Ellington

Ajay Menon is a regular college student. He looks like one and behaves like one: He stays up well past midnight, hangs out in his dorm lounge, does homework, talks to friends, and plays video games.

He also turned 16 in October.

“[Most people] don’t notice,” Menon said of his age. “When I meet new people, I generally don’t tell them at first. … If I tell them before they get to know me, to me it feels like they’d treat me differently.

“Honestly,” he said, “who would introduce themselves as ‘Hi, my name is Blah, I’m 16?’”

Fellow 16-year-old classmate James Liu added, “Age is just a number. … As long as I act mature, then it doesn’t make too much of a difference.”

Menon and Liu are two of the 35 students who joined the UW Academy this year, dropping out of high school after 10th grade and forgoing their high school diplomas to enroll at the UW two years early.

The UW Academy is a program offered by the Halbert and Nancy Robinson Center for Young Scholars, which identifies and serves the needs of highly gifted pre-college and college students.

However, of the freshmen in this year’s cohort, only four are living in the residence halls.

“Living on campus is something of a rarity among … the newer ‘Acads,’” said Shelby Woods, another of the Academy freshmen living in the residence halls. “Most [Academy students] are from the Seattle area anyway, so most just stay home for at least their first year.”

Not Liu of Shoreline, Wash., who saw living away from home as a chance to become more mature and independent.

“If anything, it’s just a good exercise for how I actually have to live on my own as an adult,” he said.

It’s also a matter of convenience. Liu cited “being able to wake up later and not having to commute” as a reason for moving into the dorms.

Commuting is not an option for Woods or Menon, however. Woods lives in Graham, Wash., a 2.5-hour drive from Seattle. Menon’s family lives in Baton Rouge, La., making him the only out-of-state Academy student.

“I suppose the only downside of not being at home is that I’m just not in close proximity to home and friends,” Woods said.

While none of the three will pretend they are completely typical students, they consider themselves normal college freshmen, as do most of the people they meet.

“Perhaps I’m just not an average 16-year-old, because I do believe that it takes a certain kind of person to go to college early and like it,” Woods said. “But I do think I fit in pretty well.”

Menon said that when he does reveal his age to his acquaintances, “they’re generally pretty surprised … they think it’s kind of cool, they’ll ask me questions about it, and after that, it doesn’t matter too much – which is nice.”

Neither Menon nor Liu feels particularly affected by lacking the legal rights of adult students, like purchasing cigarettes or signing consent forms. But Woods, an active member of Young Democrats, is annoyed at having to wait two years before she can cast a vote.

“It sucks,” Woods said, “but honestly, that doesn’t mean much. … Even without the right to vote, I’m more politically active than most. … I think the fact that people typically don’t care that I’m younger helps with the fact that there are certain things I can’t do.”

Liu does not believe most 16-year-olds would be able to handle college life, “I don’t want to sound self-righteous, but … living on your own takes a lot of responsibility that I don’t think some 16-year-olds have yet,” he said. “I know people who, when their parents are out of town, they just watch television or play video games or whatever … I don’t feel like [living away from parents] is something I should abuse.”

So far, Liu, by his own estimation, has not found the responsibilities of living away from his parents too challenging to bear: he can feed himself, study on his own and generally take care of himself.

Menon also did not believe living away from parental supervision has been a problem for him.

“Back home, I was fairly independent, and my parents trusted me … [they] knew that I would make responsible decisions,” he said. “As long as I didn’t do anything too crazy, they’d be cool with it. The only difference is, they aren’t here if I do something crazy; they’re 2,600 miles away.”

When asked to define ‘something crazy,’ Menon simply grinned and said, “I’ll plead the Fifth.”

Liu, Menon and Woods say they enjoy university and campus life, and balancing their social lives with the heavy workloads they have each undertaken.

Menon plans to push his academic limits each quarter and find out what he can handle.

“All my friends who were already in college told me, ‘It’s as hard as you want it to be’… so I decided to take 20 credits this quarter,” he said. “I can do it, but it kind of kills my social life: less time to socialize, more ‘I’m sorry, I have to go, I have a midterm tomorrow.’”

Although Woods admitted that finding room for social time is difficult, he also said it is not impossible.

“We younger students are hardly antisocial outcasts,” she said.

Woods regularly goes to the Robinson Center during the week, where she spends time with other Academy students and visits the three “fantastic” Academy counselors on hand.

By contrast, Liu rarely visits the Robinson Center.

“I feel like I can associate with 18-year-old freshmen or other college kids better than I can associate with Acads,” he said.

Menon finds the Academy program very beneficial.

“Before I came to the UW, I didn’t realize how much time I’d end up spending just hanging out with friends,” he said. “I know I’m not going to be a 4.0 student … but that’s not me having to lower my expectations so much as it is making them more realistic. College is more than which classes you’re taking, which grades you end up getting … It’s an experience, and cutting myself off from such a large part of it wouldn’t do me any good. I think [moving to campus] was worth it.”

Reach contributing writer Tiffany Vu at development@dailyuw.com.

By the numbers: UW Academy

Students apply at the beginning of 10th grade

Only 35 10th graders are accepted each year

As of summer 2009:

267 students have entered the Academy since 2001

Average graduation time: 4.7 years (four years and two quarters)

51 percent graduate within five years

35 percent graduate within four years

55 percent receive college or departmental honors

Top 10 majors for Academy students:

Biochemistry

Biology

Computer science

Computer engineering

Math

Business

Neurobiology

English

International studies

Political science

45 percent double- or triple-major

Class of 2008:

Average ACT score: 31

Average high-school GPA: 3.96

Source: depts.washington.edu/cscy/