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Yeah, but getting into what you see as your "rightful" grade isn't going to give you any advantage, especially if you have learning disabilities (I do too). .
It's going to make me more similar to my classmates and roommates. Blending in is, IMO, more advantageous than sticking out.
Age rarely came into conversation in college, unless it was figuring out who was old enough to get into the bar or buy beer, etc. Being older was always a plus, never a negative. All of the classes had students of mixed ages and mixed classifications. Age really doesn't matter in college.
I have learning disabilities so I wasn't going to be an academic super-star regardless of when I started school. I could have been held back 4 times and I still wouldn't have been at the top of my class. Someone with learning disabilities is already going to be different enough from their classmates without being a year older than them.
It's good that redshirting helped your friends, but those accomplishments were never in the cards for me, redshirted or not, so holding me back was pointless.
The learning disability is the reason why they're not letting you take AP courses and won't let you take more than 15 credits per semester. Your chances of failing would be high.
No one can tell the difference between an 18 year old and a 19 year old. They look exactly the same and are the same developmentally. But, when you're at the pre-school age, several months can make a big difference in mental development. That's why kids born later in the year are often held back. A five year old born in October is going to be behind a five year old born in January. With being born late in the year and having learning disabilities, redshirting was probably the best decision your parents could have made. Plus, being smaller and having a learning disability would have made you more of a target for bullying.
OP, I kind of get where you are coming from. I did not redshirt my son and he's now a HS freshman and is happy about that, because at this point, from his perspective, it would be an "extra" year of school. But the reality is that he's going to do 12 years of school (plus kindergarten) and then 4 years of college, just like everyone else.
Can you explain why you are so eager to reduce your length of time in school? Maybe if you can explain it here more clearly, you'd do a better job of explaining it to your parents.
I have learning disabilities so I wasn't going to be an academic super-star regardless of when I started school. I could have been held back 4 times and I still wouldn't have been at the top of my class. Someone with learning disabilities is already going to be different enough from their classmates without being a year older than them.
It's good that redshirting helped your friends, but those accomplishments were never in the cards for me, redshirted or not, so holding me back was pointless.
My friend who is a partner in a law firm has a learning disability. You are selling yourself short.
It's going to make me more similar to my classmates and roommates. Blending in is, IMO, more advantageous than sticking out.
This is such a pile of crap. We're only talking 1 year here. MAYBE in high school it may have mattered somewhat. Absolutely NO ONE in college cares. If this is mentally destroying your life kiddo, you need to pursue some help. Life's gonna get a lot tougher down the road. It's time you started toughening up yourself.
It's going to make me more similar to my classmates and roommates. Blending in is, IMO, more advantageous than sticking out.
You're not going to stick out. No one will even know about the 1-year difference, and besides, there will be other red-shirted kids in your freshman class, as well. And guess what? You won't even know who they are.
It's going to make me more similar to my classmates and roommates. Blending in is, IMO, more advantageous than sticking out.
Blending is for the uninteresting and unsuccessful. Slow down and learn what you need to learn. And get yourself a therapist. Your cognition is not what it should be. You're talking about a year or two difference in age. When I was in college the age range was quite wide, and I was in a school with people mostly following traditional paths. Stuff happens and you don't do things in sync with your peers necessarily.
I think your obsession with not fitting in is what's making you look odd to people because you probably have some screwed up thought patterns in other areas too.
Say you get what you want. What will be your excuse when things don't go your way then?
Work on yourself. Your obsession with "blending," blaming your parents and being where you see as the age appropriate education level only makes you look immature and inept.
I remember being annoyed with my mom when I was late to get my driver's permit, and subsequently, my driver's license. I don't think it had anything to do with my level of responsibility, but due to the fact that we were poor and I think she imagined getting me a used car. I didn't know that was in her mind at the time and I probably let me frustrations out about all of my friends driving before me.
But looking back, it's easy to see her perspective. Your parents probably believe they're doing what's best for you, or that the benefits outweigh the negatives here. Try to support their decision and realize that your own wants are just temporary, and probably a little irrational.
I'm returning to grad school now after almost a decade away from school and I can tell you that I appreciate it waaaay more now, and sure, some of the students in my courses are younger than me, but some are also older! Once you get to college, literally no one cares about someone's age -- that's more of a high school/middle school thing.
My advice? Master all of the things they're not going to teach you in school: personal finance, how to do your own taxes, how to calculate APR percentages, how to invest in the stock market for your retirement, start a Robinhood account for fun, and a Wealthfront and a Betterment account for your IRAs, and why one should have a Roth AND a Traditional or better yet, why you shouldn't and then you can tell me to stop investing in one or the other! =)
There are so many things to learn now that will better your life later regardless if you go to college one year earlier, later, or not at all.
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