<p>HELLO!!! My mom said she can’t sign me up for the SAT tomorrow because she knows nothing about it. And she has to do it! My counselor said they need a credit card number and I don’t have a credit card! College Board says their 50 days to sign up though???</p>
<p>If you are graduating from your online program in the next several months and want to attend fall of 2014, most colleges are accepting applications now. Many of them have application deadlines sometime in January, but some have them further out. Although at some schools with rolling admissions, the earlier your completed application is in, the better your chances of admission.</p>
<p>Part of a completed application is usually a SAT score, or an ACT with writing score. Getting the scores sent to the school can lag a couple of weeks behind the arrival of the application, but not much. So yes, you have a very short timeframe to complete that testing. A few schools are “test optional” and do not require them, but most colleges want them. Go to the SAT (College Board) and ACT websites. I just checked the SAT website and it looks like you have until Nov. 25 to register for the Dec. 7 test, although it is late registration now and I assume the fee is higher. Also, testing centers can fill up, so you might have to drive some distance to take the test. You can register for the ACT until Nov. 22 for the December 14 test, but you will also have to pay a late fee. Note that you need a digital headshot photo of yourself to register, at least for the SAT (not sure if the ACT is doing this now or not, I am sure someone else can tell you).</p>
<p>It is probably true that your mom will have to help you because you do need a credit card to register.</p>
<p>Should I wait for the next so it’ll only be $51. It’s $78.50 for the upcoming one.</p>
<p>My dad will say its a waste of money because it’ll be cheaper next month, which is maybe kind of true. He won’t encourage me to go to college because he dropped out because HE didn’t like it. He thinks I need to just to work and get a car and doesn’t say much else. He says you take out loans and pell grants but I know that wouldn’t be enough even in state probably.</p>
<p>If I try to drive again my life and whoever else is in the car’s life will be in danger, I don’t feel safe even sitting behind the steering shell of a car that’s on. My brain will go into panic mode and take my self control away from me. And if I get yelled at its a guarantee that I will crash! You must not care about mind or your own life if you tell at me behind the wheel. I can’t deal with that kind of pressure.</p>
<p>You need to register for the SAT or the ACT tomorrow if you can, or by next week.
Then prepare for the test.
If the test doesn’t go well, that gives you one more chance to do better in January. If you bet everything on the January test, it’s really too much pressure and too much of a risk.</p>
<p>If your family’s low income, like if you qualify for Pell grants, you would only have to pay the late fee; you’d get a fee waiver for both the December and the January tests. You need to talk with your counselor ASAP and register at school perhaps? </p>
<p>It doesn’t matter if your father doesn’t value college. You do. And nowadays it’s better to have a college degree than just a high school diploma. (You can also do professional certificates, apprenticeships, etc.) But thinking your education is over because you completed high school, can get a job etc, isn’t true anymore. It used to be true that you could start your career right out of high school, when your father was growing up but it’s rarely the case nowadays. Furthermore, your OCD means you cannot drive. I know he doesn’t understand it, but facts can’t be changed to suit his way of thinking.</p>
<p>Financial aid: the #1 source of money is the institution itself.
Public colleges will have money for their in-state students but Texas isn’t very good. Still it can be cheaper than other schools. Out of state public universities generally don’t have money for out of state students but some are fairly cheap, like Wisconsin Superior University, Minot State in North Dakota, South Dakota School of Mining and Technology. Even University of Minnesota Twin Cities is relatively “cheap” for out of state. You’d have to be willing to be cold though :). Then you have private universities that may be interested in you. Depending on the school, they’d have lots of scholarship money… or not. It depends on what you bring to the table. Often, if you have high SAT scores, you’ll get more money, and if you take the SAT twice, they only look at your best scores, so it’s in your best interest to take it twice, it could make a big difference in how much money you get.</p>
<p>How did you know I have OCD? I must of mentioned that on another thread.</p>
<p>You should check out SAT optional schools… Just google it.</p>
<p>Cartman
What we are trying to do is get you caught up in the college enrollment process. Many students start taking their sat or act tests when they are juniors. I think you need to talk to your counselor about signing up for the next test and ask them about a possible fee waiver. Maybe the counselor can help you sign up. If you can’t take this test try to take the very next one so you have time to retake it if you want to try and improve your score. Also start applying to colleges you are seriously considering but keep in mind they usually have an application fee of $35 dollars and up for each. Apply only to your favored choices and look for good matches–the ones that offer strong programs in the area of want to study and who have financial aid and you can afford the tuition (with your parents help). Do you live near one of these colleges?</p>
<p>Cart: Momom gives great advice here. Also you can request fee waivers for the schools you’re applying to as well.</p>
<p>Ask your counselor TODAY for fee waivers
1° for the test => register with the waiver, while at school if necessary, since you’re allowed to go at your own pace and use your time wisely
2° for college applications</p>
<p>Then, go to ApplyTexas and start filling that out. You can apply to many public and private universities through ApplyTexas.</p>
<p>Momom77 is right: we’re not trying to stress you out, we’re just trying to get you caught up. In your other thread, you mention you only now started thinking about college, so we’re trying to help you through the process. But yes you don’t have much time so you need to act decisively and fast: ask for the test waivers, register for the tests, prepare for the tests with prep books and number2.com (an online review/test program).</p>
<p>Just wondering, would it be easy for someone who didn’t go to college to have a life? Who has my problems? You know, make decent money, have a good social life, get a girlfriend and get married, and overall be successful in life? I imagine myself living in a ratty apartment laying on the couch with a game controller on my stomach and me being fat with wrappers and cans and other trash all over the floor because I stopped caring because I couldn’t have any type of social life so I stopped caring and layed around gaming and watching tv all day which lead to obesity. Without college I will be completely lost in life, it’s true. I don’t know how to meet people if they’re not around me, and if I get isolated from people I’l start talking to myself like crazy and be very strange. Instead of getting used to not having many friends for most of my life I got even more depressed about it, which I think is actually good because it gives me motivation to talk to people, if I was an introvert then it’d be good, but I’m an extreme extrovert, with a few introvert characteristics sometimes, but I’m really an extrovert.</p>
<p>Yes it’s possible to “have a life” without college, AS LONG AS you get a degree or certificate past the high school diploma.</p>
<p>Cartman, you sound like in addition to OCD you might be bipolar (ie., being an extrovert/talking to people). That’s okay, talk to your doctor about it, or talk to your guidance counselor. It would help you.
I understand that feeling alienated is terrible.</p>
<p>Do you like to learn? Do you like to read? Do you like to tackle problems and find a solution? Do you like to discuss issues and see what others think? Because that’s what college is, in part, about.
You need to like learning, studying, reading, etc.
To do all that, you need preliminary skills that TAKS evaluates, that’s why we’re asking about TAKS.</p>
<p>If you don’t go to college, you need to get a skills certificate to be a plumber, an electrician… You can be an apprentice, too. These professionals often make good money. :)</p>
<p>Check out Austin Community College. As I said, if you’re enrolled full time, you get a free mass transit pass for the metro lines. SO, no need to drive, ever, while you’re a student. You can get professional credentials. Or you can get into a “university transfer” program.
You can apply to ACC and to a few 4-year colleges through ApplyTexas, apply to a few test-optional schools, a few schools you like, look into Curry, Endicott, Landmark as well?).
Go see your counselor to have the test fee waivers and the application fee waivers.
Talk with him/her about your prospects: does s/he think you should start at community college or that it’d be better for you to be at a residential college?
A residential college fosters friendships more easily, but it’s harder to get into and you need a lot of discipline to succeed.
A community college fosters less a sense of community but if you graduate high school with TAKS, you can attend without any other form of selection.
Talk with him/her right away to see what your realistic options are.</p>
<p>Wait are you saying in a community college it’ll be hard to even make friends?</p>
<p>Not exactly.
But in a residential college, you live on campus. So you’re with people 24/7 and some quickly become your friends because you go to class together, you live in the dorms together, participate in clubs together, eat together in the dining hall. It’s like a small town with young people. In addition, many residential colleges are smaller to foster interaction between students and choose students who have the “best fit”, ie., a variety of past experiences but common values, so that some students are likely to find “best friends” there based on their common profile.
At community college, students live in town. Some live with their parents, some share an appartment. They don’t stay on campus all the time. There are fewer interaction and the college doesn’t really provide for your social life. Most students attend due to location, not shared values, so there’s a much greater diversity of people but fewer “common profile” people. So it may take longer to make friends. It doesn’t mean you don’t make friends at community college since there are lots of people - you just have to look for them. It doesn’t mean you’ll be lonely, it means it takes a little bit more effort whereas on a residential campus it’s kind of “built-in”.
There are upsides and downsides to each.</p>
<p>These are examples of residential colleges that have arlready been discussed for you:
<a href=“http://www.plu.edu/admission/[/url]”>http://www.plu.edu/admission/</a>
<a href=“http://www.hamline.edu/admission/[/url]”>http://www.hamline.edu/admission/</a>
<a href=“http://www.curry.edu/future-students.html[/url]”>http://www.curry.edu/future-students.html</a>
<a href=“http://new.trinity.edu/[/url]”>http://new.trinity.edu/</a>
<a href=“http://www.endicott.edu/[/url]”>Error | Endicott College;
<a href=“http://www.clarku.edu/[/url]”>http://www.clarku.edu/</a>
<a href=“http://www.guilford.edu/about-guilford/why-guilford/[/url]”>http://www.guilford.edu/about-guilford/why-guilford/</a>
<a href=“http://www.up.edu/[/url]”>http://www.up.edu/</a>
<a href=“http://www.southwestern.edu/[/url]”>http://www.southwestern.edu/</a>
(We don’t know your GPA so these colleges cover a broad spectrum in selectivity).</p>