problem, trying to graduate in 3 years and, after having made that decision, also finding out that he could be a viable candidate for top-20 colleges. With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, I do not recommend this strategy to anyone, no matter how brilliant and determined. My son worked all day long 7 days a week almost continuously for nearly 2 years, holidays and vacations included – when others had their downtime, he was working on classes with different scheduling demands, online and college classes and his community service project.</p>
<p>Downtime was 45-60 minutes here and there every other day or so as needed, watching one television show or playing a game on his iPod Touch. His social life folded into his companionship with his fellow EC teammates and his peer tutoring, plus occasional family gatherings where his friends and cousins could relax together for a few hours.</p>
<p>He became incredibility efficient with his time, but was very burned out by the end of his final semester and slept 12-14 hours a day for the first few weeks after HS graduation. </p>
<p>We had planned a gap year for him to explore his own interests at his own pace before we started the acceleration process, but I think it really him reset his clock for his next round of over-reaching. At the moment, he’s at Brown taking 4 math/physics/CS classes and an optional 5th class that everyone recommended against. Apparently, no permanent damage was done. :)</p>
<p>Eh, my son graduated in 3 years (and made the decision at the start of his junior year to graduate early) without any ill effects as discussed in my most recent post. Actually he didn’t decide for sure until he got the acceptances to MIT/Caltech. Our school was particularly accommodating - when we asked the principal at the start of the year (as he was beginning his applications) when the school would need to know for sure whether he was graduating or not the following spring (2012 instead of 2013), the principal replied “Well, if you can let me know by the time I get to the end of his row at graduation so I know whether or not to call his name it would be nice!” </p>
<p>But he already had all the credits - only “glitch” was having to get permission to count his freshman Language Arts class that he’d taken in 8th grade at the HS since normally classes taken before starting HS (even if at the HS and the same class) don’t count as “credits” towards graduation. He still had enough credits but didn’t have the 4 Language Arts classes requirement (even though there was nothing left to take since he’d had two years of honors English then AP Lang and AP Lit already). So he would have faced that same issue even if he’d graduated on time (unless he’d taken more LA classes Dual Enrollment. Which he wouldn’t have!).</p>
<p>Maybe he’ll find a non-nocturnal girl, although it sounds like they might be rare at MIT. My D is a good student but falls apart if short on sleep. She’s very efficient at getting through the work. I don’t have a camera in her dorm room, of course, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find her schedule has moved later at college, but I would bet money that she’s getting at least 8 hours sleep, on average.</p>
<p>If math and physics come naturally to him (i.e. he just gets it without much need to study), that schedule might not actually be super heavy a workload (although physics labs and CS programming assignments can take more time than math assignments). It might be a lesser workload than in high school if he had to take courses in high school that did not come as naturally to him (i.e. that he had to work to do well in), compared to being at Brown where there are no breadth requirements.</p>
<p>Hmmm, texaspg #2667: Well, to borrow from Matthew Arnold, “we are here as on a darkling plain,” and “the world . . . hath really neither . . . certitude, nor help for pain.” </p>
<p>Probably one of my few remaining illusions about college admissions; now shattered.</p>
<p>Wait, wait, I thought of an alternative possibility: maybe the person in question did not score any points either time (or perhaps Caltech’s threshold is somewhere around 4 or even 7). </p>
<p>There is no trip to the USAMO. Generally, people take it at their own schools, although exceptions can be approved to take it with another educator as the proctor. I am virtually certain that home-schooled students can’t take it with a parent as proctor.</p>
<p>The trips start at the next level: USAMO winners and other students selected to participate in the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (MOSP).</p>
<p>mathnerd1 is in the high school graduating class of 2013, and applied to Caltech early action. I wish him/her all the best with other applications. The Caltech outcome is baffling on its face.</p>
<p>Thats what I meant. It is at Texas Tech and very selective. His credentials seem quite worthy and so the decision to reject outright seems like an anomoly, at least for Caltech which goes by numbers more than anything else if go by reputation.</p>
<p>I just looked over at the Caltech site. I didn’t realize EA decisions just came out. Seems like all the posters had high stats, but stats could not predict who was accepted, deferred, or the other. Perhaps essays, interests, recommendations?</p>