<p>I’m also interested in how people dropped out of high school to take college classes. I’d be more than willing to take college classes if: </p>
<ol>
<li>I didn’t have to pay $1000 per course</li>
<li>I’m actually allowed to take college classes in the first place without a high school diploma</li>
</ol>
<p>I totally agree with cicero_oratore. It’s not like I don’t like school or teachers or anything, it’s just that I can’t stand finishing “creative” assignments when I could be self-studying.</p>
<p>Exactly, I would love to learn more and study what I am interested in, or make the best out of subjects, but the direction that some classes go in are very anti-learning. Creative projects will not help you become at English. I mean, English is not my favorite class or something that I wish to go into, but that does not mean I do not have an appreciation for it and some type of interest in it. I mean, there are some great teachers out there, and it is definitely not their fault that I feel as though I am being held back.</p>
<p>@hpy931: Community Colleges will allow you to take college courses without a diploma, but I am not sure about the cost.</p>
<p>I totally agree. Usually when the class is slow, I get high marks in the beginning, and then I get so bored that I don’t try anymore and my marks drop a lot. Although it’s ironic, it’s true for me. It’s not that I slack or anything, but I find it very hard to try in a class that is not mind-stimulating. </p>
<p>What’s the point of paying a lot of money to take community colleges if you could self-study for AP exams? </p>
<p>And another question: Wouldn’t it be disadvantageous if a Chem mark doesn’t appear on your transcript? You know how MIT recommends 2 years of Chem/Bio/Physics and Math through Calculus and blah blah blah… does it matter if I don’t have those courses?</p>
<p>I didn’t sign up for a program. I just went to a college bookstore, bought some textbooks, and read them. This does work if you are really motivated to learn. I did take a lot of college classes, especially in lab sciences. It’s unfortunate that chemistry is the problem, because it is best to have labs for that, but self-study is much better than a bad class. Choose good, college-level textbooks and you will learn a tremendous amount. Also, check out OpenCourseWare - wonderful resource if you are self-studying (or even if you aren’t!).</p>
<p>College classes do cost money, although community colleges are cheaper. Four-year colleges are better if cost isn’t an issue (this is especially true in a discussion-based English class, for example), but you’re going to find real teaching at any college, and actual lab work if you were to take a chemistry class. It is almost always possible to take college classes without a diploma. If you just call the admissions office you will get mostly confusion, but there is usually someone in charge of such “concurrent students”, and if you can get through to them you are fine. It might be best to check the website to see if anyone is listed in this position.</p>
<p>If you are worried about Chemistry not appearing on your transcript, send your own transcript with the courses you self-studied, and put it on the MIT Self-Reported Coursework page.</p>
<p>Finally, I want to reiterate that this is not going to hurt you in applying to college, it will help you. The default for you is to sit in your class, be bored, and learn little. The alternative is to take the initiative, challenge yourself, and learn a ton. MIT loves people you seek out ways to learn beyond the standard classes that are offered to them. It shows that you are motivated and dedicated. This matters far more to them than how clean your transcript is or what your GPA is. This is why homeschoolers have such good track records of getting into elite colleges, including MIT.</p>
<p>Well, at the moment I think I’ll be staying in the class, but I did buy a teacher’s edition textbook so I can self-study the whole course, which I could probably do in about a month’s worth of time. I am highly considering, though, to take your advice and try to convince my parents to let me homeschool myself. I would rather learn a lot and be content with learning as opposed to learning a little and being bored out of my mind.</p>
<p>There’s less than 7 months left in the school year. Why don’t you just stay in school and wait for college? Trying to convince your parents to let you be homeschooled and explaining to colleges why you’ve become homeschooled seems to be more trouble than it’s worth.</p>
<p>Homeschooling is easier and faster than regular schooling. I could learn the same amount of things that we do in school outside of school in a few months at the most. School does not go at a fast pace. Also, homeschooling would show that you took initiative to do something that other people do not, at least that is my take on it…</p>
<ol>
<li><p>AP Chemistry: We are going at the pace of the Honors Chemistry course, which only gets through 9 or 10 out of the some odd chapters necessary for the AP exam</p></li>
<li><p>AP Physics C: Only covers the first half of the exam and does not even cover all the information for that in full</p></li>
<li><p>English Department: New structure that has no tests for books and less writing. Now it is mostly creative projects across the board, and only the AP Eng Lit is in place in our school, no AP Eng Lang</p></li>
<li><p>AP Calculus: Only offers AB, no skipping of courses allowed, does not cover all the AB material before the AP exam.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>There are more examples, but it is not worth getting into. The problem isn’t always that the courses themselves are slow, but rather I could go at a much faster pace and learn more. For example, I could have done the Honors Physics material covered last year in about a month’s worth of time. It was a very slow class.</p>
<p>“homeschooling would show that you took initiative to do something that other people do not”</p>
<p>Exactly. There are, of course, many better reasons to be homeschooled. But this is the most immediately important - leaving a too-slow school environment in order to learn more will really pique the interest of MIT admissions (and other schools).</p>