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Too Early

Caught with my former colleague C after years today. He had been out of circulation for a while so there was much to chat about. His son, A is now in college and likely the youngest one in his class. This kid is one of the home-schooled prodigies you read about in the news - no surprise, this child has been in the news himself many times. Winning any number of competitions in any number of areas - there is nothing that he is not great at. C's wife gave up her flourishing career to home-school their son, once it became evident that public school would fall far short of his needs. A completed high school at 14 and started college before 15. Anyone observing A's progress and endless stream of accomplishments would assume that it's a foregone conclusion that the top colleges will vie to get him. He is not just an academic superstar but an all-around one. C told me that college admissions reality was quite different from his expectations. A's top choice schools did not accept him - apparently he was not special enough for them and also they declined to give him any credit for being 4 years younger than the average applicant. This was a something C and his wife never expected. 

With that, A was treated like any other applicant in the pool and started to look less than stellar given a a complete absence of internships and work in his resume. He was just a smart and talented kid but had not proved himself worthy enough for consideration. He made it to a great school but it was nowhere close to what was aspired for him. It is no surprise that A is firing on all cylinders in college and doing everything he possibly can. That is the only way he knows to operate since he was three years old. The pandemic turned out to be a blessing in disguise - A was able to spend freshman year at home and is looking forward to going to college for real this year. Still very young but atleast he has had some practice with it even if from afar. C's wife continues to manage A's life and work in college much as she had done in his home-school years. After we got off the phone, I could not but help thinking about other kids I know who are freshmen and sophomores in college, the lives that they are able to lead independent of their parents, the adventures they are able to have because they are old enough for them, the relationships they get in and out of and so much more. A will experience none of that at least not in a safe way. 

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