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And that right there is why MIT will entertain applicants at any age, even the odd “Dougie Howser”. MIT wants to consider applications at the point in which students have exhausted their school’s curriculum (which is for most students after they have completed their Senior year in high school). That being said, MIT does not really act in loco parentis for its students, certainly not as much as some other schools do, and so they are looking to ensure that the students have the emotional maturity to prosper on campus as well as the academic chops. Basically, a young student is considered absolutely no differently than any other student on campus, and as such, the admissions criteria are exactly the same. </p>
<p>I had to prepare for such an interview this past year, and I can assure you that as an EC, in order to ensure that a young candidate was just the same as any other, I did actually ask different questions, because I was not able to make some of the same assumptions of a 13-year old student that I could make of an 18-year old student.</p>
<p>Given that, I am afraid that I do not understand the posted question. marciemi notes that "if he didn’t get in, he’d probably just stay the senior year and hope that the extra college credits and more in his application would get him in the next year. " Huh? You really think that metal shop, shorthand and automotive repair will make all of the difference to a competitive college? Either the student has exhausted his school curriculum, in which case, by all means graduate early and apply to universities. Or, alternatively, the student has not, there are still classes to take at high school that will be of benefit to a college application, in which case the question has answered itself.</p>