<p>So I'm going to be a senior in high school this upcoming school year. I went to public school my freshman and sophomore year and junior year I was homeschooled. Can't remember my exact gpa for 9th-10th but it was around 3.8, 3.9. I did a jv sport for freshman year. Got into njhs freshman year. Didn't join any clubs in my 9th-10th grade years. Reason was I moved so much and I went to 4 different high schools during those 2 school years. It was a pain. I didn't join any clubs or sports or do anything extracurricular during sophomore because of the whole moving around thing and the stress that comes along with moving and making new friends. Anyway, just decided to do homeschool for junior year b/c my mom felt i wasn't getting good education and well I agreed to it because I dreaded waking up to go to the school I went to. So junior year I took 8 classes: us history, bible, American lit, economy, us gov., english, adv. math, and health. I decided to just take as much classes I needed to graduate so I can take ap or dual enrollment senior year. I did a sport. No clubs because well I'm homeschooled. Junior year I basically studied 24/7 b/c I practically had to teach myself(which actually wasn't bad at all, it helped quite a bit). So now junior year has ended for me. Now all I need to take is English 4 next school year and I can be done with high school. But, I want to get into a good, high-ranked college so I'm planning on taking dual enrollment courses at a nearby community college. Should I take dual enrollment classes or AP classes? Does it really matter or is one better than the other on my transcript?
Also, I've taken the ACT once. I need to take it again because I'm not happy with my score(27). But should I take the SATs too?
I feel like I wont be accepted into many good colleges because I'm missing lots of extracurricular activties... I keep reading other people on CC asking if they can get into this or that college and they have lists and lists of what clubs they're in, the sports they did, etc. And they're transcripts will look way better than mine. So how do i compete with those students who go to school? I know homeschoolers can get into very nice colleges but how do they do it?!?!? Please let me know!! I know this was pretty long but to those who read the whole thing, thank you!!! Any advice and tips will be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>It’s hard to pump up your credentials senior year, because the applications are due in winter. The schools won’t have much history to go on. In order to help mitigate this problem, I recommend dual enrollment, starting this summer (now) or fall so that you can have grades to attach to your application package.</p>
<p>For the same reason, I recommend taking SAT subject tests as early as possible in fall.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, be sure to apply early to safety schools, so you can breathe easier knowing you’re going to college. :D</p>
<p>You’ll do fine. Good luck!</p>
<p>Yep, take Geekmom’s advice. Take some standardized tests (after studying for them), take some dual-enrolled classes, and write some killer essays in the fall. You can get a look at the Common Application as early as July 1st, I think. You can see what the essay prompts are and begin to practice writing now. If you have any passions, communicate that in your essays. Explain your schooling challenges. Let schools know you love to learn and you’ve faced some road blocks to learning due to moving.</p>
<p>@GeekMom63 Thanks so much for the reply! I am planning on taking dual enrollment courses and AP and SAT subject tests all in the Fall! Plus volunteering at different places and doing whatever else I can! I am freaking out and worried about how the colleges will see the fact that senior year was the only year I had a rigorous schedule, but I can only hope for the best! Thanks for the luck :)</p>
<p>@jayeslee I’ve never taken the AP exams, but I’m pretty sure they’re in May, and not offered in the fall. Dual enrollment, SAT subject tests, and the SAT/ACT should be enough, though. If you still can, I’d try and sign up to take dual enrollment classes for the second session of the summer. If you can’t, just take them this fall. By the time you apply (if you’re applying RD) you should have your grades from that semester.</p>
<p>The APs are only offered in May but you can take CLEP exams anytime. You may not get college credit for them but they do offer a form of validation for homeschoolers. Also, if you’re worried about ECs, do your own project this summer. Make it something comprehensive with a tangible result. To give you an idea, I’ve been trying to get my son who loves history to do an audio tour of some places that don’t have them or the ones they have are really bad. You can do it on your own time and it’s not what everyone else is doing.</p>
<p>We homeschool and the schools won’t let us take the AP tests. You can’t just sign up for them on your own. My kid took SAT Subject tests and CLEP and dual credit. Make sure you make a good transcript showing what courses you took and grades. Also keep a notebook of some of your tests and/or papers in each course. We made a webpage showing what our kid did each year and allowing sample work to be downloaded. Good luck.</p>
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Well that stinks. No, you can’t just sign up on your own, and have to get a high school to allow you to test with them. But my son didn’t have any difficulty finding schools that would allow it. In any case, they won’t help you get admitted, though they could give you a headstart once you are admitted.</p>
<p>You might try some of the private schools for AP exams. I know some families had a lot more cooperation going through the private schools than the public even for things like the PSAT. Of course, our local district in Texas realized that homeschoolers were scoring well on the PSAT and started making it very easy to do the PSAT. They were just giving out their district code for the students to use as their school code rather than the homeschool code.</p>