Chance an extremely variable applicant with strange ECs. Also help find a better list of unis to apply to [CA resident, 3.42 GPA (3.76/4.03/4.52 for UC); math + ? major]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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I don’t think it’ll be considered a “shortened” timeframe. I think it’s more considered a “shifted” timeframe.

DE courses still appear on college transcripts. So to most grad schools it’ll just look like for my first 2 years of undergrad I took a bunch of random courses, suddenly got credit for Calc I and II, then took on a usual undergrad course load for Sophomore year.

Basically it’ll just look like there’s an overlap between 2 years that I should still be in high school and where 2 years of undergrad are happening

I don’t think grad schools look at high school transcripts so the only thing that’ll really be of alarm to professors is the fact that I’m 2 years younger than the average undergrad student but I don’t think that’s all that big of a deal lol.

This is also the same reason why I listed out a college GPA. Granted I don’t think I explained it but I think I might’ve assumed something that might not be the norm. Oh well if this is the norm then feel free to call me an idiot and if isn’t then I think it’s important:

The way my school does dual enrollment is that you’re legitimately enrolled in the CC. You are not considered a high school student taking college courses you’re just straight up considered a college student. As a result, on my college transcripts no high school courses show up (although the credits for AP exams will) and the same is true on my high school transcripts unless I specifically ask my high school to consider them

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That B in comp sci didn’t do your gpa any favors.

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Self-studying Calc BC while also enrolling in DE Diff Eq suggests either some hubris, or a different understanding of “the basics” than most Adcom’s will have. Self studying AP’s and getting 4’s is a pale substitute for sitting in a classroom, mastering the material, and having a string of 5’s to prove your mastery.

OP- you are clearly an interesting and passionate student. I’m just not understanding why the need to load up on EC’s, DE’s, self-study, etc. There is a (boring) time tested way to get a college education (which usually takes four years in this country. Don’t like it? go to the UK). And choosing one, two or three “outside the classroom” things to focus on is generally a better way to create impact than spreading yourself thin (and writing novels which you don’t intend to have anyone read? starting a music label which someone else is now running?).

Slow down. You don’t like the US? plenty of universities overseas- figure out which of them will accept you and come in under budget.

But you haven’t taken high school calculus yet and you’re already planning for a doctorate in math? That’s what they call putting the cart before the horse.

You sound great. Slow down! And verify that your fictionalized account of how a grad school committee is going to view DE classes on your transcript is- in fact- correct. Because the residency requirements at most US universities (you can show up with two years worth of courses but only get “credit” for one semester) means that you’ve still got three full years of actual, residency college courses you need to take and excel at in order to get into a funded doctorate program. The idea that self study or a DE class taken at age 16 is going to check a box on a credible doctoral program for a CORE class in your discipline- something math related- doesn’t work that way.

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But you are going to be out there competing to get into college (“lol”). Listing “novels” that you have supposedly written, but have no evidence of, as one of your main ECs is not going to be very compelling (or believable) to AOs in comparison to your competition.

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1: This course can be chosen to not appear on my transcript. If that B remains the same by the time the course is done I can just simply chose to not get a B appear on my transcript and that’s that.

2: This course is from a professor who is a known hard-ass. I believe he’s one of the contenders for one of the worst college professors in all of the CCC system (he teaches at multiple California Community Colleges). That’s how poor of a professor he is. Getting a B puts me solidly above most students since the average grade I believe is a C bordering on a D. I don’t think I’m the highest scorer but I’m damn proud of this grade seeing how unreasonable my professor is lol.

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How can you have it not appear on your transcript?

Pretty certain that you have to report all courses taken for a grade when you apply for college. If it’s not on your high school transcript then it will be on your CC transcript, right?

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1: Despite some of these classes being called “self-studies” none of them are actually self-studies. The ones that I haven’t said are self-studies I’m just taking like usual. The 3 self-studies are I think better called “Assisted Study” because:

Calc BC is actually just 1 unit of IB Math AA HL. I’m not actually studying anything by myself for this. Why am I then taking the BC exam when IB Math AA HL has calculus? So I can take the Calc III, Linear Algebra, and Diff Eq courses. IB Math AA HL is tested on by next year so by the time I get my exams I stop getting my DE credits for free. That’s it.

As for the physics Cs: I go over a large portion of Physics 1 and 2 in IB Physics SL (it’s not like AA HL where you have those 2 classes being units in SL but we cover about half of each course). As a result, for those courses it’s very easy for me to just take everything I’ve learned and convert it to Calculus and then learn the rest of what I need to learn.

In actuality the only “self-studying” I’m doing is for those missing units of the Cs which while hard isn’t as difficult as straight up self-studying them without this aid.

The ECs I’m not particularly loading up on, 2 of them (rapping and writing) are just consequences of me being a VTuber which is something that I’m not really doing for university. The Self-studies are so I can take DEs and the DEs are so I can make my education a quality and difficulty I think works best for me while also receiving credits for free.

Also the advice to apply to international universities is something I am doing. I’m not applying to unis of a “easier” level mostly because there’s not really much of a benefit at that point. While I do want to live overseas no reason to make my education needlessly more expensive and start picking up the culture and maybe even the language of the region I’m in. I’m willing to go through all of that if it makes grad school a lot easier to do.

As I’ve said, IB Math AA HL goes over calculus in its curriculum, in fact I believe it even includes introductory units for Calc III and Differential Equations lol.

As for putting the cart in front of the horse, I am, it’s my current plan mostly because I really cannot imagine myself being happy or enjoying anything else. Kids can in fact discover a passion for something lol. Will I remain passionate forever? For now it seems unlikely but who knows I’m just a teen things can change lol. I’m just having fun.

Lastly, I am not taking any “core” courses. At least to the best of my knowledge, there are only 5 classes that are actually considered “core”: Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Topology, Combinatorics, and Set Theory. Calculus has shockingly little to do with any of these courses besides analysis but even then, analysis goes back to calculus I and completely restarts the calc sequence with the difference now being that it’s a lot more proof heavy.

The equivalent of the courses I’m taking would be like an English 9 and 10 Honors course. These 2 courses pretty much only serve the purpose to prepare you for the much harder Lang and Lit courses. But just like Lang and Lit it’s very much possible to take these courses at a lower level and then take AP Lang. Is it harder? Yes, but it’s still possible

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I have no clue! This is just what my counselor told me.

I tried to ask my counselor for more details and he hasn’t told me. I don’t really think he knows how the system works himself and is just parroting what the DE manager told me. I would ask for the DE manager but she’s out on maternity leave so she isn’t coming back for a while.

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That is true, it gives me good ideas for streams I can have in the future so I’ll definitely consider applying to some competitions in the future and writing shorter fiction pieces.

Either way I’m not really listing any novels, I have written these novels but I’m not a fool I know that AOs aren’t going to believe that I’ve wrote 3 other novels but haven’t published them. I’m just going to say that I was writing casually from before grade 9 and at grade 11 decided to publish a work that I did. No need to tell them exact numbers lol

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Well, yeah. Now that we’ve gotten down to the nitty-gritty of a normal Chances thread (forget all the noise about wealthy grandfathers, graduating college in two-years, moms hiding income.) How would the adcom of a highly-rejective college view this applicant’s folder as it comes across his desk? It’s not like the old days; there’ll be no box to check for “Black/African”. He’s going to have to write an essay in order to get any mileage out of his ethnic background, his experience in a drug-infested neighborhood, his life of poverty in an over-represented state. Hopefully, he’ll get someone to proofread it, but I can already see him trying to massage the Nubian connection in a way that comes across as lugrubrious. He’s going to have to watch it. Maybe, it’ll be better to just identify as an Arab and let the chips fall where they may.

Or maybe view it as an opportunity to showcase his Math spikey-ness. But again, how does that jibe with his gpa? An aspiring quant in a low-achieving high school ought to have straight As.

A 1500 SAT would almost be a double-edged sword because it just makes his grades look all the more disappointing. Anything less begs the question of whether he should go the TO route.

At this point, I would still be on the fence. What do his ECs look like? Oh. He raised some money organizing a charity event. Anything else? I’ve just read a beautiful essay about all sorts of adversity, but where are the clubs? He writes novels, where were they published? On paper, he’s one of the smartest people in his h/s. So, where are the leadership positions?

Deferred.

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Yep, kind of quixotic, a la Miguel de Cervantes.

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I’m not sure what this means.

Most folks aspiring to get a PhD start building relationships in undergrad school. They don’t skip undergrad and the years of building those relationships.

Admission to PhD programs is largely based on a college’s desire to have you as part of their cohort. And that you bring with you the necessary skills to achieve in their doctoral program.

This thread has become as clear as mud.

Here is what I think you need to do. First get your high school graduation diploma. Then…

  1. Get your undergrad degree.

  2. Build some strong relationships with faculty in your field of interest.

  3. Work with the professors in your field of interest to identify PhD programs where you might be a successful applicant.

All the other stuff you are posting (writing novels, etc) is just a bunch of noise. You need to concentrate on the immediate goals, and go from there. And you also need to understand that your goals very much could change along the way. Please keep an open mind.

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It means what your next paragraph says. If you skip school (two years), you won’t have a chance to cement the relationships needed.

At least that’s what I read from others who write about getting a PhD.

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College transcripts aren’t like College Confidential. For the former, you can’t just not disclose information or pretend that something didn’t happen.

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Aye this is just what my counselor says can happen. I only parrot what he says not really much else I can do lol

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Time to practice your critical thinking and/or research skills then.

All colleges want a full record of all classes taken during high school…during the school year, summer school, DE, all of it. There is no hiding classes and grades. Your counselor at school does not have the authority to alter a transcript. And colleges want a transcript sent directly from the school for every class ever taken.

You have heard it on CC now from a number of posters. If you don’t believe it look at the college websites or ask an AO.

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While some high schools may allow a choice of whether college courses show up on the high school record, that does not matter for college applications, since they want to see records of all high school and college courses you have taken.

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I think this is the case here and why the OP is confused. Perhaps the high school allows students to choose what is included on the transcript for the high school’s/graduation purposes, but that won’t matter for college admissions as the college transcript in full will be considered.

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If I’m not mistaken, OP got a B+ in college? Not a game breaker, no matter the subject. People are allowed to get Bs and it be ok.

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After reading both threads from February and now, I’m feeling gaslit.
What do you intend to do in the math field? WHY Math?

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