Fast Finish, Fresh Start

"People always ask me, 'Don't you want a senior year?' " said Vagias, who attends George Mason University. "It wasn't an issue to me."

Still, she sometimes gets nostalgic for the friends and life she left behind. She plans to return to her alma mater to watch her former classmates graduate this year and even planned to attend prom with them.

High school guidance counselors caution that making the jump from high school to college is about more than academics. Senior year is also about playing on varsity sports teams and beefing up résumés with internships and extracurricular activities. And most of all, they say, senior year gives students time to grow up and say goodbye to childhood.

"There are always questions about whether a student is developmentally ready to leave high school and go on to a college campus," said Judy Hingle, director of professional development for the National Association of College Admission Counseling. "That's always a big transition, even for the most mature student."

Hingle said that there are no statistics that track the number of students nationwide who graduate early each year. High schools typically don't push the idea, and their complicated schedules sometimes make it difficult for even the brightest students to finish their coursework early. LaCreta has to give up her lunch period to fit in all of her classes: She usually shovels down pasta salad or macaroni and cheese during her AP government class instead.

Sixteen-year-old Jack Goodman had planned to finish high school one year early ever since he was a freshman at Glenelg Country School in Howard County. When he was in sixth grade, he did two years' worth of traditional middle school math course work and was in AP calculus by ninth grade.

But in the spring of his sophomore year, Goodman decided against graduating early. He thought about the stress of applying to colleges in the fall. He pictured waving good-bye to his family and friends and giving up his place on the track team. And he realized that he couldn't leave.

"That reality kind of set in, and I decided it wasn't for me," said Goodman, who will begin his senior year in the fall. "I don't feel I would be emotionally ready for college in a lot of ways."

Goodman will intern at the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University and take humanities classes at Glenelg Country School next school year. He plans to keep practicing guitar -- he played "Let the Good Times Roll" by B.B. King at the school talent show -- and is looking forward to the senior class expedition.

Hingle said that research on brain maturation -- as well as her own anecdotal experiences -- shows that girls are ready earlier than boys to make long-term decisions that carry hefty consequences. But to Goodman, the explanation is much simpler:

"Why do you have to go a year early?" he asked. "You have your whole life to study stuff."