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[quote=Anonymous]I finished high school at 15, the result of a three grade skips relatively early on. (I had four full years of  high school.) I deferred my Ivy League admission (across the country) for one year in order to deal with my parents insisting that I stay home for another year.

During that "gap year" I enrolled in a SLAC in my home town (rated "Very Selective" by the college guide of the time). I was technically as a part-time student living at home, but taking a full-time course load. I pursued my music extracurricular seriously. But still, it was a torturous year. My high school friends had all left home  to go to faraway schools, and while I made some new ones at the SLAC, it wasn't a good fit in terms of the types of people that I met, and my disconnection from campus life. I wasn't involved in non-music-related campus extracurriculars, whereas in my high school I had done more than a half-dozen activities and held leadership positions. Plus I fought constantly with my parents, who wanted to give me far less freedom than I'd had as a high school senior hanging out with friends who mostly had their own cars.

I was immensely relieved to go cross-country to my Ivy the next year, where I fit in just fine socially, got involved in a ton of extracurriculars, got a campus job, etc. -- and thereafter avoided coming home to my family as much as that was possible.  I really regret (indeed resent) having taken that gap year (and it pretty much permanently destroyed my relationship with my parents, which basically has taken grandchildren and more than twenty years). I did consciously decide not to drink at my pretty alcohol-heavy Ivy, though. I was a pretty balanced, mature kid, though I tended not to do my homework (I never had to work hard enough in high school to develop a real work ethic).

I'd say it really depends on the kid. [/quote]

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