<p>Firstly, I sincerely apologize for the length of this post, but I felt I had much to tell of in order to be able to receive adequate assistance. If anyone reads this post and offers any kind of assistance, I truly thank you.</p>
<p>My current situation is this: I am enrolled at an online four-year university, American Public University, and have just completed my first semester as an International Relations major and History minor, though I intended switch to a Political Science major soon. I will begin my first full year starting in early October. Of course, upon completion of this new academic year, I am looking to transfer to another university that offers traditional courses and a traditional campus. I will be moving to the Maryland/Delaware area by the end of this year, so I am looking into schools in MD, DE, and Washington D.C.</p>
<p>Now, for my academic/personal background: I completed elementary school generally without a hitch and always received high grades, but middle school saw the start of major health issues for myself and the end of my K-12 education. Though I had always faced health issues and had relatively poor attendance in elementary school, the issues I faced starting in 8th grade were of the mental variety and have persisted even to this day (to give an idea of how long I have struggled with these issues, I started 8th grade just after turning 13 and I am now 20 today). I was only able to complete around two or three months of 8th grade before leaving to be home schooled by my mother, but due to scheduling conflicts, I never received much of a home school education (both of my parents were also attending school at the time while also working full-time jobs, so neither truly had time to work with me). This essentially was the end of my K-12 education, though no one intended it to be. I feel I should also point out here that the last grade I truly completed was 6th; I left 7th grade after the first half of the school year to join an online program, though I never completed the grade. After several years of being out of school and dealing with these health issues, I met with two different doctors and was diagnosed in 2010 with a mild depression, Social Anxiety Disorder, and ADHD (each doctor agreed on the mild depression, but the first diagnosed me with SAD and the second with ADHD). Toward the end of 2010, I did complete an online testing program to receive a high school diploma from a school called Excel High School, and subsequently enrolled at a local community college, but dropped out after four weeks due to the persisting health issues. At the start of 2011, I began a search for a different school to enroll at, and eventually settled on APU, mostly because I found no other colleges or universities that would accept the high school diploma I have from Excel.</p>
<p>Now to the present: As previously stated, I just recently completed my first semester at APU. I attended half-time by taking two 8-week courses (a required course that is specifically designed for the school and HIST101 - "American History to 1877") one after the other, and finished the semester with a GPA of 3.665. I did again find some trouble with my mental health, and had to request two separate 30-day extensions for my final course to accommodate the issue, but I did pass with a grade of just under 89%. I'm looking to attempt full-time status starting in October by taking three 16-week courses and an 8-week course (MATH125 - "Math for Liberal Arts Majors", SCIN130 - "Introduction to Biology", FREN100 - "French I", and HIST102 - "American History since 1877", respectively), for a total of 13 credit hours.</p>
<p>In addition to my studies at APU, I am also looking to take the GED and SAT tests sometime before the end of January as I will need such things to transfer. Aside from the standard reading, writing, and math portions of the SAT, I also intend to take at least two subject tests as well. I intend to take the U.S. History subject test as I will have completed two courses in the subject, but also either the Biology (molecular) or French test, depending on which I feel more versed in when it comes time to take the tests. Of course, aside from the courses I will be taking starting in October, I also intend to do much independent research by viewing university lectures downloaded from iTunes U and reviewing SAT/AP level test prep, among other things.</p>
<p>As stated, I have no high school career and have only taken online university courses, so I have had absolutely no opportunity to participate in anything other than academics when it comes to school activities. Also, I have had little opportunity to participate in anything outside of school due to my health issues. The only activities I have been able to participate in involves the internet; I have engaged in web design/development while also participating in the sales and purchases of domain names for several years as well, but I have had no real prominence in either area. The only things I could list of any significance are that I designed the first layout for the official MySpace of Nathan Kress (Freddie Benson on the Nickelodeon show iCarly), I have ran three or four websites that averaged low-mid xxx amounts of visitors each day, and I have had a few low $xxx domain name sales. There was also an article in the New York Times in September 2005 on a now retired professional tennis player that featured a paragraph about myself and a website I ran on the player, though I do not imagine that means much to anyone other than myself, haha. Aside from these two activities, I have nothing to tell of on applications or in essays.</p>
<p>Again, I will be moving to either Maryland or Delaware by the end of this year, so I am looking to transfer to a college or university in that area. Seeing as my background is very limited in regards to things that will impress on an application or in an essay, I am very unsure of what schools would even consider me. Before the onset of my mental health troubles, I always imagined, planned, and expected to attend a top university, but as of this moment I am simply looking to transfer to as good a college or university that will accept me and receive an education that could potentially lead to being accepted into a top university for graduate studies. I am currently looking into the University of Maryland and University of Delaware systems, though I imagine those could be difficult as public universities tend to favor their own residents over non-residents.</p>
<p>So my questions are these: What schools might accept someone with a background like mine? Would either the University of Maryland or University of Delaware systems consider a student like me? And what kind of activities could I do in the mean time to improve my chances of being accepted into a good school?</p>
<p>If anyone can provide any assistance at all, I am truly grateful to you. This honestly means everything to me; I just want a chance to fix the things that went wrong.</p>