Applying to college as a HS junior

Parents Forum
1

<p>Is there anyone whose child has applied to college as a HS junior (or investigated doing so), and if so, could you please give me some advice? Here are my questions:

  1. I assume that the applicant is expected to have all of the requisite standardized testing even though she is only a junior? (She has taken only one SATII at the moment.)
  2. How important is the support of the high school? If the high school does not support the applicant’s decision to go to college early, do you think that is a deal killer? (Maybe the high school has reasons for wanting to keep the student in HS that are not necessarily in the student’s best interest?)
  3. If the college does not accept the student as a junior, do you think that would in any way prejudice the applicant’s chances if she applies again as a senior?
  4. Does the student ever get a high school diploma? For example, would the school district give credit for the college courses and award a diploma after the freshman year of college? (D needs only one additional course in English to satisfy all of the HS graduation requirements.)<br>
    Thank you.</p>
2

<p>My son went to college after his junior year of HS.</p>

<p>Not all colleges will accept such applications.</p>

<p>Yes, all standardized testing needs to be done. If your D is a junior now, it may be too late to get all the testing in on time.</p>

<p>If the HS is not supportive, you will find it harder than if they are supportive, esp. such things as GC recommendations and teacher recommendations. You may be able to get them anyway, but they may not be helpful.</p>

<p>All of the schools my S spole too (which were not many) said that they didn’t care if someone applied junior year and didn’t get in, it didn’t affect a new application the next year.</p>

<p>Some schools award diplomas and some don’t. In Washington state, students can enter college under Running Start and get their HS diploma later; some other states have similar programs I don’t know enough about. My son’s HS will not give him a diploma ever, making him an HS dropout who has (to date) completed nearl 2 1/2 years of college.</p>

3

<p>S graduated after junior year and is now a college freshman. He worked with his principal and GC to have all requirements completed by the end of junior year by doubling up on English. The last year of PE was waived. He completed all standardized tests by the end of sophomore year. The colleges to which he was considering applying did not require a high school diploma (though he received one), but some do.
It can actually hurt an applicant to apply as a junior if s/he does not have a very strong profile as colleges are likely to consider that the applicant would be more competitive with another year of high school.
Since teachers and GC recs are a crucial part of the application, it will definitely be a deal-killer if the teachers and GCs are not supportive.</p>

4

<p>I have a daughter who did what Marite’s son did. She graduated high school as a junior and went to college early (is now a freshman at NYU/Tisch). This is different than going to college early after junior year without a diploma (as dmd’s son has done). Before we even embarked on this course, I called the colleges on my D’s list to ask if they take early graduates after junior year and they all said they do if they have a diploma. I would not have proceeded without that information as it was not worth it if her chances were not possible for being admitted. Some schools let students enter after junior year without a diploma but NOT ALL do and you’d have to call the colleges on your list to see if they accept students who have not graduated high school. In my opinion, that would be a first step before proceeding further. If it narrows the list of schools in such a way as to be detrimental to his goals or to limit the options to ones that are not as appealing, it may not be worth it. </p>

<p>I agree with Marite, that if your school…guidance counselor, etc…does NOT support your child’s path to go to college after junior year, it will be problematic as these folks must write on your child’s behalf for the applications and normally you’d want them to speak to why your child is an appropriate candidate for going to college early. If they can’t speak to that supportively, it will hurt. </p>

<p>As Marite indicated, colleges will examine early graduates who are applying almost more so than other candidates and will scrutinize if they feel these kids are ready for college. You’d need a strong case. </p>

<p>Further, I think this is VERY late to put such a course of action into place. My child completed all of her SATs and SAT2s in tenth grade…it is late now for the testing for this year’s applicants. Further, this plan was put into place around Jan. of tenth grade so that the college search was done in tenth grade, the testing, the permission from the school to graduate early, etc. were all in place. For some, it would also mean to make sure that all HS requirements were planned to be in place (not for your case if merely leaving school early) but it kinda wasn’t in my D’s case because she was on course to graduate early without even having tried (due to acceleration and many HS courses in middle school though at the time, there were no plans to graduate early but merely were accomodations for her learning needs). So, she had the HS graduation requirements without having to scramble. It was already the case before the decision to graduate early. </p>

<p>Also, my child articulated in a statement with all of her applications, her reasons for graduating early and these spanned academic, social, personal, and artistic developmental areas. </p>

<p>She was successful in her admissions outcome and none of her schools seem to have a problem with her being an early graduate and all offered merit scholarships as well. </p>

<p>My advice, given the little you shared so far, and the fact that it’s late November and she has not yet put this plan into motion, is to wait to graduate senior year but to find other ways to accomodate her needs, be it some college courses, a summer program, half day senior year courseload combined with an internship/job, exchange student, etc. </p>

<p>Susan</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the quick and frank replies so far. D is looking at two colleges right now, both of which state on their websites that they will accept applications from HS juniors who will not have diplomas. One also explicitly states that the January SAT date is acceptable, so she could take the missing SATIIs in January (and it is not too late to register for that). She has everything else she needs in terms of standardized testing. She has emailed the admissions offices at these two schools. I agree that the late timing here is not ideal, but if the HS will cooperate in getting their paperwork done promptly, it still seems do-able to me. I think her teachers will be supportive, I just fear that the school as an institution may not be. We’ll make an appointment to see the GC next.</p>

6

<p>A friend’s son is applying now…but, as the others have noted, it required three teacher reqs, but strong counselor req from the HS. The counselor was ambivalent, so the kid went got that rec from the principal instead. </p>

<p>Yes, all testing was done this fall – only SAT required. To fulfill science requirement (also applying to dual med option), the kids is tripled in AP sciences this year (chem, physics, bio). </p>

<p>This college works with the local HS to award a diploma after frosh year, but, it depends on the school district.</p>

7

<p>mother<em>of</em>perl, our son applied in June after his junior year for the coming fall. </p>

<p>My responses to your original questions:

  1. S had everything completed but had just taken the ACT a second time. He wanted them to consider that score which they only needed a week to receive. </p>

<p>2.The support of our high school was extremely important, especially because after some discussion we felt that he needed to earn a hs diploma.
We also needed his counselor’s report and teacher recs. completed in a week. Our son, age 16 at that time, presented a very compelling case to the counselor and his teachers, we stayed out of it and tried to figure out the financial forms and how we would pay for this on such short notice. The school supported him but did not offer to waive any requirements. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>I don’t know what the result of a non-acceptance would be. In my son’s case the admissions people told us if we were not happy with his scholarship offer he could stay in high school and try again when he would be considered a more conventional applicant. </p></li>
<li><p>After his acceptance and scholarship offer, we approached the school superintendent and asked if he could help our son with the diploma issue. After reviewing our son’s file and the offer, he offered to present the case to the school board. We also made it clear that we did not expect our school district to cover any of his tuition in the dual enrollment agreement. The school board agreed to accept some of his first year classes in lieu of any missing requirements. Our son returned after his first year and graduated with his class. He was also eligible to apply for, and received a few local scholarships.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Throughout our son’s entire high school career and college application process, we had to be strong, yet extremely diplomatic advocates. We had test scores and teacher recommendations to back us up when the administration was feeling this might set an uncomfortable precedent. We worked very hard to support the public schools and made it possible for our son to stay in the system as long as possible through CTD classes and other outside enrichment activities. There was a small issue with his grade point and class rank which we agreed to a fair compromise considering what the district did for our son. </p>

<p>He is a sophomore double degree student at a small LAC and very grateful that we allowed him to take advantage of the opportunity. Age has only been an issue when signatures for off-campus travel and flu shots were necessary.</p>

<p>It was not easy to let him go so soon; however, his enthusiasm for learning has grown exponentially. That’s all the affirmation we needed.</p>

<p>Chris</p>

8

<p>I am graduating this year (I am technically a junior). My school has been very supportive, the instant I stated that I wanted to do that, it was simply a matter of whether my parents agreed or not. The only real opposition I have faced has been from my peers, but I am learning to deal with that. Some people like to have opinions where they are not welcomed… but that’s the way life is. Personally, though I have not yet graduated, I am so glad I have this opportunity, and I believe it will enrich my life in a way I wouldn’t have by staying the fourth year. I don’t think there was any point in staying, either for my career or my mental health. I do not care for high school, I find it pointless and annoying, and I cannot wait until I am in college. I am extremely excited to begin my career (fllm production) and my high school has no resources for that, so my time in college will be well spent and worth much more than a year spent doing a full load of APs that I will just take in college anyway. I think it’s a great thing, and anyone who has already graduated high school (and even one girl who graduated early) has assured me that it is a great decision, and they all have full faith in me.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, Early admission to college may be a better route in some cases. I had not heard of this site this time last year, and if I had, I would have realized that I could simply attend college for my senior year, which I probably would have opted for. I didn’t even realize there were early admission programs. </p>

<p>Anyway, whatever you decide to do, I wish you luck!</p>

9

<p>Our D graduated after her junior year, and there was no difference in admission process from what her friends (seniors) did. </p>

<p>S3 applied during his junior year and never graduated from high school. He took 3 SAT IIs in October, SAT I in November, and applied ED. His school did not mind him applying. We contacted the university in summer, asked if they accept kids who will not have hs diploma (although I already knew that a girl from PA was a freshman there and a senior in her high school at the same time). The answer was - they do accept such kids, but there must be a very good reason why he would want to graduate early (i.e. exausted all the resources at his school), and S3 should address this in his application. I don’t think that the chances next year will be hurt by such an application. I know that many districts award high school diplomas in similar cases, but we did not even look into that as I don’t see any reason to get the diploma if the kid goes to college anyway.</p>

10

<p>1.Yes, son had to have SAT’s and that was the basis for his early college admission.
2. No help WHATSOEVER from son’s large h.s…We did all legwork, phone calls, interviews, and research ourselves.
3.No I don’t think it works against child if he wants to apply there again in the future. But to avoid problems make sure you get a commitment from an admissions counselor. As the Penn Sate admission folks explained it to me once standards are very high there and letting a h.s. kid in pushes another child out so there are very few openings. Many other colleges are not quite as strict.My son went to Temple University.
4.Yes, my son got the h.s. diploma but he had to take college classes that met the basic h.s. requirements. We had to work with the h.s. He took a gym class and health class, English and social studies at college. But he never regreted what he did and enjoyed the college classes and received college credit for them, finished freshman year college, senior year h.s. simultaneously .</p>

<p>The only disavantage for my son was he did not receive scholarships he may have received had he finished h.s.</p>