1) early start in school…either pre college or entered college early. Date of Birth cycling: depending on a person’s birth date and the commencement of a school year and school policies, some students may begin enrollment “out of sequence”. For example, the school year begins on Aug 28 and students should be 6 years old the enroll…but a student whose 6th birthday is in Oct may be allowed to enroll. So in contrast to their class, they are 1 year younger.

2) Early advancement: some advanced students are placed ahead (as opposed to being held behind)

3) concurrent enrollment in high school / college: some states / colleges have program that allow high school Jr. and Sr to enroll in college while still attending high school.

4) Challenge exams: some students make faster progress in college by taking challenge exams for some classes. If they pass, they get credit for the class without having to take it in college.

5) Waivers: some high school students may have abilities and additional course work in certain subject/course areas what exceed the entrance requirement of the college/university…and are granted waivers for those courses, thus permitting them to progress more rapidly than other entering freshman.

There may be other plausible reasons, too.

hope this helps. best wishes.

I was 17 and a freshman in college. I went to a private school early on, and was allowed to attend before the public school system would allow. Thus, I finished high school earlier in my life, and started college earlier. It’s not so ridiculous to me.

I had a 12-yr old in some of my graduate Math classes.

Recently, a 14 year old got her PhD at Drexel University.