<p>Being on CC makes me regret that I didn't focus on college more in high school, but then again "college" wasn't exactly a word in my high school's vocabulary. A lot of people I mentioned college to just gave me blank stares or were like "Really? <em>College</em>?". We were lucky if we were even told when the next ACT test was and we had to go hunt down the practice books. The Pre-AP and AP classes did really help, but I feel bad for people in the other "regular" classes because who knows if they were even talked to about college. All I know is that it was hard enough to find a place to get a transcript request form and get that filled out, let alone sit down and talk to someone about my career interests and college choice. I know a lot of this is done by yourself and it's about the effort <em>you</em> put into it, but I just wish my school had been a little bit bigger on the whole "college thing". All they cared about is that we passed our tests so that we didn't fail No Child Left Behind for the billionth time and that we graduated so maybe they could kinda-sorta actually have a decent graduation rate. My school was pretty pitiful, and I feel like I deserved a more supportive atmosphere.</p>
<p>Did anyone else have that problem? How did you overcome it?</p>
<p>My high school neglected to inform us that the PSAT was a qualifier for a scholarship. We were informed that it was simply SAT practice, and we were advised not to bother taking the SAT unless we planned to go out of state, so hardly anyone even took it.</p>
<p>FAIL.</p>
<p>^Same</p>
<p>However, the top 10% or so of my school are pretty much like the people you meet here, so while my school had no information about college, the other students did.</p>
<p>be freaking proactive, its not hard. you should be lucky you go to such a crappy school, makes it easier to be valedictorian which will improve your chance to go to a elite school.</p>
<p>Thenextone, no, it’s a big advantage in college to go to a good HS and have a rigorous education. And colleges know it.</p>
<p>Most high schools have a hard enough job trying to do the work of high schooling.
There was no hand holding or spoon feeding on how to do “the college thing.”
Proactive parents and hanging around upper classmates that let you it is “game on” from freshman year through senior year if you want to go to elite colleges.
Getting to know the right people, the informative ones will be the key throughout your career.
So when future you have a kid in hs, you know what to do to help them, full circle.</p>
<p>Although I did not go the a public school, I was homeschooled and my parents didn’t really encourage me to go to college. Their reply was “go[to college] if you want too… but I am not paying a dime for it” and they would also say "why are you going to school to learn how to draw and paint when you can learn that for free on the streets [I plan on getting a degree in Art Studio with a concentration in graphic design]. Therefore, I paid for everything, orientation, application and accredidation fees, graduation costs from high school etc. One time, I had to fight tooth and nail for my parents to LOAN me 5 dollars so I could ride the bus to take my last final. Right now, because of my grades in high school and because I don’t have enough hours in school, I don’t qualify for most of the scholarships that 95% of the freshmen in my lectures qualify for. </p>
<p>While I wish that I had taken high school more seriously, I am not angry at myself for not doing it because nobody in my life told me how important grades and test scores were in high school. Thankfully, I have professors who believe that I am going to do well in at my University. With their support, I plan on fixing the mistakes that I unintentionally created in high school.</p>
<p>When I told my mom I wanted to transfer from my CC to finish my bachelors, she said, and I quote:</p>
<p>“Everybody ends up in a bad marriage and a job they hate, and part of growing up is learning to accept that.”</p>
<p>Thankfully my school wasn’t THAT bad. XD</p>
<p>To the OP,</p>
<p>It sounds like your HS did a poor job preparing you for the university system. However, you understand it and have moved on.</p>
<p>Use the community college system to your advantage and grow as a person. Any future problems rest on your shoulders, not your high schools.</p>
<p>If you feel strongly about the neglect at your HS, there is never a better time than now to get involved and try to make changes.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Ha. someone who shares my pain.</p>
<p>I went to 2 high schools. Both private, “Christian” schools." The first always frowned down on going to a secular college like OSU. I would always say that I had dreams of going to Harvard or some Ivy League and they did their best to beat it out of me, saying that I cant enhance my “growth in God” by going there. Instead they encouraged me to go to some no-name Christian college where I would be around Christians. As a result of my unwillingness to yield (and them wrongfully denying me NHS) I had to transfer. The second school, I was like their prized possesion. I had a really high gpa and had dreams of going to a big school. The only problem is that that school really sucked academically seriously (this is a Private school mind you). Every class was an honors class to which we didnt even do any honors work. To make matters worse, the classes I knew i would need for college (physics and chem and calc) were taught by teachers who straight up told us on the first day that they weren’t qualified to teach this class but some other science class like physical science. So as a result, I was pretty much screwed over for college (which would probably explain why im not doing so well now). To make the second school even more ****ed up, the athletes were not only given full ride scholarships to go to that school (since it was really expensive) but also since most of them were really stupid and had crappy grades (seriously how do you fail a class that all you have to do is show up and cheat to get an A), the principle of the school physically changed their grades in order for them to remain eligible to play (and they even got a parade and lots of academic awards from the school). To top it off, that school was run by one of the most powerful preachers in America, who didnt care if anyone was successful after college, just as long as his church continued to funnel money from everyone that went there.</p>
<p>sorry if this is really long, just I completely understand the OP</p>
<p>Bah, who needs high school advising, CollegeConfidential is all you need. </p>
<p>I am an international student from a Central American country, and I had to push every block myself to complete the puzzle. </p>
<p>Information? “College Selection & Search”
Doubts? “College Admissions”
Humility? “What are my Chances?”
Culture Shock? “College Life”
Perspective? “Parents Forum”</p>
<p>I hunted down the nearest ACT location myself, grabbed as many sample tests I could only, and made the ‘decisions’ process myself. Only thing my school had to do was provide me a transcript, of which the format I provided so they knew how to do it in English and with the information I needed universities to see.</p>
<p>Granted, my school is small and my top student standing gave me some influence on the ‘importance’ of the matter. I’m McGill University class of 2014 thank you =)</p>
<p>I am relieved to say that virtually nothing I’ve read on college confidential has actually been relevant to my real college experience at all.</p>