A Beginner's Guide to Starting College at Thirteen

Hello all and welcome to my blog. Today is November 12, 2025, and this is my first blog post.

I'd like to start by saying that never in my life would I recommend approaching education the way that I did. And I say that for a variety of reasons, not just because it's difficult and causes burnout. It's also not something that I talk about often, because it doesn't define me. In this post I'm going to focus on how I did what I did but also why I did it- and why I wouldn't do it again.

Hence the title, the first time I took college classes I was thirteen years old, technically in eighth grade. The hardest course I took was Introduction to Biology, or BIO 101, and although it kickstarted my passion for science, it also changed my whole perspective on education. It was a really cool class, and I had really cool professors, but it was difficult for me in more ways than one.

To start off, during the COVID years I was pulled out of school and homeschooled by my mother. It was great at first; not having to wake up early, kind of doing whatever I wanted to, but it got really boring really fast. I remember begging my mother to let me go to middle school- practically on my knees- because I just couldn't handle the boredom anymore. To make things ten times worse, my family moved from Oregon to South Carolina about six months before I started taking college classes. That uprooting took away any last inkling of stability I had, and it made me even more eager for structure.

The loneliness, the boredom, my younger brother- between it all, I really wanted to go to school and have something to do. I wanted to make new friends. My mom, who was apprehensive about public education, compromised with me for a few weeks. Her final offer was this: take the placement test at our local community technical college and if I score high enough to take classes there, she would let me go.

It wasn't middle school, but it was school nonetheless. I took the placement test, scored high enough, and enrolled in three classes in the fall. I had no idea what to expect, and I honestly should have researched what community college was like before attending classes. The shock I felt when I saw people who were four times my age walking around campus was traumatizing, and honestly so were some of my interactions with them.

Like most gifted and talented children, the coursework wasn't the hard part for me. I loved the classes, I did very well, and I had a lot of fun learning the material. The hard part was that I was heavily unprepared socially, being homeschooled and all (the stereotypes are unfortunately true in most cases). I was looking for an environment that someone my age would have been searching for; I wanted the cliches and crushes and all the things middle school girls want. Obviously, I didn't get that.

After the fall semester, I enrolled in classes in the Spring. My experience was life changing in that I knew what I wanted to do, what I loved. But other than that, it was kind of boring. I wanted to go to high school. I wanted friends and to play sports and be a part of clubs. So, after a lot of convincing, I finally got my mother's reluctant approval to enroll at my local high school for the fall. I was so excited. There was only one downside: due to my completion of college courses, I'd be entering the eleventh grade.

Picture this: academically accelerated, homeschooled, fourteen-year-old girl enters the eleventh grade, after barely having any public school experience, eager to make friends and ready for the high school experience! Not to mention, she's poor, has a weird name, and an interesting ethnic background.

To say the least, I got bullied.

But, I don't live in the past. Overall, I had a good(ish) experience and ended up making friends that I cherish deeply. High school taught me a lot of things, most of them traumatic, but it also gave me a kind of tough love that shaped me into who I am today. Now, many (two) years later, I laugh it out and think of my time served there as a strengthening period in my life. The best part was that I only did two years, and although I was upset about it at first, I think it was a gift from the heavens.

I graduated at sixteen, two years ahead of my peers, and entered university as a sophomore. My community college biology classes influenced my career choice, and continue to do so even now, and for that I am eternally grateful. But when I think back, I think with regret and resentment. And it's taken me a while to figure out why.

I've come to the conclusion that I feel robbed of a childhood. Graduating early and being on an accelerated path is messy, confusing, and hard socially. Yes, gifted and talented children are smart and can complete coursework intended for people much older than them, but that doesn't mean that they should. Priority should be given to emotional and social development before academic advancement, and I strongly believe that is a mistake that we collectively make as a society.

We tend to view children who exhibit "genius" traits as special and in need of a different academic path and life plan. In a way, there is truth in that. Those children are often bored with coursework, searching for more advanced routes and material. Instead of taking them and saying "You'd fit perfectly here!" by placing them into a classroom where their peers are no longer peers but people who are now their superior in age and experience, we damage them and subject them to a sort of emotional abuse leading to serious burnout, self-esteem issues, and depression.

This isn't just my experience and perspective; I can say confidently it is a known phenomenon from just the other academically advanced students and classmates I have met. Instead of changing our kids to fit the system, we should change the system to fit the kid. This is obviously something that is an issue with public schools in the U.S. across the board, which makes it even more important to talk about it and educate others about our experiences with it.

In the end, I honestly would do it all over again, because that is what has made me the person I am today and what continues to shape me. But when asked how I feel about it . . . that's a different story entirely. To all the gifted and talented children that you know and love, remember that they are still children, and they deserve to be given the same opportunities and experiences that others are given. Most importantly, let your kids remain kids. Don't force them to grow up too fast. Not speaking from experience or anything ;)

With love,

Tlalli