If you're a bit younger than your class, does it make a difference?

Answered

Hi @rarabellona4 ,

Many people think this is a good thing because higher education is supposed to be a meritocratic process. So if you are doing the same amount of coursework and getting the same grades as someone 1 or 2 years older, then you must be a more compelling college applicant, right? Well, at least public schools think it's a good thing. Why? Because their job is to improve their stats and get higher graduation rates so they can get better funding and remain more competitive. This is why they bump smart younger kids up a grade. They offset the ones that need to be held behind a year or two and who can't graduate on time because the system has failed these kids. So this is an accounting exercise of balancing the books.

Now private day schools and private boarding schools would argue the opposite, they would rather take an older student who has held back a grade. Why? Because the end game for affluent, powerful families is not to graduate early. The endgame is to get your child into a prestigious college that has some clout, either an Ivy, Elite, or top liberal arts college. These schools know that an older student will have a higher percentage chance of getting in compared to the younger applicant from a public school because they are going to be better athletes, used to being independent living away from home or at least commuting, and have ample experience at Socratic teaching systems like the Harkness method or Oxford style tutorials which are employed at T25 colleges, have better ECs, have better essays and college counseling in general.

If you are 16 when you graduate high school, you do not have a lot of experience except being a student. When you go to a top college younger than your peers, there will be a lot of older more confident students, with the majority from private schools across the country. They will have more experience socially, be more mature physically (perhaps even emotionally, and mentally), and in some cases be more intimidating. When these 19-year-old freshmen appear on campus, they will connect to their peers faster, and start dating or hooking up faster and your chronological age difference may prevent you from fully engaging with the college experience or various rites of passage that they are apt to experience like joining social clubs or going out on the weekend to clubs and bars.

I don't think being young on a common application is a bonus subject to write about but rather a concern for some college admissions officers. They want to make sure you will thrive being away from your day-to-day support system in your parents and other family members. They do not want your homesickness to debilitate you in any way.