<p>but ive always been a hard worker throught my entire time in high school, i would be an enigma in community college. ive taken the ap exams and i know my college material and how to work hard i just need to send my application when i know iam ready. no its cr+m + w</p>
<p>“I would be an enigma in community college…” do you mean to say that those who go to community colleges do NOT work hard? I believe you will find it is quite the opposite case for many; many very intelligent, hardworking kids from my HS went to CC last year because they found it much more affordable than even the local state university.</p>
<p>EDIT: </p>
<p>SAT vocab FTW. </p>
<p>enigma = mystery [n]</p>
<p>anomaly = outlier [n], unusual [adj]</p>
<p>So I think you meant to say that you would be an ANOMALY, not an ENIGMA, in a CC.</p>
<p>Any more opinions? I’d really appreciate them, considering I can’t talk to my IRL guidance counselors…</p>
<p>I think you have an incredibly compelling story. You have the kind of life story that frankly makes elite college admissions officers drool.
I also think you are aiming too low.</p>
<p>So… you all say that I have a “compelling story”, and that college admissions officers would like that. But my problem is that it was ILLEGAL for my mother to keep me out of a homeschool association and, since I’ve already had several run-ins with DSS (the social services), I don’t want to draw any attention at all.</p>
<p>And I’m afraid that telling the truth in an essay would sound like whining or hyperbole. A lot of the stuff I’ve lived through is, to be quite frank, ABSURDLY dysfunctional and bizarre (hence my username). </p>
<p>I’ve never attended the same school for longer than a year and a half. There were days when my sisters and I would steal food from grocery stores and take showers in new houses in subdivisions. When I was 8, my dad starved my hamsters to death because I didn’t visit him. The list just goes ON and ON…</p>
<p>All these things are an important part of who I am but they’re so absurd that I just can’t imagine anyone believing them. They’re all very true but also very very unbelievable. I just can’t help but think that admissions officers would think I was lying to gain sympathy.</p>
<p>No one cares that what your mother did was illegal. I can promise you nothing too severe is going to happen to her and to you. </p>
<p>I also wouldn’t worry about feeling inferior to anyone. I feel that SAT M is one of the more learnable tests you’ll take. The fact that you had to self teach yourself Algebra and the SATs means that you are incredibly gifted. 800 CR 750W and the one area where tutoring really helps you still scored around the 88th percentile.</p>
<p>There will inevitably be richer people who went to prep schools, but don’t worry about them being smarter. Middlebury and Amherst are all great. they’re smaller schools so they have more leeway in handling your situation. Try to schedule an interview and let the ADCOMs know about where you stand.</p>
<p>I’d also suggest for you to look into some of the Ivies. I know you don’t like the city but part of college is about getting out of your comfort zone I think.</p>
<p>And yeah, to an extent prestige does matter. Job placement at one of the top LACs are going to be pretty sweet just because of how small the student population is.</p>
<p>You know, I’m not even thinking about your story. You’re just plain smart and in another environment you could have really blossomed. In my book, your 800/750/610 is a 2300+ given the circumstances. I’d bet half the 2300+ scorers out there wouldn’t be sitting on that score if they’d had to self study like some other people do.</p>
<p>I’d hate to see you not make the most of your best years just because of your smaller comfort zone.</p>
<p>Ok now I am curious. How did you take showers in new houses in subdivisions?</p>
<p>Snowdog–</p>
<p>'Tis simplicity itself. You know when they build the new houses in the subdivisions but the houses haven’t yet been sold? Well, the water and electricity are hooked up even though no-one’s bought the house yet (or at least they were in that particular subdivision… I must confess I have not resorted to this rather desperate tactic recently). </p>
<p>The house I lived in when I was ~8 was right next to a gigantic, soul-crushing subdivision that had just been constructed. Whenever we didn’t have water (which was relatively frequently) we’d hop the fence from our yard into the subdivision and take a shower in the nearest house. We’d also take waterbottles to fill up in the sink.</p>
<p>Sometimes we stole lightbulbs from the new houses too. Lollercopters. Stealing lightbulbs was actually pretty exciting for me because there were often fancy types of lightbulbs-- you know, the ones that look like candleflames, the ones that go in the chandeliers, the fluorescent ones, the long skinny ones that look like rolled-up posters… </p>
<p>See what I mean when I say my childhood was crazy?</p>
<p>There is actually a home-school forum in the pre-college section of CC discussion. Maybe check there for ideas about schools that are more open to home school oddities. Davidson may be more conservative in their approach than some. What about Oberlin? Grinnell, Bates etc. ----still worth trying. Amherst is very interested in low income students. But what about paying? Are you going to need a full scholarship?</p>
<p>Yes, finances are a HUGE deal to me. Simply put, my EFC is zero. The deciding factor in where I will go is going to be what I have to pay, because I can’t pay… much of anything, actually. My mother paying $40 for a new pair of shoes for me is considered a huge expenditure. </p>
<p>My family is what people could charitably call “working-class”.</p>
<p>New houses in subdivisions are usually locked once they are finished out to the point of working punching. It’s not like anyone can just walk in the front door and hang out. Did you break in to take these showers at age 8? Yes I’m getting ready to call ********…you had me going though.</p>
<p>No, Snowdog, I assure you that that’s the truth. If you choose not to believe it, that’s fine, because as I’ve already said, this stuff is almost hilariously unlikely. But no, those houses were open. I am not saying that ALL houses in ALL recently-constructed subdivisions are left open; I’m saying that the houses in THAT particular neighborhood in THAT particular area at THAT particular time were open.
EDIT:
IIRC, some of the houses had little signs in the yard saying “ready for viewing” (or something to that effect). This may have been why they were open.</p>
<p>I mean really…you were dirt poor yet found the shiny new subdivision next door as “soulcrushing” as any hipster? Details my dear, details…</p>
<p>And yes those are model homes and yes they are always locked. Always. You see they don’t want little kids from the shack next door to go in and steal lightbulbs and take showers (did you bring your own towels? use theirs?</p>
<p>cinema you just layered on too many details. You had it until you got carried away.</p>
<p>[#32 - me - “plumbing” not “punching.” Why doesn’t the phone app have an edit button ?]</p>
<p>@gumboyaya: yes, I have come to the conclusion that the OP is cheerfully putting us on.</p>
<p>Assuming that the OP is for real: you are making a huge mistake in imposing a 2 hour travel limit. The schools you ought to be looking at have superb FA and would love a student like you: Ivies, top women’s colleges like Smith and Wellesley, elite LACs like Williams–in the country, BTW–Amherst, et al. The likelihood is such a school would cover almost all of your costs in grants, if you got in, with perhaps a work study job and minor federally subsidized loans. I have little doubt that it would end up costing less than your state flagship.</p>
<p>If you are not for real, you are an excellent writer of fiction, and should get to work on that novel NOW.</p>
<p>cinemaverite seems to be gone.
As they say when describing the dad who starved the hamsters to get attention, while the kids were tiptoeing from their hovel next door into model homes to take nice hot showers and pocket pretty light bulbs: “lollercopters.” Wait I thought dad was in prison with everyone else in the family…or, oh I can’t keep track. Neither can cinema but that’s part of the game.
I have a book for you cinema, it’s called The Runner. But maybe you’ve read it?</p>