"I'd Much Rather be Here Than in High School: An Interview with Carwil James, an Early Entrant to Northwestern University"

by Barry Grant

After reading Paula's article, l thought, "Carwil! He entered Northwestern early! An interview with him would be a great companion to her piece. " Not long after Carwil popped into my mind he popped into my offce, back pack slung over his shoulder and a crumpled New York Times Arts section in his hand. We set a date for an interview, and the rest follows.

Carwil James participated in four summers of CTD programs, beginning in 1988 with Advanced and ending in 1991 with a Equinox class in particle physics. He skipped one year of high school and left high school one year early with enough AP credits to enter Northwestem at age 16 as a sophomore. He's now 17 and has just begun his second quarter of college as a physics or math major.

Carwil is doing "fairly well" academically. After intense grilling, he confessed that this meant he has a 4.0 average. Socially and emotionally, he's doing about the same, "OK." At first other students were shocked when they leamed of his age. "You're what!?' They'd say." But now, "Everyone I know here no longer thinks about my age. " Carwil thinks his age isn't a factor in his social life. He explained: "The kind of people that become my friends would be the same regardless of acceleration."

Coming from 12 weeks of CTD summer programs, Carwil is comfortably familiar with dorm life. However, entering a new school meant leaving people he'd known for years and being thrown in "with a bunch of people I don't have much to talk to about." He continued, "The first people you meet are the ones right around you in the dorm. They aren't likely to be like the people you spent most of your time with in high school. Those people are there, but you've got to seek them out, and you find them gradually. "Within a month or so, Carwil found a companionable group of people, and now, he said, "l've met at least 100 people that I know pretty well." Carwil had no regrets about leaving high school early. He enthusiastically asserted: "I'd much rather be here than in high school. "

For years, Carwil had moved through his curriculum faster than his school could keep up with him, but it wasn't until his Equinox teacher told him categorically that he didn't belong in high school that Carwil thought about leaving early. As an accelerated junior, he was already taking math courses at a local college, and he had a couple of handfuls of AP courses to his credit. He needed only a PE class, a health class and one or two others to complete high school. There wasn't a year's worth of interesting high school courses left to fill out his senior year. Going to college early was simply the best way to continue his education.

He researched a number of schools and visited several campuses. He choose Northwestern because it was the right size for him, big, but not too big, and had a strong science program and a strong arts program . His gifts are in math and science, but he loves the arts and, as an old theater tech, he had to go to a school with a good theater department.

Carwil's advice to students considering early entrance:

• Seriously consider the arguments for staying in high school so that you can be sure your reasons for leaving are better than those for staying.
• Inform yourself about the college admission and selection process. (Carwil missed deadlines for financial aid applications because he didn't know about them in time.)
• Inform yourself about the college admission and selection process. (Carwil missed deadlines for financial aid applications because he didn't know about them in time.) Ask yourself all the questions a regular student should ask about going to college: What do l wantto study? What size school do I want? Do l want to live in the country or a city?
• Visit the schools you are thinking of attending. Find out how they deal with early entrants. Spend a day there as a student.
• Visit the schools you are thinking of attending. Find out how they deal with early entrants. Spend a day there as a student. If you decide to enter college early, tell everyone around you as soon as you can. Don't spring the news on your friends at the last moment. Keep in touch with your friends after you leave.

For Carwil, the hardest part of entering college early was telling his high school he was leaving. Though it is a college preparatory school, its staff was not pleased that they had helped prepare Carwil more efficiently than usual. They tried to dissuade him from him leaving, arguing that he was not mature enough to begin college. But Carwil, alert and autonomous in his thinking, had visited college campuses and "didn't see that freshman acted much different than I did. " He also noticed that his school had never tried to prevent a graduate from going to college on the grounds they weren't mature enough! There is a lesson here for every student.