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University before you're 18?

There are a fair number of people at Oxford who are still seventeen, although many of them do have birthdays soon. I think whether a university is happy with a seventeen year old student will depend on the institution (and there is always the possibility of a deferred place).

Reply 41

ArVi

13

wilbur

There are a fair number of people at Oxford who are still seventeen

I'm one

Will be turining 18 in December.

Reply 42

ArVi

13

wilbur

Excellent! :biggrin:

Happy Birthday for December :p:

Thanks in advance :p:

Reply 43

Lexy86

1

shady lane

My mom is a pediatrician and actually highly recommends against skipping grades due to physical and psychological development reasons. I'm glad you did well in school but she would have suggested you take a year off before college. I actually agree with her (and she has the MD to back her up!) so I think very young students should take time off--travel, work, do private language instruction, music lessons, whatever.

I was dying of boredom in school up until 6th grade (which is why I skipped 5th in the US - I'd sped through the curriculum and I was pretty much wasting my time and being an annoying little smartypants in class :P), and Russian high schools only run up through 11th grade, so it's perfectly normal for most people over here to graduate before they're 18. My age didn't affect me socially at all - no one adheres to the "official" age limit here and if you suddenly get carded, no one will ever ask for anything beyond a student ID that doesn't even have your birth date on it, so I was perfectly able to participate in every social event they had. Plus, I stayed in St. Petersburg for uni (as do most people in big cities), so I didn't have to worry about dorms/flats/the whole campus experience.

As for the gap year(s) - that wasn't an option in my particular case, either. I'm a Russian citizen with a US green card (long story short, my mom went a little crazy and was against me applying for citizenship back then, and I'd be wasting time if I applied now), and both of my parents live in the States. In order for me to go anywhere besides the US, Canada and Mexico, I would've had to get a visa, which would've required parental consent forms from both parents for the consulates that, according to Russian law, have to be signed and stamped by a legal authority based in Russia. My father hasn't been to Russia since 1991, so there's no way he would've been able to get those proper forms, so I couldn't even get a visa anywhere until I turned 18. I couldn't work here, either, and my job options back in Kansas would've involved either being a hostess at Red Lobster or flipping burgers at McDonald's. In Topeka, KS. That's hardly the most exciting thing a high school graduate wants to do. I've always sucked at music and language classes would've been useless outside of the actual country the language originated in, which, once again, I couldn't get to because of the whole visa situation. In short, there was nothing else for me to do, and I'm certainly happy I went straight into uni, though the uni itself leaves MUCH to be desired. That's probably the only drawback, really - Mother insisted on me attending a Russian university, and I as a 15-year-old couldn't exactly go against that. I'm really upset I wasn't able to persuade her back then, though, but what's done is done and there's nothing I can do about it now.

Basically, while I'm aware that a lot of people encounter problems as younger students at uni, all of those problems have thankfully passed me by. Even though I will have fully completed a 5-year BA before I can legally purchase booze in the States, once I get to grad school the problem will be solved :biggrin:

Reply 44

shady lane

16

Obviously there are exceptions. But my mom emphasizes that for boys in particular, being younger and smaller than the other boys during puberty is very tough, and they carry some of those issues with them into adulthood.

I'm not talking about starting uni at 17, but more like starting at 15 or 16, or being more than a year younger than everyone in your class during primary school.

Reply 45

Lou_

15

I'll be 17 in february... it never once crossed my mind that I might not get in since I'm not 18. Oh crap I'm really worried now!

I'm a little worried about when I first start... I'll want to go out in my first few weeks so I can meet people but I'll be worrying a lot about whether I'll get into pubs and clubs.

I'm just going to risk it though. I really don't want to take a gap year.

Reply 46

nikki

9

Lou_

I'll be 17 in february... it never once crossed my mind that I might not get in since I'm not 18. Oh crap I'm really worried now!

I'm a little worried about when I first start... I'll want to go out in my first few weeks so I can meet people but I'll be worrying a lot about whether I'll get into pubs and clubs.

I'm just going to risk it though. I really don't want to take a gap year.

A while ago I started a page with the minimum age requirements on the wiki: http://thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/University_Age_Requirements
It's not complete, but I linked to the pages on the universities' websites which say what the age requirements are (so you can check if it's still correct).

Reply 47

danni_bella

17

Really?? It's common here in Australia, most of my QLD friends were 16 or 17 at the most when they started uni. But it's over rated anyway, why would you want to? I used to tease the tryhards :p:

I finished year 12 at 17 and could've gone straight to uni but I went on a GAP year to Europe yay! It was fun but depressing when I got back. Like right now I feel depressed b/c I haven't been anywhere for 4 years and I only have the coast to look fwd to after the 14th.

University before you're 18?

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