Early Admission, College

Early admissions to college or university (also known as early entrance) is a rare but highly effective educational strategy for many gifted students. Rooted theoretically in the areas of learning and achievement motivation, the practice assumes that gifted students will develop their intellectual capabilities more fully when they are presented with tasks that match or slightly exceed their capabilities. Early entrance allows students to enroll in an institution of higher education from 1 to 4 years earlier than their age-mates and to proceed through curricula at a pace consistent with their intellectual abilities rather than their chronological age. This practice can minimize the boredom many gifted students experience in the secondary environment and thereby increase self-confidence, promote self-efficacy, and encourage the expression of talent and ability at high levels. Early entrance also fosters social and emotional development by giving gifted students an opportunity to belong to a community of intellectual peers among whom they need not downplay their intellectual abilities to be accepted or make friends. This entry describes early admissions programs, the research covering early admission, and program requirements.

The forerunner to present-day early entrance programs in the United States was the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), established by Julian Stanley in 1971. Stanley worked individually with a number of gifted students who had advanced academic abilities, some as young as 13, thereby enabling them to enter JHU without having completed high school. In 1977, Halbert Robinson, drawing on Stanley's pioneering work, created the first structured early entrance program at the University of Washington (UW) for students entering before age 15. Robinson believed that an optimal match could and should exist between a student and his or her learning situation. The UW's Early Entrance Program, which admitted its first two students in 1977, was initially conceived and implemented along academic lines with less emphasis placed on transitional, support, and socio-emotional elements. These latter have assumed increasing importance as the practice of early entrance has evolved.

Currently, there are 17 early entrance programs in the United States. Residential programs include the following: the Advanced Academy of Georgia at the State University of West Georgia; the Georgia Academy of Mathematics, Engineering and Science at Middle Georgia College; the Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics, and Computing at Northwest Missouri State University; the National Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering at the University of Iowa; the Pro gram for the Excep tionally Gifted at Mary Baldwin College; the Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities at Lamar University; the Texas Academy of Mathe matics and Science at the University of North Texas; the Resident Honors Program at the University of Southern California; and Simon's Rock College of Bard. [Page 268]Commuter-based programs include the Academy for Young Scholars and the Early Entrance Program at the University of Washington; Bard High School Early College; Boston University Academy; the Early College at Guilford College; the Early Entrance Program at California State University Los Angeles; and the Early Honors Program at Alaska Pacific University.

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