High School And Community College Dual Enrollment Issues Of: Fill & Download for Free

I have personally known more than 10 kids who started college at age 15 or younger. I have known exactly one, for whom it was a complete disaster.Let’s talk about the disaster, first.I happened to know that kid from childhood, as they grew up in my neighborhood. This kid had many emotional problems as a child, and their mother was pretty unstable, as well. The child was kind, but so different from everyone else, it was excruciatingly difficult for them to make friends. That problem, along with the dysfunctional single mother, surely contributed to the kid’s difficulties in all aspects of life.The one thing this kid had, was the ability to do well in school at an extremely advanced pace.There definitely was nothing for this kid in high school. High school would definitely have been a disaster socially, and it would have been a disaster academically, because there really wasn’t a curriculum to suit this kid.So the kid went right into college. A big name college. And the kid did well in school.When age-mates were graduating from high school, this kid was graduating from college.As graduation loomed, the problem was not that they did poorly in school. The problem was that they were still a teenager, with all the hormones and emotional lability that comes with it, still didn’t have a good social or familial support system, and mental illness was becoming a serious problem.The question we are left with, is what kind of situation would have helped this kid? Was there an academic and living situation that would have supported that kid, and brought a favorable outcome?Unfortunately, in this particular situation, there simply didn’t seem to be any way to make this kid’s adolescence work.Note—the kid did end up spending some time in a psychiatric hospital, and had an extremely difficult time becoming an adult, but the kid did survive. I’ve known of plenty of kids who do not survive their adolescent mental illness. So, as bad as it was, it could have been worse.Of all the kids I have known who started college extremely early, all of them had a hard time in one way or another.Only about a quarter of the kids felt they started college too early, but none of those felt that high school would have been the answer, either.My advice for kids who are not ready for college, but high school is not the right fit, is to do something else. Do a high school year (or semester) abroad. “Homeschool” and spend the year doing a deep-dive research project. By homeschooling, the kid can take “dual enrollment” courses at a local college, and have the grades count as high school.Dual enrollment is an excellent choice for a lot of highly gifted kids, because it maintains their status as an incoming freshman when they do decide to go to college full time. The important issue there, is universities have very limited slots for “transfer” students, and a student who takes more than 9 or 12 units (depending on the school) before applying as a matriculated student, will be considered a transfer student.It is much easier to get admitted to college as a freshman, simply because there are more slots available.For the rest of the kids I knew who started college early, they broke down into three groups.The most common group went to community college, and lived at home. This was also the least satisfied group, except for one student who started as a preteen.The second most common group went to a regular four year college. Some of them felt like they had finally found their place, and loved it. Some felt awkward, but they always felt awkward. Some didn’t love it, but figured it was better than high school. All of them had some difficulties finding their social group, but that was not new. For this group, parents of girls were often more worried about the dormitory situation than parents of boys, but from my perspective, none of the girls (or boys) encountered the kind of sexual problems their parents feared. I suspect that was because it is pretty darned hard for a 15 or younger kid to sexually compete with 18–22 year olds. Rather, older students tended to either avoid the young ones, or get protective of them.The third, and least common group, went to special colleges or colleges with special programs for young college students. http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/early_college.htm has a list of programs available. Many of them aren’t complete college programs, but several, like Bard college’s Simon’s Rock and Mary Baldwin College’s PEG program, are exactly that. Some of these are more all-encompassing than others, with dormitories just for the young students, or academic programs, but little or no special housing for the young students.Interestingly, it seems to me there was more youthful indiscretion at the more specialty programs. Possibly this is because they felt particularly secure, so they were more willing to take risks. I have heard some parent complaints, but not much student complaints on that issue. Some of the kids who went to these programs thrived, others just got through.It seems to me the right choice of type of college for a young college freshman to choose, is the one that suits them best.As important as it is for all students to do a college tour, and check out a few different campuses (even if they are all fairly local), it is even more important for young students to spend time on any campus they are considering applying to.Luckily, most universities have programs where prospective students can come and spend the night with freshmen in their dormitory (usually sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag they bring for themselves), and go to a few classes during their visit. This is on top of the regular prospective student tours.Taking your young teen to a prospective student open house and tour is the very best way to see how they are at the college, and how you really feel about them being there.Many of these colleges also have the opportunity for young students to meet with other kids who are presently in school there, who also started young.The two biggest issues with deciding if a gifted kid will be best served by skipping high school, are whether or not they are emotionally mature enough for college, and whether or not staying in high school will cause more problems than it might solve.Gifted kids who want to go right into college are already unhappy where they are. If they were happy where they were, they wouldn’t ask to leave the system they’re in. Parents tend to err on the side of doing what is normal, when they are afraid to move forward with doing something unusual that the kid wants to do.There is a myth that gifted kids are socially inept. The reason it often looks like gifted kids are socially awkward is because they have been placed with their age mates, but they have little in common with those age mates. If you put an 8yo into kindergarten, you wouldn’t be surprised when the 5yo’s have friends, but the 8yo doesn’t. We wouldn’t say the 8yo was socially awkward.Another myth is that gifted kids can always be accommodated academically in high school. Depending on the offerings at the high school, many gifted kids can be accommodated. This is especially true if the school has a dual enrollment program, so kids who exceed the curriculum can continue on. But plenty of high schools either don’t offer enough high-level academics, or they only let kids with top grades take those courses.Each kid has their own individual academic needs, and the more gifted they are, the more idiosyncratic are their academic needs. I would support a gifted middle school kid who wanted to go strait into college, if and only if we had clear experience to show it was the right move. Before making such a decision, I would look at the options described above, starting with setting up a dual enrollment course while still in middle school, if possible, and going on college tours and overnight experiences.I’ve seen extremely gifted kids who chose to start early, then decided they needed to not be a college student yet, and took a year off either before starting (delayed acceptance) or after the first year (leave of absence, or took only one class online to maintain their place) and did fine after that.The most important thing to know about dealing with educating highly gifted students, is that nothing is all or none. Search for the individualized plan that best suits your kid. Search for online blogs and communities where other parents have already gone through this, and can offer their BTDT advice (been there, done that).When college tours have been experienced, and several options researched and discussed, and the student is more determined than ever to start college early, then yes, I would probably support that decision. But my support would be entirely contingent on the student handling the application process mostly independently. Of course I would help the amount I would help a high school junior, but I would not help any more than that. If a kid isn’t ready to do what is necessary to apply to college, and apply for scholarships, they probably are not mature enough to handle college.For parents who are not sure if their kid is ready for early college, giving them the option of applying, and that you will approve if they get accepted and generate a certain level of scholarship aid, that is a pretty good way of letting the kid prove that they are ready. Many highly gifted kids can get themselves accepted, few can navigate the scholarship search and application processes. A kid who can successfully do both, is probably ready for college.If they really were not ready for college, but were absolutely positive they were not interested in regular high school, I would be much more supportive of skipping their local high school, and doing an international high school year abroad, or trying a year of a homeschool self-directed study or online gifted program like the ones offered through Stanford or Johns Hopkins universities.Finally, if I did support them going to college, I would probably still require them to stay within an hour of home unless they were accepted to a program that was fully set up for young students, at least until they were 16.

Yours is an interesting question in that it is a version (on Quora) of the ever popular:“How do I get accepted into [fill in the name of an elite school]?”Since you don’t see yourself getting accepted or being able to afford college you are just thinking about “throwing in the towel.”I have a newsflash for you. Ready? It is a shocker. I suggest you sit down.Unlike what most teenagers think, the “object of the game” is NOT to be accepted by some college—elite or otherwise.What you should be focused on is how you are going to become a responsible, financially self-sufficient adult. (Sooner or later your parents are going to nudge you “out of the nest.”)High school is one of the stepping stones. It helps you get prepared for when the training wheels come off. In our society it is helpful to get a post-secondary education since getting a job that pays well enough to live on requires some marketable skill and, usually, a credential of some sort.Now we get to the interesting part.All this stuff people have been telling about the importance of being accepted at a four-year college is WAY, WAY overblown. For one thing only one in four who matriculate at a four-year school ever end up graduating and getting a well-paying job. (I’m willing to bet your high school guidance counselor never shared that little tidbit of knowledge with you.)We’ll just skip the student loan debt issue and go directly to the role of community college.There are two ways to play this:Plan AClose your eyes. Envision yourself in just over three years. You have an apartment and a cool car. You can play video games all night. You can drink a beer if you like. You can invite the nubile Louise Kapucknick over to chill and watch Netflix on your 55′ flat screen TV. Gee whiz! How did THAT happen?You went to community college. You found a marketable certification. You worked hard—making use of what you learned in high school—and earned that certification. Then you layered that certification and got a full time job with benefits making serious money. (Did I mention that you have little or no student debt.)Plan BThis plan is called “2 + 2.” The idea is to go to CC for two years and then transfer to a four year college to finish up a bachelor’s degree. When you go to community college you’re going to need that stuff you are being taught in high school.This is more complicated than Plan A. You are going to need a good strategy:Find a good, affordable community college.Target the four year college you plan to transfer to. (It’s helpful if your CC has a “partnership” with that four-year school.)Verify the process for transferring your credits after two years.Identify a MARKETABLE major. (Art history is a hobby. Yes, I know Kate Middleton got a good gig with an art history degree. She’s the exception.)Prepare a financial plan and figure out where the money is going to come from without taking on excessive student loan debt. (The 2 + 2 approach is a cheaper way to get a four-year degree, but we are still talking about some serious change.)To increase your employability add in some experiential learning experiences. (That’s stuff like internships.)Now you have to get the job done academically. If you did a good job picking a marketable major, and you perform academically, you should do just fine.I suggest you start discussing your future options with your parents. It not too soon to be considering future careers. Go to career night at your local hospital. Arrange a “shadow day” with somebody your Dad knows who has an interesting sounding job. (Young people are shy about this. Don’t be. Nobody—not his wife, not his kids, nobody—has ever expressed ANY interest whatsoever in the guy’s job. He will be thrilled.) Do some volunteer work. Visit a couple community colleges now. Depending on your high school you might be able to inexpensively dual enroll there now and “test drive” some jobs. There are lots of helpful people there who would be glad to share ideas with you.

It should not come as a surprise that there is not a simple yes or no answer to this question. I will address several different scenarios which might help you.1. Every year students who are a not insignificant number of juniors in high school apply to colleges and universities. Many of them have fulfilled the graduation requirements to receive a high school degree or have exhausted the top-level courses the school offers. But most of them have made this decision at the beginning of their junior year. If they are applying to the vast majority of college and universities, then these juniors will have to apply by the designated dates, which are typically Jan 1 or Jan 15. If you plan to apply for selective universities your chances are not good for acceptance as your application will be compared to those who are in their senior year and they may have more coursework at a higher level, more depth in activities, and stronger support from the school (students who leave early are not often encouraged by the school to do so unless it is a disciplinary issue).2. If you are currently a junior in high school, then your choices are limited to schools that are still looking for students. Currently there are over 500 colleges that are still accepting students. You can search the list here:https://www.nacacnet.org/news--publications/Research/CollegeOpenings/You will need to find out from each one you are interested in if they will consider your application because you are only a junior. There is no national standard about this and each school can make its own choice about this. Since the schools are looking for students they will likely give you a chance to apply assuming you have the required testing (SAT or ACT) and courses completed (some schools require 4 years of high school English for example).3. Dual Enrollment: This option is one that a number of high schools and local colleges offer to students who are still in high school. One advantage of these programs is that students may receive their high school degree even though they are taking all their courses at a local college. Some universities require student to have a high school degree in order to apply. Dual enrollment comes in many shapes in forms but here is the simple definition and the website you can go to in order to out all the details:The term dual enrollment refers to students being enrolled—concurrently—in two distinct academic programs or educational institutions. The term is most prevalently used in reference to high school students taking college courses while they are still enrolled in a secondary school (i.e., a dual-enrollment student), or to the programs that allow high school students to take college-level courses (i.e., a dual-enrollment program). For this reason, the term early college is a common synonym for dual enrollment.https://www.edglossary.org/dual-enrollment/4. Community College as a stand aloneIf you in a community that does not offer a dual degree program, but you are nearby a community college you may choose to leave high school without a degree and enroll in courses. If you end up applying to 4-year schools as a transfer student either after your fist year or while you are in the process of earning an Associate’s degree you will likely have to provide some sort of written explanation behind your decision not to finish high school. Schools want to know why a student would choose this option not just because they are naturally curious but because they are risk averse. If a student has left school because of disciplinary reasons (cheating can result in expulsion at some private high schools for example), then you will have to talk about it since schools do ask about suspensions on their applications. Even if you are doing well in community college not addressing the reasons why you chose to level high school will raise concerns on the part of the school, so it is better to provide this information up front.5. Special Student or Part time student statusThere are many reasons student s may choose to leave high school but will still be permitted to take courses at a local college. For example, if there are health issue you or a family member has that make it difficult to attend high school but will still permit you to take a course or two, many colleges will try to accommodate you. The same will likely hold true if the family is in financial trouble and the student needs to work in order to support the family. Taking courses part time under such circumstances is seen as a positive factor for any college or university.