At what age can children take college courses?

Question

I hear about these kids that take college courses at a super young age, what age can a child start taking college courses and get real credit so that they can get done that much sooner, especially if they are planning on something like medical or legal that take 8 or more years?

Answer 1

There is NO minimum age limit.. the limit is their capabilities of comprehension

Answer 2

At some colleges you can at 16 or 17. I began at 17 but I had only a little real world experience. I thought I wanted to be a lawyer and I would have hated that! I ended up being a teacher, but I have a psych degree so I might become a counselor. Don't rush things....it is also expensive to take most college courses. You sound very ambitious though...hope you do well!

Answer 3

Normally you can start taking college classes when you finish high school. Most people finish high school when they're 18, people sometimes skip one or more grade and finish as young as 16. Some colleges allow gifted high school students to enroll certain classes based on their preformance on standardized tests and in high school classes, although most grant high school rather than college credit. AP classes are taken at to high school students through their high school (rather than a college) but are alledgely taught at a college. Many colleges grant college credit or allow students to place out of certain courses based on AP exam scores.

It's very rare for a kid under 16 to be allowed to enroll in a college course. This happens on occasion with extremely gifted kids who are already underchallenged by high school courses at a young age. There is also some catagory of kids whose parents have decided that their bright child is more gifted than she really is, and push the kid too far, forcing them into college courses and essentially doing the work for them. That's not in a child's best interest. Some small number of young children are just that smart that they can take college courses at a very young age, but more often, they just end up being messed up, and are eventually sent back to an age-appropriate grade when it's discovered what's really been going on.

In general, students can take AP classes in high school and college courses when they finish high school. If your kid was an exception to that, you'd already know. Rushing through college to get a degree as quickly as possible is never a good thing. You may get your degree a year early, but you'll be cheating yourself out of a portion of your college education. If your goal is to get out as quickly as possible, you shouldn't bother going to college in the first place. The average increase in earnings of a college graduate compared to a high school graduate is about equal to the average cost of a college education, so it's not a good financial investment. Go to college because you want to learn, not because you want to finish.

Answer 4

Well, most students would have to take it in high school because middle schools probably don't offer AP classes, which are college level courses, unless maybe it's a private school. It really depends on how well the student does in the subject and if they LIKE IT OR NOT. That's a huge thing...like...if you don't like English class, you shouldn't take an AP English class. If you don't like it, don't do more work for it. Usually juniors or seniors in high school take AP level classes, but maybe sophmores do as well. Hope that helps. :)

Answer 5

I'm not exactly sure at the exact age.

However, somebody I know in 7th grade, after taking the sat's got brocures from a place that offered summer ap classes. Considering how it was possible for the person to take the sat's in 6th grade (although they didn't), I would think that 6th grade is a possible starting point to take ap classes.

Answer 6

I am taking one right now, and i am 15.... by far the hardest class I have ever taken