Early entrance to college, sometimes called early admission or early enrollment, is the practice of allowing students to be accelerated into college, one or more years before the traditional age of college entrance, and without obtaining a high school diploma. In some cases this is done individually. Often, however, it is done as part of a cohort acceleration program, in which many such students are accelerated into college together at the same time. These programs are usually targeted to gifted students, and may provide the students with a social support network and help in dealing with the adjustment.
By placing students into full-time college studies, early entrance differs from dual enrollment, early college high school, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and Advanced International Certificate of Education programs, which are alternative methods of earned college credits (or their equivalent) while in high school.
Early entrance programs take a number of forms. Some, like the Advanced Academy of Georgia and The Clarkson School, are special programs within larger colleges. The University of Washington's Transition School and Early Entrance Program, started in 1977, allows a small group of academically advanced students each year to, instead of attending high school, they attend a one-year college preparatory program following enrollment as matriculated freshmen at the university. In other programs, like the early entrance program at Shimer College, the Program for the Exceptionally Gifted at Mary Baldwin University, and the Early Entrance Program at CSULA, early entrants study side-by-side with traditional college students. Bard College at Simon's Rock is the only four-year college designed exclusively for younger students. Also, some colleges do allow some younger people who have early enrollment to take classes and be a part of the college community.
History
Context
thumb|Pioneering environmentalist [[John Muir. Muir enrolled at the University of Wisconsin without any prior formal schooling.]]
Prior to the 20th century, entrance to most American colleges was by examination or by a preparatory course prescribed specifically for that college. Students who could demonstrate their readiness for higher education were able to enter at whatever age was appropriate. Many colleges routinely admitted students as young as fourteen. Some students entered college entirely self-taught, or after having received only informal tutoring.
In the late 19th century, as the subject matter of higher education became more diverse, pressure grew to standardize both higher education in general and the transition between secondary and higher education in particular. The first school to make the high school diploma a necessary and sufficient condition of admission was the University of Michigan in 1870; as high school education was standardized through accreditation bodies beginning in the 1880s, more colleges and universities followed Michigan's lead.
In the first decade of the 20th century, the Carnegie Foundation adopted the "count" system that the North Central Association had devised in 1902 to compare different secondary and tertiary curricula. 15 or 16 Carnegie units (corresponding to four years of high school) became a standard requirement for entry into American colleges and universities, and a high school diploma soon became the "sine qua non" for college entrance". Although many students did reach college before their 18th birthday, they could do so only if their high school accelerated them to early graduation.
First organized ventures
[[File:Shimer College Discussion Class.jpg|thumb|left|A discussion class at Shimer College. Shimer's early entrance program has contributed a significant fraction of the student body for more than 60 years.
A more radical approach was adopted by Robert Maynard Hutchins for the College of the University of Chicago. Beginning in 1937, the University of Chicago's experimental, interdisciplinary College program admitted students beginning in the sophomore year of high school. Because there were few formal requirements, early entrants in this program were largely self-selecting, and came mostly from nearby schools such as the University High School. Early entrants were subject to five additional comprehensive examinations, but otherwise went through the same academic program as high school graduates. Although the University of Chicago eventually abandoned this program, it was adopted by tiny Shimer College in 1950, and continues there in a modified form to the present day.
During World War II, the government made academic acceleration a high priority, particularly in high school, in order to ensure recruits were as highly educated as possible. In 1942, the Educational Policies Commission made a formal recommendation that colleges admit academically skilled high school students after their junior year. Schools including the University of Illinois and Ohio State University<!--Wikipedians do not use "The" as part of Ohio State's name; it is considered a marketing gimmick, and routinely deleted.--> adopted wartime early entrance policies. The programs adopted in this period, however, faced stiff opposition from high schools, and did not outlast the war.
The Early Admission Program
[[File:MountVanCott.JPG|thumb|The University of Utah "U" in Salt Lake City. The University is one of the few original participants in the Early Admission Program to still admit selected high school juniors. and the University of Utah.