My son will graduate high school this November being 12 years old (he combined 6th to 12 th grade in 1 1/2 years). Straight A´s, PSAT 1250, ACT in 2 weeks.
He is begging me to go to Columbia or NYU-NYC seems to be the key here. We live in South Florida and I guessed UF would be ok, and he got already (due to DUKETIP) contacts to Duke. We are not from the US , have no experience with US colleges ourselves and therefore would love to hear what you guys think…
Please be assured: he wants it, we are no “tiger parents”-rather the opposite. But counselors, admission staff etc all assure us, he should not be held back as he is mature enough and academically so curious. We understand all the concerns being so young at a college, but other then let him go one year easy and probably some Community college classes-he still would be 13 when applying next year. Surely we will move with him, so the dorm/campus question is off and he is interested in a bachelor in German studies with a minor in history/politics or the other way around.
IMO, a 12 year old needs to be commuting to college or doing it online. Unless a school has a program specific to minors with a residential college included with safeguards in place for those children, I don’t think it’s safe to send a child to college.
If you are in the position, as you say, to move to a location so he can commute to college, go right on ahead if that is what YOU , the parents want to do and feel that’s the best thing to do. Go on ahead and apply to those schools.
Of the many child prodigies, I have known back in the day when Mites programs seemed to be More prolific , when I was part of one as an instructor at a top university , none of them have had exceptional lives or careers even with the head start they had, and I don’t know if the disruption of family life is worth doing. These days with online colleges, one can take academic courses at the most difficult levels. Sometimes maneuvering other aspects of life might be a better use of time.
Home Schooled? Besides finishing school so quickly, what does he have to offer Columbia or NYU?
PSAT of 1250 or 1520?? If the former, do not send him to college yet. My S21 got a 1530 on the SAT at 11 years old, and even he would not have been ready for college at 12, no way.
If it’s 1520, let’s talk! We have a fair amount of experience with profoundly gifted kids, and I would be happy to share experiences, rumors, ideas, etc.
Was he is traditional school or homeschooled? What did he get on his ACT?
With all due respect, I think sending him to NYC at 12 years old could be considered parental malpractice. I’m not sure the city is good for an 18 year old, who will make mistakes. A 12 year old has disaster written all over it.
If he needs to go away (that’s your call, of course), then send him to a safe college town environment that caters to underage students. But I’m not sure a 12 year old is ready for college emotionally.
Sorry to sound judgmental, but unless you know New York City well (I’ve been probably 50 times), I would hesitate. It’s a wonderful place for adults, but I would qualify adults means 22 + years old.
Bard College at Simon’s Rock is one, I think, where young students are somewhat the norm. I doubt 12 is the norm even there, but I believe Ronan Farrow attended at a similar age (as a commuter, though, perhaps) and then transferred to Bard (not the Simon’s Rock campus) and graduated from there quite young - 15 or 16 ?
I think the key would be for your to focus on where you are willing to live and can afford to live while he is attending college as he will need you there. I would focus on schools that have excellent programs in areas he is interested in as that will challenge him the best.
I would contact professionals in the know. Maybe a local Mensa group would have contacts for this. I would also sit down with any college to have a plan. I also agree maybe a smaller college might be the way to go.
Here is one website worth looking at: https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/early_college.htm
The team at Hoagie’s Gifted may be able to help you get a better sense of each of the places on the list. They have been doing this since before your child was born. 
Since you will be moving to wherever your child goes to study, that could be the biggest factor. You will need to be sure that you can find work in that area that will support the needs of the whole family.
Chances are that this fall and next spring will be mostly online no matter where your child might like to study, so slowing down high school a bit, and finishing up next May with a plan to start college in the fall of 2021 instead of trying to start in January.
And don’t forget to run the Net Price Calculators at the websites of the places he’s looking at. Affordability will be a factor too.
I’m also wondering if the PSAT score posted might indicate a typo.
As an alternative suggestion, look into the PG-year programs that are available at some private secondary schools.
What worries me most is the interest in “a bachelor in German studies with a minor in history/politics or the other way around.”
It’s one thing for a profoundly gifted kid to advance far and fast in math (usually to the exclusion of everything else), but it’s much harder to excel in liberal arts without a good amount of life experience (which perhaps unfortunately for him it seems Ronan Farrow had in spades based on what I’ve read about his family situation) and subject depth. I don’t see how you get enough of that by compressing 7 grades of high school education into 2 years.
I would be looking at a deeply enriched high school curriculum (eg Davidson Academy) combined with spending a year on an exchange program in Germany if his interest is in studying that country in college. Going to a highly ranked college at 16 seems a much better choice especially if he had become more self-reliant by living apart from his parents in a foreign country first.
What classes did he take, and was his PSAT 1520 or 1250?
There is a difference between finishing high school by taking the minimum classes at the lowest level versus taking honors and AP level classes. The former will not get your son accepted to Columbia or any selective college.
In any case, I agree with @Twoin18 that your son should try and get some life experience under his belt before starting at college. Aside from lack of experience, that vast majority of 13 year old boys, including and especially PG boys, lack the emotional maturity required to deal with the atmosphere and with the etiquette of a college classroom.
Does he know how to listen? Does he have the self-control required to wait until his turn to speak, even if he knows that he is right? Is he used to not being the smartest person in the class? Is he used to being required to defend his point of view? Is he thick-skinned enough to take criticism? For the vast majority of boys who haven’t even started puberty, the answer is rarely “yes”. Many PG kids are actually less mature than other kids their age.
At 16, your son may be in a better place to deal with college.
Hopefully, you son will have a career which will continue for another 60 years. Waiting a year or two will not make a difference.
What Gifted resources are you using?
A good friend of ours son in similar situation but a few years older went to some school in Germany and took a year of high school in German. It’s for gifted kids. He got a full scholarship and lived with a family. The next year he went to China at an American school and learned in English. He’s currently at University of Chicago with age appropriate peers on a full ride.
Here’s a list of early college programs FWIW.
I also would at least consult with Bard Simon’s Rock–this is their area of expertise.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_entrance_to_college
As for Columbia, he might be perfect for Columbia School of General Studies.
- he is a nontraditional student and the program is for nontrads
- He can take classes in any number he wishes.
- You can live with him in NYC as Columbia GS does not offer much housing. (I disagree that NYC is dangerous for even 18 year olds. I live in the Columbia neighborhood and on average it’s a pretty safe place to live. NYC residents’ kids start at middle school age going to school by themselves on public transportation. Still someone who isn’t used to living in a major city, who isn’t brought up knowing how to get around, might need extra guidance.)
- Columbia GS has its own entrance exam and he could check this out online.
Thanks a lot for the tips.
To clarify some points:
PSAT max is 1440, reading and writing section he scored 100%, math 98.5 %- he had had to this time no algebra and did not use a calculator. Still I believe a test is only somehwat telling.
He has already college classes/CLEP results and scored 100% on these.
My wife is studying the last 3 years, so he knows quite a lot about college level. ( at least compared to the average high school kid)
He has only Honor classes and CLEP. AP was not allowed by his school-a public school- no private school or tutoring.
City life:I was not asking about the nightlife options in the city, but about the cultural offers and diversity. As he def. can´t be in dorms and experience the regular college experience, he needs a surrounding with “regular life” in his age group as well. My thought is the bigger the city the more options-living in South Florida we learned that quickly.
Liberal arts: I can´t change what he is good at. He read the German suetterlin first print edition of Faust 2 years ago- as well as a lot of comics and anything in between. LAnguage skills are universally helpful i.e. for summer jobs, traveling etc. Math bachelor with 16? We have no intention for him other than educate himself and then see what life brings. I couldn´t care less about later jobs and salary etc-that´s not up to me anymore.
Finally: I would love to give him more “time” but it is him who clearly states that a high school is not an option. A) he is almost done, B) being 12 around 17 year old kids is weirder than around 20 and up. C) we will never send him to a boarding school or even abroad until he wishes to go.
SUmming up: thanks for your concerns and I truly appreciate it-as we don´t know each other, the concerns are reasonable and understandable. Thanks for the tips with hoagie, Columbia GS and BArd College.!!!
PSAT max is 1520, so a 1250 is around 90th percentile in total…so not sure where your numbers are coming from?
This remarkable story was on GAtech’s Twitter feed yesterday: “At just 18 years old, Emily Alcazar is already a PhD student in CEE at GT.” https://coe.gatech.edu/news/2020/05/intersection-skyscrapers-and-trees
She started college at age 12 at Arizona State University and then won a full scholarship to Tech for her doctorate starting in 2019.
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Sometimes college is the best venue for a kid who is seriously advanced in academics. Parents are willing to accompany the kid to wherever so he commutes to the school.
A few years ago, acquaintances of ours made the decision to allow their 14 year old son start college rather than enter his junior year in high school. He was miserable at his high school and was exceptionally advanced academically . He took the ACTs, and did very well. He was not accepted to any highly selective colleges, nor was he offered any merit scholarships to the private schools. So instead of going to high school , he commuted to a local college. He graduated in 3 years , and got a 2 masters , and is now working on a PhD at a school renown for his chosen field of study. He has been as happy as a pig in a mud bath, being in academia these years. He had several false starts in getting a place of his own, returning to parents each time but is now away at a college some distance away. In his case, spending the next two years at a high school that he had outgrown academically and having to cope with Mean spirited social issues probably would not have been a high quality of life.
If you take a look at 7th and 8th graders taking full SAT for CTY, you will see hundreds of students have perfect scores (1600, or 2400 for the more difficult older versions of SAT) every year. A PSAT score of 1250 won’t indicate his readiness for college (at least a good one), even on academics alone. I’ve seen some really gifted kids and I wouldn’t recommend he start college at his age.