OP, look at Landmark College. The summer transition program changed my daughter’s life. She was a year or so behind her peers socially but ended up “catching up” so to speak through the program and through her first semester of college. She ended up graduating in five years because she was a part time student almost the whole time, but she got a diploma from a very good school that is talked about a lot on here.

Anonymous wrote:Why not just do a gap year, OP? Get a job, take some community college classes etc.

No comparison between gap and an intense year of academics. Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots credits a PG year at Andover with changing his life.

OP here again. Thanks all. This gave me some very helpful perspective on these programs. I dont think this will likely make sense for my ds or our family but will continue to explore gap year options with him.

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious what the other students think of the non-athlete PG students?

At the boarding school where I work, the few non-athlete PG students are non-native English speakers who want to take the extra year to hone their English. They usually arrive for senior year, then stay on, or they arrive just for the PG year.

This seems to work better (socially) for girls.

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious what the other students think of the non-athlete PG students?

Many of them are Chinese and Indian students whose parents pay for them to get the 5th year in order to take advantage of the boarding school's college admissions office. So you can imagine what the other students think. Boarding schools are tough places to begin with - when the 5th year students show up in the fall, they immediately begin competing against the 4th year students who have been in situ for four years - all for the same spots at the ivies. It's not a good environment. And it's very expensive. But the boarding schools love it because they are cleaning up with full-freight students coming in for that extra year, each paying $50K. The boarding schools have complete control over how many to accept; who to accept; and they usually don't worry about scholarship offers since it is only for that one year.

You might look for a “13th year” exchange program. I think spending a year in a different culture can be very valuable. And if languages aren’t your child’s thing, there are programs to English-speaking countries too.

I can't speak to the boarding school case specifically, but I have a nephew who fit the rest of your description who took a gap year in an organized program. Cost a fortune.

I don't think he got into a better college necesariily, but he was successful once he arrived. His mom thinks that mad the whole thing a success.

OP here. Thanks for responses. We are thinking of other gap year options also but our thinking is that he needs another year or even two of high school level academics and activities and supervision as he just feels 1-2 years younger than his oeers. He needs practice at college before going to college. We are also worried about community college and living at our place as that may lead to even more social isolation. He longs for peers but his actual age cohort tends to be more sophiaticated than him. We have twins so we do have a sense of developmental range through the two boys and friends and I really do think there is likely something one could call “college readiness.” Another option is to go to a nurturing college - like a CTCL place - and also explore whether kids ever go through slower as that might also help.

I’m curious what the other students think of the non-athlete PG students?

Why not just do a gap year, OP? Get a job, take some community college classes etc.

We have this same situation with our son. Our neighbors sent their son to an extra year of high school in Belgium (he didn't even speak the language) but it worked out really well and he got into a bunch of decent colleges afterwards and is now in grad school.

There are some colleges with exec functioning programs for freshmen (check out Green Mountain College)...but I totally get your concerns about going straight to college. I know our son has a good chance of flunking out so we're trying to investigate all options to help him succeed. It's hard when the path isn't so clear!

We looked into it - it's extremely expensive and then you are competing against the grads from that boarding school, say, Exeter, for the top spots. Colleges can spot the extra year from a mile away and the boarding school's admissions office naturally favors the students who have been paying tuition all four years over the fifth year students.

Anonymous wrote:Typically, the PG year is for athletes. Dig around on college confidential for more information.

+1. We certainly had several PGs who joined our class who were not athletes, but those were the people who felt like they wasted a year's worth of tuition before heading to a college that was about the caliber they'd have gotten into the previous year. Perhaps they matured a bit and got used to a bit more freedom, but many of them and their parents said they would not do it again.

Typically, the PG year is for athletes. Dig around on college confidential for more information.

We are starting to consider whether this might be a better option for our relatively immature son witb exec functioning challenges. He will have grades for colleges but not sure he will have the ability to benefit without more time and supervision and skills. Any specific programs recommended? He would be coming from large public high school.