How to Start College Early at CSULA EEP
California State University Early Entrance Program for Highly Gifted
Nov 3, 2008
Most colleges will allow high school students to take a few accelerated courses in a subject. More than twenty states have formalized dual enrollment programs where gifted teens concurrently earn high school and college credits. Universities like Johns Hopkins and Northwestern offer renowned summer residential programs.
Few schools fully enroll gifted students before their junior year of high school. Only three U.S. schools accept highly gifted teens wishing to matriculate three or more years early without requiring concurrent or prior completion of a high school degree. The California State University Los Angeles Early Entrance Program (CSULA EEP) is one of these programs practicing radical acceleration of profoundly gifted students.
California State University Los Angeles- Early Entrance Program (CSULA EEP)
CSULA EEP accepts highly gifted students as young as eleven years of age, allowing receipt of a bachelor’s degree as young as fifteen. EEPsters, the nickname for program participants, fully participate in campus life with a strong support staff including a counselor and mentorship from prior EEPsters. Most EEPsters are not eleven; EEP states the average age upon acceptance is currently thirteen and a half years old.
EEP’s high gifted students participate in the university Honors Program, requiring six general education honors courses and community service each year. EEPsters benefit from a common core curriculum ensuring opportunities to socialize with intellectually matched age peers. The campus also includes the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), allowing interaction with a group of more than 500 highly motivated teens.
All applicants must be under sixteen on June 1st of the application year and demonstrate exceptional academic performance in addition to potential. Standard CSULA tuition and fees apply for the non-residential program; estimated quarterly costs for 2008, including books and club memberships, total $1260.75. Enrollment for 2008-2009 totaled 126 highly gifted students with an average college GPA of 3.5. EEP graduates often enter competitive law and medical schools, receive Rhodes Scholarships and Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Fellowships, and CSULA alumni awards.
CSULA Early Entrance Program (EEP) for Profoundly Gifted Students- Fast Facts
- Starting age or grade: 11 years or older but under age 16 by June 1st of application year
- Program length: 5 years
- Residential: No, this is a commuter program.
- Degree: Bachelor
- Application minimum requirements: 24 V and 23 M on ACT OR 550 V and 550 M on SAT
- Admission deadlines: Testing in December and April; EEP Director interview prior to orientation in May; provisional EEP courses during summer, advanced to candidacy in 6th week of summer, final decision in September after summer course final grades post
- Estimated Annual cost: $3782 to $5043 in-state tuition (3 or 4 quarters; 2008)
- Average yearly acceptance: 20 highly gifted students
- Contact information: (323) 343-2287
Radical Acceleration of Highly Gifted Students – More Early Entrance Programs for Exceptionally Gifted
In addition to CSULA's EEP, only two other programs offer radical acceleration to highly gifted students in the United States. The Halbert and Nancy Robinson Center for Young Scholars offers the Transition School Early Entrance Program (TS-EEP) at University of Washington in Seattle. Mary Baldwin College's Program for the Exceptionally Gifted (PEG) serves highly gifted young women on the all-female campus in Staunton, Virginia. All three programs accept young, highly motivated students wanting to start college three or more years earlier than the traditional education model.
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