<p>I am a senior in high school and take the sat's saturday. I have always been good at essay writing and reading but math i was always awful at. So I'm guessing i'll have to take the sat's a second time for sure. Anyways since i was a freshman in high school i didn't take college prep because military caught my attention and then was planning on joining the army or air force. Well, i stuck with that plan until the beginning of this year because my back is bad and my hips are out of place and because of my back x-rays the recruiters said i wouldn't be able to get in right now because back problems are severe when trying to join. So i got really serious looking into colleges and thought about majoring in criminal justice or sociology. However, my high school gpa right now is a 2.5 and i never took a language or any honor classes. I was in football my freshman and sophomore year but didn't play my junior year or senior year because of my job and i needed a job to pay for my car, gas and other bills i have. Will colleges understand that? ( not being in sports because you needed an income ). I do have community service for a teacher everyday which is one period which might help hopefully when applying. My math classes were just up to algebra 2 and never took trig or calculus. I am a hard worker and if i went to college i would give it my all to get a degree i just need colleges to understand that. Do you guys think i'll have a chance at any colleges in Pennsylvania, colleges like clarion, iup, slippery rock, shippensburg, (nothing big like penn state or pitt). Just please give me your best advice and thanks for reading. Also, if i would major in something that didn't need a language or math would it matter then if i didn't take any language classes or high math back in high school.</p>
<p>You could definitely get in somewhere (I don’t know anything about the colleges you are looking at). In fact, you could put some of those experiences into your application as part of the essays to show them what you went through.</p>
<p>But have you considered going to a community college? I know I thought they were where all the drop-out type kids went, but honestly, I regret not giving CC a better chance - especially with all the tuition hikes now. It’s cheaper, you can boost your GPA, take classes that you think you missed out on, focus on the things you want to major in, etc… If I had known earlier, I may have just gone to a CC…but then again, I’m in california, and the CC’s have nice agreements with the UC system…I mean, it may not be easy to transfer out if you get stuck, but think about it.</p>