<p>smallrain, I mean that if you are an excellent student, by the time you’re in your last year of any curriculum you can be at the point of exhausting what it has to offer because you’re at the top of the heap. When this happens in high school, people take AP courses or college courses (for instance, this year my son has been taking college courses in his probable major in the morning, and finishing up his high school requirements in the afternoon.) When it happens at a big university, such a student can usually get permission to enroll in grad courses. I did so lo these many years ago when I was an undergrad at Cornell; those courses were a godsend intellectually, and gave me a clear and informed sense of whether or not I wanted to pursue a PhD in my field. At UVA the inclusion of selected undergrads into English Dept. grad courses has been regularized into a standard program. But if you are at a school that focuses mainly or entirely on undergraduate education, you don’t have that option. It’s not necessarily the end of the world, and it’s not going to matter if your interest in English is more casual, but it’s something to consider, and it’s not something that most high school seniors are likely to think about.</p>