I attended a concurrent high school and college program during my last two years of high school. We lived together in a dormitory of only high school students.

I attended a concurrent high school and college program during my last two years of high school. We lived together in a dormitory of only high school students. The entering class was typically about 230 people, aged 14-16 (but mostly 16), and about 160 of them would make it through two years to graduate. Of the other 70, many "failed" (for us that meant any D or F or more than 2 C's in a semester or a semester GPA less than 3.0). Many others were caught with drugs (including alcohol but not including caffeine or ritalin) or wandering around outside after curfew or engaged in sex acts. Some of these acts would be ignored by the administration if the student had a 4.0 or was doing worthwhile research, but even when the administration ignored them the students were frequently withdrawn by their conservative parents. The administration liked to tell parents of prospective students that "No student has ever died here." This was true, but only due to their unwritten policy of expelling students who reacted to their new environment by becoming extremely depressed. I did not learn of this policy until we heard (at a wing meeting) that a student who had left the program a couple months prior had recently taken his own life. Among the students who do not complete the program, many of them are still able to make use of the head start it provides. They often simply transfer to another university or continue attending the same university and never bother graduating from high school. Among students who do complete the program, there are still many for whom it was too much, and they will live with whatever non-physical damage they sustained for the rest of their lives. It was probably the most stressful thing I have ever done, and I wouldn't give it up for anything. The friends I made there are some of the most amazing people I have ever known, and if I were 2 years behind my current track I would still be a year away from graduation.