Truth. I wish my lame high school self knew and appreciated this. No material accomplishment, no piece of code, no award nor certificate has ever made me even half as happy as a sublime moment with a girl.

My post seemed to have implied that the main reason you should stay is social. I think that is mostly true, but I did not intend it to be in the sense of "learning social skills with your peers". I kind of don't know how to explain it.

What I mean is you are at a point in your life when people are in high school. So you should be in high school and enjoy it. The whole social aspect is simply because high school is social. If you are not the social type, hey no one is saying that is a sin. All I'm saying is, in some ways, are lives are longer then we think (even if it never seems like it) so we ought to just appreciate where we are now. The thing is I was so much like you. SO EAGER. And now when I look back, I realize that was a mistake.

So I think my advice is not so much "stay in school because its socially good", but how about "stay in school because there is no rush". In other words, no need to be so eager! The whole hangup on the social aspect is very simply because I believe a large part of Happiness is derived from social experiences. Trust me, I'm not a social kind of guy, I do not have a facebook. But it is in that, that i am able to appreciate the value of humans as innately social beings.

You will accomplish all that you want, if you want it and keep at it.

Best of luck to you man. Stay in touch here at HN and we'll see how it works out!

I think I understand what you're saying. However, my question is such: Can't you just switch out your senior year of high school for a year of college? Stay in college an extra year. If you were to do that, what would you be missing?

I do not think I'm rushing my life; I'm just trying to get the most that I can out of it. Is the social experience of college going to be that much different (worse? less educational?) than the social experience of high school?

This isn't as simple as that. A specific example: you are in 3rd year. Everyone is 21 and hitting up bars. You are 20. Some places you cannot even step foot in.

Being social outside your age group is really difficult compared to being social within it, and basically until you graduate from college, your age group is "your year".

To bring it to your current circumstances - imagine a 10 year-old child prodigy trying to hang out with a bunch of 15 year-olds. Or a grade 9 trying to hang out with a bunch of grade 10's. You can do it, but it is highly suboptimal.

That might not sound like a positive thing, but it taught me to be more accepting of different types of people. I found my way into networks of jocks, band kids, geeks, nerds, etc. so that now, I don't really discriminate against people. If I had've skipped that whole part of growing up, my network now, which is fairly static, would be nowhere near as diverse or exciting as it would've been otherwise.

As for the girls thing, I found it a whole lot easier to get a girlfriend in hs. For some people, this is different, but I think the whole concept of "dating" suffers a paradigm shift when you leave hs. I don't generally see people go from "in love" to "heartbroken" in the course of a week, but that wasn't an uncommon experience when I was in hs. Like social networks, dating seems to solidify once you get into college. A relationship that lasts a few months is short, whereas in hs, that probably would've been a big deal.

I also believe that last year in hs really sticks home the concept of leaving that whole experience behind you. I know some people that left hs early, that are generally mature for their age, but they still seem stuck in that hs mode. It's as if there was no closure, and they're still hanging on to that last little bit of irresponsibility that makes the (relatively) more adult relationships in college a little more difficult to attain.

I don't know that any of that makes high school or college better or worse, educationally speaking, for your social development, but, at the very least, if you have no reason to leave hs early besides the typical teenage disdain for it, then just stay. You'll make a few more memories, perhaps grow up a little more. Take a bunch of mickey mouse courses. I had two outs, guitar, a courtesy, and my last two required classes (English 4 and Gov't/Economics). I skated through it all, doing very, very little work. It made it possible for me to sort of break out of my shell and get to know a few more people.

Both college and HS are what you make of them. My HS years were crappy because I was an idiot back then. I'm sure I'm still an idiot now, but at least I'm the right kind of idiot :)

Hear what HN has to say, but do what you think is right. What works for us might not work for you.

Literally, you would be missing your senior year of high school. You'll never be a senior in high school ever again.

The overwhelming majority of college students will tell you that college life is 100x better than hs life. It likely is. Mainly because there is no parental-supervision. Dorm life is potentially a meat-market leading to drunken "fun".

Regardless of what you consider fun, College is probably "socially" better than hs because of the increased diversity, freedom, and sheer population density.

So no, in those aspects you would not be missing out on anything.

My advice stems from the fact that you will only ever be a senior in high school once. Some here feel I am encouraging you to take the "standardized" path, which is highly ironic because I'm the only one from my peer group to have never taken the standard path. Never went to college, never had a full time job, paid my own way for most everything (not to imply I don't have very loving parents) and i am obsessed with building my own startup (single founder) having only learned programming seriously since last October.

There are costs and benefits to everything. So to answer your question, no socially you will not be missing out on anything terribly crucial. And college life is arguably 100x better than hs life, just remember that it is not really apples to apples. When I was your age I would have chosen to skip senior year. But as I sit here now, my advice is to stay. You must have a set of friends whom you wouldn't mind screwing around with for one more year?

I agree we are all different. If you feel you are obsessively focused and driven, then you SHOULD skip because to do anything else would go against your self: not good.

When all is said and done you have to BELIEVE in the choice you make. I chose not to go to college because at the time, I did not believe in it. If I forced myself to go, I honestly do not believe it would have yielded anything significant. Not because college is bad, but because I did not believe in it at that time. So if you believe that college will benefit you so much more, it probably will! Just remember you do not have the luxury of going backwards.

Let us know what you decide!

edit: read potatolicious sibling post. A great point!!

Learning happens when you are ready and interested. The fact that you are in the middle of a fierce competition for popularity and girls does not mean that you're going to learn a thing about it.

But to be clear, yes, I agree, I am trying to make things that outlast my physical presence here on earth as well.

I had the option to graduate HS a year early, but instead took courses at a local college, and used that to get into a better university.

I decided to graduate a year early from college, but not for the education reasons. I had grown a lot in the 3 years in college, and I felt I had gained all of the social skills I could from the school, and it was time to move on to the next social challenge: real life. Saving $50k also helped make the decision easier, but it was the social part that was the main deciding factor...I just felt ready to move on with my life.

Specifically:

"Appreciate things as they come, be happy, and enjoy your life."

"Go out with your gf. If you don't have one, put down the keyboard, and go get one."

and most imporatantly.

"F productivity."

One thing I would add is try to appreciate more the "normal" people, for whatever they are. Cherish the time you get to hang around them. They are one of the most important part of your life. Love them and respect them for they give a lot of meaning to your life.

The major problem with your argument is that you're telling someone that they can't learn from someone else. Then you go off and spout some pop-psy graphorrhea at her/him. Looking through your past posts, I can see that you're a fan of self-help books. That's fine. Don't push it on someone who's facing the prospect of 2 years she/he wouldn't have to otherwise waste.

The points you bring up:

Socialization: Sounds like you could use some with how much you're emphasizing romance there. Socializing is important, but unless our young poster has been living under a rock, the chances that he's had some experience making friends is pretty good. Let romance come later. Even autism finds a way to continue itself biologically. If she/he doesn't want to have sex, what's the point in making her/him feel awkward?

College: What if our poster wants to travel? Oops, that broke your model of using university as a self-realization tool.

Maturity: Is not a function of writing output on the internet. Seems like at least one of us could learn that lesson. Also, it's not a function of how many things a person has done that you consider worthy. The OP might be at the furthest possible point from your definition from a kid. We don't know. Next time you're sitting alone with your finger up your nose, think about that for a second.

As for all that pseudo-religious stuff you spouted, close your self-help book and live a little. Don't worry. Buddha/Jesus/Yaweh/David Koresh will forgive you. I promise.

Seriously, y'all, circling the drain isn't cool. The only thing that helps you is you.

Mainly, you are taking my post way too seriously. Your counter points are all based on what I literally wrote.

Socialization: Never said anything about having sex or forcing the issue with girls. I said get a gf for the sake of experiencing getting a gf. So what? Obviously he does not have to if he does not want to. Taken too seriously.

College: I specifically said I did not go to college, so I don't know what model of mine you are referring to.

Maturity: Never said anything about the internet. Yes I know you intended to be witty. Never said anything about doing anything. My take on maturity is simple: You have to mature to be mature. Actually I think we are in agreement there, though I don't know why you assume we are not. Skipping a grade, nor does any other one action entail maturity. My advice is simply to enjoy the experience and slow down.

On self-help. Agreed. I speak of self-help books because I've read them. There is a time for learning and a time for doing. Currently I very rarely read anything any more. All the books say the same thing, and I have learned not to search for answers, but rather simply to learn from tests. Learn and grow, learn and grow.

I hope i have clarified everything for everyone else reading. I am not really religious, but I like buddhism. Finally, my post wasn't a thesis!

Have fun.

You seem like you want to be nice, and like PieSquared wants to listen. There's a definite problem here, though: I don't like Landmark indoctrinators, and a lot of your phraseology comes from that direction, so my hackles were raised instantly. It might come from having had one as a roommate, so if you're just chattering happily away, my apologies. Landmark is scary enough so that when I see them get around another person, I have an immediate negative response.

Addressing what you've currently said, slowing down (http://www.slowmovement.com, am I right?) is irrelevant, because it still means there's a checklist. School, career, car, wife, house, kids, vacation, retirement, cancer, grandkids, dead, buried, gone. Yes, we'll always be dirt in the end. No, we don't have to march to oblivion. Some of us can subvert this as authentic freethinking entrepreneurs. Not all, but some.

This isn't Digg or reddit. I would expect a little more tolerance of diversity in these parts.

FYI, I'm an atheist, but the militant "you are dumb 'cos you believe in spirituality" mob pisses me off.