my high school is, to put it bluntly, toxic. its extremely competitive, everyone there is backstabbing and willing to lie to others to get what they want, and i can’t deal with it anymore. the stress is taking a toll on my mental health
is taking the chspe (legal equivalent of a high school diploma in CA) and leaving high school after my sophomore year to do cc for 2 years to get my bachelors at 20 and transferring to uc davis a viable option?
to those of you who have taken the chspe, did you regret missing out on the high school experience, particularly senior year? i don’t want to rush into a decision this important and regret it later. it would help a lot with tuition and fees, and the students do chill out a lot after college acceptances but again i don’t want to rush into things
Yes, it is possible.
Another option is to switch to home school, but take all of your courses at a community college before graduating high school, if you want to retain the possibility of entering a UC, CSU, or other college as a frosh instead of transfer.
would i be able to teach myself at home school? my parents both have jobs and wouldn’t be able to teach me, and i just don’t know a lot about the process in general
In CA dual enrollment courses are generally free, so you should be able to do the community college courses as your homeschool courses. That’s what my D did for sophomore and junior year.
There are also online school options and there should be some home school groups that you can find that won’t require your parents to teach you. You can always take the CHSPE and decide later if you want to go to community college or continue high school. I would look into some more options as community college is a different experience than a regular college.
I agree…stay in HS but take as many CC courses as you can.
“Regular” college is probably community college, while the “traditional” residential college experience is probably that which only a small minority of college students experience.
Still, it does keep more options open to “stay in high school” (not graduate, but switch to “home school”) while taking courses at the community college until high school graduation. If you want to preserve the ability to apply as a frosh to UC and CSU, pay attention to completing the a-g requirements (note how college courses taken while in high school can fulfill them):
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/a-g-requirements/index.html
https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist
For actual college planning (to complete major and general education requirements at UC and CSU) see http://web2.assist.org/web-assist/welcome.html .
typically, CCC classes are free (almost free) while in HS. I wonder if this applies for home school?
Look into “middle college” programs based at the community colleges. Here’s one example - you’d have to see what’s available to students in your HS district: https://foothill.edu/middle/ These programs allow you to spend your junior and senior years based on a community college campus, earning college credit, but also having a cohort of high-school-aged peers and maintaining your normal high school graduation date, so that you can apply to college as a freshman (with all the associated merit aid opportunities, etc.).
My daughter did two years of only dual enrollment classes. She loved it. The classes and books were all free. She was still a high school student and participated in any high school activity she wanted to (just couldn’t take classes at high school) and had the option to participate in any college activity she wanted to with some exceptions simply because there may have been some that required her to be 18. The high school was on the way to/from the college so it wasn’t out of the way to stop at around her college classes if desired.
My daughter’s high school still required her to come occasionally to meet with high school guidance. For example at the beginning of her senior year she had to join an AP ELA class when they discussed applying to colleges and scholarships etc. The teacher would have helped her edit her college essay but she just asked her dual enrollment ELA professor to look at it (and the professor was thrilled to help).
My daughter stayed on her high school sports team, helped with some class activities, etc. She could go to high school to have lunch if she chose, meet with college reps, get tutoring if needed etc. She was eligible to apply for high school scholarships and got a few. She still attended things like senior banquet, senior awards night, senior bbq, graduation etc. Between guidance and class advisor emails she kept up with some high school things and friends told her about things as well. She also had access to the high school announcements. Basically doing dual enrollment did not prevent her from being part of her high school class. At college she fit in fine with the mainly 18-19 year olds and participated in things like study groups/chats. She was fine with the non traditional age student as well. She did a club similar to key club with the college and some honor society program and activities.
When we talked to colleges before my daughter made her decision to do early college (simply dual enrollment taking only dual enrollment classes). We spoke to all levels of colleges and everyone said as long as she didn’t get an associates or take any class past high school graduation she would matriculate as a freshman thus eligible for freshman scholarships etc. Just fyi - if applying to other schools and do middle college program just know that some colleges that accept dual enrollment credits will not accept them unless they are taken at college from a college catalog that any college student can take vs a class that is only high school students even if a college class.