My parents won't let me catch up. What do I do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does everyone not think this is a troll? What high schooler or college student would ever post on this site?

A kid with hyper focus and rigid thinking. I can totally see my son doing something like this. He had ADHD and anxiety. Not about skipping a year, but anything about his hyper focus or areas of anxiety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op what is driving your desire to be a year ahead? There will be many kids in college who are your age.

Are you wanting to finish a year sooner for a specific reason?

I'm not trying to get a year ahead. Right now, I'm a year behind, and I'm trying to catch up so I can just be normal. Is wanting to be normal so wrong?

I am sorry this is such a struggle you. You are normal! Every state has different cutoffs. Kids from other states will go out of state. There will be a variety of ages of Freshman. Don’t let this ruin your time in college. You have a very long life to live and this won’t matter. Some people take 5 years to graduate but it does not put them behind in life. I believe you are over thinking this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you start too early, all of your friends will be turning 21 well before you, so you will be the odd one out.

Most kids turn 6 in Kindergarten, which means they will turn 19 their Freshman year in college, just like you.

I'm not saying I should have been started early. I'm saying I should have been started on time. And no, all of my friends would not be turning 21 before me, but rather 3 quarters of my friends. I'd still be older than those born from October to December. And while many students do turn 19 their freshman year of college, it's usually not until after the new year. You're supposed to start college the year you turn 18, regardless of whether or not you have had your 18th birthday yet.

What about seeing someone regarding your mental health? This is not okay to be obsessing about.

I can’t even figure out all the math. No one will care. I promise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, so a few months ago, I made a thread explaining that my parents started me in school a year late. My birthday's October 1st, 2000 and the cutoff where I live is the new year, which meant that I should have gone to Kindergarten in the fall of 2005, yet my parents purposely waited until the fall of 2006 to send me. In the thread I made back in September, I expressed my desire to go to college in a state with a September(or earlier) cut-off, as those states wouldn't have allowed me or anyone else with an October birthday to start until being almost 6, which means that I would fit in a lot better at that out-of-state university.

I might share that all through my schooling career, I've tried desperately to get into my rightful grade. Every year I tried to skip a grade, but always failed, which was admittedly my fault. However, when I got to high school, I really wanted to take advantage of the option to graduate in 3 years instead of 4, but my parents wouldn't let me. They also wouldn't let me take more than one AP course during a school-year or enroll in community college during high-school. As a result, I'll enter college with only 6 units of AP credit. My wish to attend college in state with a September cut-off has been my one of more recent attempts to blend in with the crowd. However, after many arguments with my parents, that has failed too. I am going to a local state college this fall.

Now, my parents are trying to prevent me from doing the last thing I can do to catch up. If I take 12 units this summer, 15 units during the fall and spring semesters, and then another 12 units during the following, that, combined with my 6 units of AP credit will give me 60 units, which means that I'll be a junior in the fall of 2020, instead of a sophomore. However, my parents think that I'll fail in summer classes and will be worth the money. If I just go to school in the regular semesters, and take 18 units a semester, I'll graduate in 3.5 years in the fall of 2022, which would still be better than graduating in the spring of 2023. But my parents have said they won't let me take more than 15 units a semester.

If I take out student loans, then I'll be able to take whatever classes I want, whenever I want, but I need my parents' cooperation when it comes to filling out those forms, and of course they won't cooperate, which I don't understand. This would save them so much money. They seem to think that I'll acquire a greater debt than I'll be able to repay if I take out student loans, which I know I won't do. I just don't know what to do at this point. You'd think my parents would realize after 13 years that holding me back from Kindergarten was a mistake, yet they are not interested in fixing it.

No - it wasn't a mistake. Life is not a race, and there is no one who does worse in school by being held back from starting Kindergarten. I am a teacher and virtually everyone of the students who I know who graduated early struggled either academically or socially afterwards. Just calm down, enjoy college and appreciate the help that your parents have given you.

[Anonymous]

I have a question for all of you who weren't redshirted but didn't like being among the youngest and wished your parents had held you back. Why you didn't you do one of the following?

You could've purposely repeated a grade.

You could've re-classed in high school and graduated a year later.

You could've taken a gap year between high school and college.

You could've taken a year off during college.

If you really wanted to be a year behind where you were, why didn't you do any of these things?

[Anonymous]

Ten years from now,OP will look back at this and be like wth was I thinking.

[Anonymous]

Np here. This is absolutely a troll post. Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anti-redshirting troll?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op what is driving your desire to be a year ahead? There will be many kids in college who are your age.

Are you wanting to finish a year sooner for a specific reason?

I'm not trying to get a year ahead. Right now, I'm a year behind, and I'm trying to catch up so I can just be normal. Is wanting to be normal so wrong?

OP, I understand how it felt off to you, but this is something that does not matter at all in the adult world. Did you feel as though people were maybe assuming you had been held back or something? I mean, maybe but NOBODY IS GOING TO NOTICE in the adult world. And in fact a LOT of adults don't actually finish their 4 year degree in 4 years--there's a gap year here, a year off there, a change in majors somewhere else, a semester of mono, all kinds of things happen.

[Anonymous]

OP, I understand how it felt off to you, but this is something that does not matter at all in the adult world. Did you feel as though people were maybe assuming you had been held back or something? I mean, maybe but NOBODY IS GOING TO NOTICE in the adult world. And in fact a LOT of adults don't actually finish their 4 year degree in 4 years--there's a gap year here, a year off there, a change in majors somewhere else, a semester of mono, all kinds of things happen.

While I agree with this, the OP is not an adult now. The OP is a teenager trying to gain some control over their life which is what teenagers do. I would love it if my teens wanted to rebel by taking more AP classes, going to community college in the summer to get some credits taken care of and graduate in 3 years. OP- can I adopt you? I can send your parents 2 cranky teens of my own in exchange.

OP you can finish college in 3 years rather than 4 if you focus, take a large class load and take summer classes. You will be over 18 and then it really is up to you. You also could potentially try take some APs by doing on on-line course and just paying to take the test at a nearby school. For some classes, colleges award credit based on the score you receive on the test not taking the class.

Take a look at the requirements and transfer credit policies at your safest in state school. You could take some summer classes. You could get a job to help pay for these classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op what is driving your desire to be a year ahead? There will be many kids in college who are your age.

Are you wanting to finish a year sooner for a specific reason?

I'm not trying to get a year ahead. Right now, I'm a year behind, and I'm trying to catch up so I can just be normal. Is wanting to be normal so wrong?

OP, I understand how it felt off to you, but this is something that does not matter at all in the adult world. Did you feel as though people were maybe assuming you had been held back or something? I mean, maybe but NOBODY IS GOING TO NOTICE in the adult world. And in fact a LOT of adults don't actually finish their 4 year degree in 4 years--there's a gap year here, a year off there, a change in majors somewhere else, a semester of mono, all kinds of things happen.

+1

OP, no one will care about your exact age in college. You have already gone through the years where your age stands out, that's K-12.

[Anonymous]

On the bright side, you'll be able to buy alcohol before the rest of the kids in your grade.

Let it go, though. Seriously. There is absolutely no advantage to doing what you're trying to do, unless you are trying to beat some deadline for college tuition increases or something.

Like in my case, I sped up my grad degree coursework so I could finish a semester early, before tuition had a major jump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the bright side, you'll be able to buy alcohol before the rest of the kids in your grade.

I don't understand why anyone who didn't like the idea of being the last of their friends to turn 21 didn't just take a gap year after high school or take a year off during college(between Freshman and Sophomore year or between Sophomore and Junior year).

[Anonymous]

Seriously??

This thread is 6 months old, OP has clearly already started college already, so these questions you're all asking her are now mute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


Seriously??

This thread is 6 months old, OP has clearly already started college already, so these questions you're all asking her are now mute.

They’re “mute?” As in the questions have no speaking voice?
Before chastising others, learn the difference between “moot” and “mute.”
Seriously.