<p>I dropped out of high school in my sophomore year, and I basically self-taught for the past 5 or so years. I’m hoping to now apply for an average four year university and eventually transfer out of there after completing two year worth of study to a top 10 national university. Here are some questions I’m seeking detailed answers to:</p>
<li><p>When I apply, what should I consider myself as? Homeschooled person?</p></li>
<li><p>Will having high SAT & SAT2 & ACT scores, playing 2 instruments (composed a few and will include them if beneficial), and being semi-fluent to fluent in 4 languages help in admission, possibly being able to overwrite the not-so-positive (or even negative) factors of being 4/5 years older than most applicants and having no GPA or history of education after dropping out of high school?</p></li>
<li><p>Since I actually pretty much learned and mastered 1.5-2 years of college material myself, would it be possible to transfer out of the first college in only one year to the second college as a junior?</p></li>
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<p>How were your grades freshman year of high school?
That would be a great indicator to college about what you did that year. Were you an honors student? Take any AP classes? But, you can write a really slammin' essay to justify your grades && explain if you had some extenuating circumstance that made you drop out. </p>
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<li><p>I doubt you can consider yourself homeschooled because you legaly dropped out so you would have to get your GED. </p></li>
<li><p>That will DEFF help. </p></li>
<li><p>Depends on the college. Some colleges have placement exams, and if you are able to score high on them, you might be able to place yourself out of some classes, but it might be very tough.<br>
As a sidenote, I would recommend that you take a couple of CLEP exams, or AP tests, although I am not sure if those are exclusive to highschoolers. Check that out. Never hurts, maybe you can pass them and place out of more classes. </p></li>
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<p>If you opt for a public university, then you'll probably need to pass the GED in order to have them overlook your absent high school transcript. Private universities make their own rules so their perspectives on homeschooling and the GED vary. Most community colleges will admit a 22 year old without a high school diploma or GED.</p>
<p>I did think I couldn't claim myself as a homeschooler, but thanks for clarifying that for me. Is there an option such as "others" to choose on most college applications?</p>
<p>As for GED, does CHSPE count? It's a high school proficiency exam from CA, and I passed that as soon as I dropped out to go to a community college (which never worked out)
I wouldn't mind taking GED at all though, in fact, I might want to take it on top of the other one I passed just to get a perfect score to strengthen my stat. </p>
<p>The four year school I'm considering right now does accept CLEP and even listed the scores to pass in order to get credits for the subjects. I'm not sure though if I can take AP exams. I did take AP Calculus when I was in my sophomore year right before dropping out, so I'd definitely be interested in passing AP exams on top of CLEP if that will help.</p>
<p>As for going to community college, that was my initial plan, but after intensively reading this board for weeks and realizing I would have much better chance to transfer to an excellent school out of a pretty good four year university rather than a community college (even though CA has some excellent CC's), I decided to go with the new plan. After all, it seems like it's pretty easy to not very difficult to only transfer to UC's but still extremely challenging to transfer to a private school on the East coast.</p>
<p>If you are looking to save some money i just found an online school that has something called transfer agreements that you can transfer all your classes to a 4 year college without losing any of your credits and you get an associates degree in like 20 months...here is the web site</p>
<p>I actually heard of Columbia University School of General Studies. I'm surely going to research it myself right after writing this message, but isn't that something completely different from the standard undergraduate BS/AS degree? Will I be able to apply for a graduate school (medical/law/business) with a degree from the program and be taken seriously?</p>
<p>I certainly would be interested in saving money, but my main reason for wanting to transfer out of the first four year university is to simply get to the second one as soon as possible and finally pursue my college life which I planned back in high school. </p>
<p>I will contact the admissions as soon as I take the appropriately needed tests and get the results. The university I'm hoping to get in has a rolling admission system. This means it's still possible for me to be considered as long as I apply before summer, correct? Otherwise, I shall prepare for next year.</p>
<p>You don't need the GED if you have the CHSPE (in fact, you wouldn't need it even without the CHSPE) because they essentially do the same thing, but the CHSPE is more for precocious students, and GED can carry a "drop-out" stigma. Many collleges have distinct admissions requirements for non-traditional students. That's your handle -- not homeschooler, not drop-out. You are a non-traditional student. Get great SATs (including some SAT Subject Tests) make clear that foreign language proficiency. Especially take the advice already mentioned: call the admissions offices of some colleges you're especially interested and talk to them about your background and your ambitions. (Do it in the late spring when things are a little less frantic than they are between Oct-April.) Find out what they want to see from you. Being a non-traditional student can work in your favor.</p>
<p>Columbia 's School of Gen. Studies is just a college of the university. When you get your diploma it will be from Columbia University. The students from the school take the same classes as the other Columbia students.</p>
<p>I know a student at my college who's 22 and beginning her freshman year. she applied as a homeschooler.</p>
<p>since you say you've learned college material on your own, I would say there's no reason for you to not apply as a homeschooler. you'd probably have to be selective in schools, and have strong explanations for what you've been doing the last several years though.</p>
<p>On applying as 'homeschooled': Homeschoolers have a lot of extra information to turn in... They have someone from the state that comes and oversees their curriculum, etc. I'm not sure how that person could have applied as a homeschooler unless she once was homeschooled. </p>
<p>Being officially homeschooled requires a lot of documentation, or else every kid would stop going to school and just say they're 'homeschooling' themselves.</p>
<p>Other stuff: </p>
<p>Anywho, if you're looking for a more prestigious school, then I think you should research Columbia's school for nontraditional students. Congrats on continuing your education during your time off and becoming ready for formal schooling.</p>
<p>And I think that when you take your placement tests, if you studied extensively in these last couple of years, you will do well. The placement tests will be the ones which put you in whatever level classes you're ready for- also will test your language skills.</p>
<p>Homeschooling varies from state to state. Some states require oversight (to varying degrees), some don't. There is no way to generalize about it, and indeed, in many (if not most) places kids <em>can</em> more or less just leave school to homeschool, and many do.</p>
<p>My kids are homeschooled (always have been), and their applications to college require no documentation that their homeschooling is "official", which is good because no such documentation exists. They have to submit transcripts, test scores, ECs... nothing substantially different from any other applicant.</p>
<p>Son was accepted to a selective school, younger daughter is still a year or so out on all that.</p>
<p>FWIW I'd go ahead and contact admissions before taking tests and getting results. Why not just call (or better yet, visit), explain your situation and ask for advice on how to give yourself the best chance of admission? </p>
<p>Rolling admissions vary from school to school so, again, you're best off contacting your target school for info. Typically earlier is better since the freshman class fills up as early-applying candidates are accepted. What</a> are Rolling Admissions? - Peterson's</p>