People generally apply for college in their last year of high school and start taking classes after they graduate, but it doesn’t always work that way. While the majority of students start college when they’re 17 or 18 years old, some kids even younger than this have been known to begin their undergraduate degree. In the USA, most universities require that a student be at least 17 years of age to apply for and attend college, but just like anything else in life, there are exceptions to this rule – especially for gifted and nontraditional students who’ve already pursued professional programs, advanced certificate programs, or online courses (for college credit) reflected on their high school transcript. The below college application timeline guide will answer the question: Can you go to university at any age?
Just the Basics
Most colleges set a minimum age for young people to attend their school, and that age is usually 17. That being said, some states allow kids as young as 15 or 16 to apply to and even go to their schools. The minimum age requirement is there to make sure young people are mature enough to handle being in a college classroom with much older students. After all, university students (even teenagers) need to be able to handle the social aspects of university programs, as well as the academic ones.
Some states make exceptions for young but very mature students who have excelled in high school and who show promise academically to handle university courses. These are usually kids who have been allowed to skip a grade or two because they have gone above and beyond academically, and some may even receive college scholarships or early decision acceptance. Most of these students are truly gifted and some have even been labeled as geniuses or prodigies, but they are definitely exceptions to the rule, which is why you don’t see too many of them in most college classes.
If these intellectually advanced kids pass the necessary entry requirements and exceed even the highest qualifications (for example, accelerated high school graduation, AP test credit, and perfect SAT scores), many colleges will make exceptions and allow such students to enter their school regardless of their age. Most often, these situations are taken on a case-by-case basis, which is why you occasionally read or hear about students entering college under the age of 17, for example. Some of these kids even graduate at an age when most teenagers are just starting their college career, so if you are the parent of an exceptional child, you can feel free to check different colleges’ application deadlines and admissions process to learn what their requirements are.
Is It a Trend for Younger Teens to Go to College?
The truth is, there is a growing number of teenagers getting a college degree and even pursuing postgraduate studies at a very young age. They are not in the majority, of course, and the numbers are still very low, but there are definitely more younger students entering college (in the United States) than there were in the past. Many younger students graduate early from their high school, thanks in part to their ability to take college-level classes in their junior and senior year, which means they may be allowed to enter college at a younger age than most.
And in case you’re wondering, colleges have responded to this trend by providing more resources and student accommodation for younger college students so that they can better prepare themselves for taking classes and the social aspects of college education once they get there. Included in these resources are various clubs and organizations that young students can join their freshman year of college so they can be around like-minded individuals and teenagers who are in the same boat as they are for the first time.
How Young Is Too Young?
Officially, there is no such thing as being too young to attend college, but it’s still imperative that colleges continue to accept these students on a case-by-case basis. Everything from the application process to being able to keep up with all of their undergraduate courses has to be considered before a university decides to accept a student who is below the age of 17. Even students who are super-advanced academically can have problems adjusting to college life, and this is yet another reason why most schools have a minimum age to apply to their campus.
Of course, there is a big difference between students applying to school at the age of 16 and those that wish to enter when they’re only 10 or 12 years old. All colleges require that you have a high school diploma before applying to college, but if a 10- or 12-year-old does manage to graduate from high school, most universities take the position that there is no reason not to let them start their college career right after graduation, as they’re just as academically qualified to pursue higher education as adult students.
Keep in mind that regardless of the child’s age, they will have to meet the same requirements as older kids do. The schools will not make exceptions for these young people. This means that professors will expect the same things from their young students as they do from kids who are “college age” (the same goes for much older students like senior citizens; four-year undergraduate programs operate as a meritocracy, so every student should have an equal opportunity to excel).
Young Teens Encounter Many Challenges in College
One of the biggest challenges that younger teens experience when they’re allowed to start college is the challenge of communication and limited or unrelatable life experiences. In other words, communicating with and relating to peers who are a lot older than they are can present a difficult obstacle for these youngest students. In some ways, teenagers attending private colleges may have an easier time with these challenges, in part because the class sizes tend to be smaller in private schools than they are in public ones.
If a teen is 16 and anxious to start college, and they’ve met all of the requirements necessary to apply, they might still want to spend a year or two in some type of community college or online learning program (geared to diploma courses or advanced degrees), which is usually smaller and more adaptable to very young gifted students (who may still need a few years to mature socially). These schools and online programs may present a better learning environment for young students because they aren’t so huge and overwhelming, and professors can usually give the students the individual attention they need to be better accommodated. Furthermore, students aren’t as distracted by the non-academic real world social activities and temptations that plague adult learners on a large public college campus.
Does It Harm Teenagers to Graduate College When They’re Young?
According to most studies conducted, it doesn’t harm teenagers to go to college when they’re very young, provided they have access to resources that help them adjust to the college lifestyle. Even communication and social challenges normally won’t slow down these students’ academic year progress or cause them to graduate later than kids who are older than them. Kids who are gifted academically often are a little more mature than other kids their age, especially when it comes to time management – although that isn’t always the case.
There may, in fact, be some advantages for these young people. If they excel in a certain subject and are more advanced than other kids in their class, the teachers may spend more time working closely with that student in an effort to make sure their talent doesn’t go to waste. Once they notice a young person excelling in a certain subject, they’ll want to nurture that so the student can take full advantage of their talent and continue to improve in that subject. This can lead to impressive internship and job opportunities or other unique and impressive work experience that aren’t offered to average students or those who aren’t bachelor’s degree holders.
Some Tips for Gifted Teenagers
If you are the parent of a gifted teenager or underclassman high school student who has shown an interest in going to college as soon as possible, the first thing you should do is encourage them to take classes in high school that will allow them to earn college credit. This means that once they get to college, they’ll have already earned university credits and can get a head start on the courses they need to take to graduate (and save on tuition fees for those early credits they’ve accumulated). Some students earn so many credits that when they get to college, they can skip their first semester or two.
In addition, these students need to be prepared for certain scenarios. For instance, it’s a good idea for them to check into the legal age required for signing documents, because if it’s before their 18th birthday, those documents may require a parent’s signature. This isn’t always the case, but this is something they need to prepare for when applying to colleges. And because they’ll still be considered a minor when they start college, they likely won’t be able to participate in certain activities, such as drinking in a bar or even attending certain venues or extracurricular events.
They’ll also want to research the school heavily to make sure they understand everything that will be expected of them once they enroll and begin classes. Looking at the school’s degree programs to make sure they offer what these young people are interested in is imperative because not all universities offer all degrees, majors, or minors. If your student is interested in pursuing a good job in a specific field, they may want to tailor their college search to schools that specialize in graduate degrees for that industry or that offer pre-graduate majors, such as pre-med programs for students planning to subsequently graduate to medical school.
Conclusion
As a general rule, most colleges in the USA expect you to be at least 17 years old before you apply to or attend their school, but since each college and each state is different, this rule sometimes doesn’t apply. If you have a late birthday and you’ve been able to skip a year of high school because you’re gifted academically, most universities will allow you admission to their school. Having said this, you’ll still be required to meet their other requirements just like older kids do, including graduating from high school and maybe even taking certain core and advanced courses while you were there. Either way, completing your high school education is often the first step, so gifted adolescents may be making the right move accelerating into high school classes well before their peers. There’s no reason to let a class “average” or societal norm hold you back from reaching your fullest potential as fast as you’d like.
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