<p>For reasons I'd rather not get into here, I dropped out last October. I was a senior. I had a meh-ish GPA (3.5 and rising, I started making up for poor grades my first two years of high school when I started my junior year by taking AP classes), all 5s on 5 AP tests, and a 2130 on the SAT.</p>
<p>If I were to re-enroll and start my senior year over again, could anybody offer any insight as to how colleges would view this? I'd rather not go through the trouble of getting a diploma if it's unlikely that a good school I would otherwise have gotten into would take me after seeing that I dropped out.</p>
<p>why'd you drop out.. first of all? Colleges really want good answers when dealing with a drop out. If it was for medical reasons, they would probably forgive the applicant, if it was for volunteer reasons, it would also be OK whereas if its just to take an year off and chill, schools would view this as part of your level of commitment to your education.</p>
<p>I think if you wrote a letter along with your application explaining what happened and why then it might not be that huge of a deal.</p>
<p>Also, academic pressure is bull, I don't know of anyone that's ever cracked at a college. The only people I know that don't do well are those that just don't put the effort out.</p>
<p>I don't think you need to think of it so much as going back to get a diploma (colleges don't really care about diplomas), but as a matter of completing all the course work colleges want to see as prepartory. It might make sense for you to go back to high school to do that, or it might make more sense to go do it at community college or a public univ. Wherever you think you'd best thrive. Then, depending on transfer policies you could enter as a transfer student, or just a freshman with some college classes in your academic background.</p>
<p>Public univ's (esp. smaller regional ones) often have alternative admission criteria based mostly on test scores, or you can take a few classes as a non-admitted student - which is probably the best way if you want to apply as a new freshman to your first choice colleges. Community colleges usually admit anyone who applies. And still if it's only a few classes you need, you can just complete them there and frame it as an alternative means to finishing your college-prep high school education -- which is truthfully exactly what it is. If you want to enter your new, 1st choice college as a freshman, explain to them you are not looking to transfer credits for those few classes.</p>
<p>If you left high school with your good grades intact, I'm not sure you have to over-explain that in your application. Lots of students take alternative paths to college, and four straight years of full-time high school isn't for everyone. My kids were homeschooled, which is of course different than your situation, but they take some classes at the high school, some at the local public U, a couple at cc, and a few as independent/home study supported by SAT subject test scores. </p>
<p>Not everyone's transcript conforms to the traditional mold. Try to find a way to turn that to your advantage, use your break in classes to do something interesting that you have a passion for.</p>