<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I was once given information about a specific college located in the Northeast. I have since lost this information and am unable to recall the name. The school had accepted "non-traditional" students. Students that did not have a diploma/GED but who showed great academic potential and perhaps left school due to boredom.</p>
<p>Does anyone here know the name of this school? It was a 4 year college. And may have been an all girls school.</p>
<p>Thank you.
Ava</p>
<p>Was this school aimed exclusively at non-traditional students, or was it just one that had accepted them? There are lots of the latter, but not so many of the former. Maybe the Frances Perkins Program at Mount Holyoke, or the Ada Comstock Scholars program at Smith?</p>
<p>I’m not sure. But I’d be interested in either accepting students around age 21.</p>
<p>If it matters any, it is for me. I never completed high school or GED due to negative experiences in my previous high school. I’d like to attend college though and someday hope to get my medical degree. I know I am 100% able but am finding many blocks in my path. I showed a lot of academic potential and left because my school didn’t offer anything for gifted students. And well, I got bored and frustrated which had been an ongoing problem since grade school. I have an IQ in the 160’s (not an online score, test given by a psychiatrist) and a great desire to learn in all areas. I guess I am mainly looking for a school that has seen others in my situation and will be more accepting of my background instead of just seeing me as another high school dropout. I know they exist but I am having difficulty finding them. I’m hesitant in going to a community college as I fear it will repeat the boredom cycle all over again when I just want to be challenged academically and intellectually.</p>
<p>Thank you.
Ava</p>
<p>That kind of sounds like Bryn Mawr College in PA, but I’m not very sure, you have to be 24 or older:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.brynmawr.edu/mcbride/McBrideTheProgram.html[/url]”>http://www.brynmawr.edu/mcbride/McBrideTheProgram.html</a></p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t want to wait another 3+ years. >.<</p>
<p>I actually found it but it’s for high school students.</p>
<p><a href=“http://simons-rock.edu/[/url]”>http://simons-rock.edu/</a></p>
<p>Any colleges similar to that one for me?</p>
<p>Thank you.
Ava</p>
<p>The GED is an easy exam to ace and doing so would help you to make a case for admission to any school you choose.</p>
<p>Ava, At 21 you’re still a traditional age college student so most colleges will require you complete at least some of their traditional admissions application requirements. You’ll likely need good scores on the GED test and SAT or ACT test to be a competitive applicant. These tests won’t take much of your time or money and if you do well, your dropping out of high school may be overlooked. Unfortunately, high school bores many students but colleges prefer applicants who have persevered despite the boredom and who have sought out additional opportunities to alleviate the boredom. Take the tests and see how well you do. Then you’ll have some objective data to proffer when asking the folks in admissions offices about your academic options.</p>
<p>Well I had heard that in NY (my actual home state) I can get a diploma after 24 college credits and I’d rather do that if possible. I’m not stupid by any means and I don’t think a GED is going to prove anything other than I dropped out and can pass an easy test. And I don’t think I can get into a college that will be challenging enough for me with just a GED either. I’m mainly looking at community colleges and state schools with a GED. I can be honest and say I’d end up leaving school again if I weren’t challenged academically and intellectually again. There has to be a school out there that looks at the person instead of the numbers. I have met people who can outdo me greatly in credentials but there is no doubt that I am actually more intelligent.</p>
<p>I am diagnosed with bipolar disorder as well which was another contributing factor to my dropping out (I was diagnosed around age 12). It was very hard during certain periods to sit in class with absolutely nothing to do for long periods of time. There’s a lot that went into it aside from being a gifted student in a bad school system. High school bores students for different reasons. I didn’t leave because the subjects were boring or because I thought it was useless. Quite opposite in fact, I left because I wasn’t learning and wasn’t experiencing any academic or intellectual challenge whatsoever. Something I got tired of experiencing since kindergarten. Had it just been high school, sure, it would have seemed odd to leave. But since it’d been an issue all of my life, I even had the support of my family for leaving. I was tested around 5th grade at a college level in most academic areas so it’s not hard to imagine what it’d be like for me in school taking regular classes. I have even continued to learn and teach myself since leaving school since I have no desire to ever be uneducated. I wish a private school had been an option but it was not due to my parents financial status and my mental illness.</p>
<p>“Well I had heard that in NY (my actual home state) I can get a diploma after 24 college credits and I’d rather do that if possible.”</p>
<p>Then get 24 credits at a community college and apply as a transfer student to a more academically challenging school. Colleges won’t take your word for it that you could pass their entrance requirements, or that you’d be able to thrive academically at their institution; they are going to want some objective evidence. A high school diploma, a GED, or 24 credits at a community college seem to be your options. </p>
<p>“…I don’t think a GED is going to prove anything other than I dropped out and can pass an easy test. And I don’t think I can get into a college that will be challenging enough for me with just a GED either. I’m mainly looking at community colleges and state schools with a GED.”</p>
<p>Any public institution is going to require that applicants have a high school diploma, a GED, or 24 credits at a community college. You may think the requirements for admission are beneath you, but if you really want to attend college, then you need to take the steps necessary to be admitted.</p>
<p>I wonder if you’d be better off at a large university that has a strong student support center. You might benefit from counseling or medication management that most big schools have through their student health centers, but many small colleges will not have.
I second the opinion above that you will probably find great options just by applying as a typical freshman candidate. You may want to try just one or two classes at the JC as a transition back, while you are applying.<br>
Are you thinking of starting this fall?</p>
<p>I’m not seeing community college as a great option for me. As I said, I don’t think I’d last long in an institution where I’d be academically bored again. I’m at the very least being honest with myself. I don’t want to set myself up to fail and be out a lot of money in the process. I was mentioning the 24 credits in an actual university. I have no way of getting a diploma with my financial status, my only option in my area is their rather expensive home study program as I’m above age for high school.</p>
<p>Do any 4 year schools accept IQ scores, the testing I had done that put me at college level, or the testing the local community college does here for those without their diploma? I believe it was called “asset”.</p>
<p>Well, the 4 year university I was looking into if I did attend a community college requires a high school diploma for all transfers. They aren’t a top tier university either.</p>
<p>Edit: Yes, I’m looking for somewhere to go hopefully this fall.</p>
<p>IQ tests aren’t meaningful in the college admissions process. </p>
<p>Almost all colleges have general education requirements, which for most people means at least some boring classes. If you want a college education, you’ll have to be mature enough to handle a certain amount of boredom without quitting. Education isn’t entertainment, it’s work, and like everything else in life, it isn’t always interesting and engaging.</p>
<p>As I thought I made clear, the classes in themselves aren’t boring. It’s the dumbed down work made for the average person with an IQ of 100 that doesn’t provide any sort of “education” to someone like me. It’s not about maturity at all. It’s about the poor school system in America that provides little to no support to gifted children who arent 100% normal thus leading them to fall through the cracks. I’m not the only one, I’ve met others in my shoes. Don’t try and put the blame on us because you don’t fully comprehend the situation at hand. It isn’t needed nor warranted and only furthers the issue.</p>
<p>I asked for help in finding a school that’s understanding and sees people as human and not just another resume. I did not ask to be belittled.</p>
<p>Whoa, Ava! You are confusing facts you don’t want to hear with belittling. </p>
<p>Colleges aren’t interested in students with the highest IQs; they want students who will work hard, even when an assignment seems silly, and who will complete all of their course work and graduate. Even the most gifted students realize that some classes will be more exciting than others, but all classes need to be successfully completed and dropping out isn’t an option. </p>
<p>You seem to think that your IQ and self-reported giftedness qualifies you to special treatment when it does not. Colleges want graduates, not drop-outs, and as a high school drop-out it is incumbent on you to prove to them that you want to be there and that you have what it takes to graduate. Claims about your potential won’t impress anyone who makes admissions decisions when your academic history screams academic failure, so if you want to attend college, you will have to create a history that suggests you can be an academic success. </p>
<p>Most schools view applicants as humans rather than resumes, but an applicant is still required to provide evidence that she is prepared for college and willing to do what it takes to succeed in college. You want to participate in something that has a few basic rules for participation and you want your IQ to provide you a way to skirt those rules, and that isn’t going to happen.</p>
<p>No, it is belittling. Suggesting I get a GED in the first place is belittling in my opinion. But to call me immature, unable, and seemingly imply that I’m lying about my background was icing on the cake. Facts? I see no facts, just information I already knew about schools I already said I do not wish to attend.</p>
<p>You are unaware of what my academic history truly is. I can back up my claims fully. It is NOT self-reported. I have more academic potential than most people applying to colleges and can easily verify it without a little piece of paper. I’d say doing college work at the age of 10 says something for academic success, no? I learned more on my own than I ever would have in public school. Take a look at the show “Are you smarter than a 5th grader?” and tell me credentials matter. People with 4.0 gpa’s can’t even answer the basic of questions. To make it even sadder in my opinion, it has been said that on average only 60% of high school graduates can pass the GED. Says a lot for the school system that colleges seem to greatly rely on for a students academic potential.</p>
<p>Do take a look at that previous school I linked since you seem to be greatly misinformed in regards to people in my situation. I’d also suggest a little research on bipolar disorder. And general reading about gifted students in general.</p>
<p>Also feel free to refrain from responding until you can actually give a helpful response. I asked for names of schools, not to be belittled.</p>
<p>Okay, Ava. Good Luck!</p>