When I say my high school sucks, I mean it. I live in a rural, backwoods town in the middle of nowhere. It has nothing, and is also not renowned for anything but being redneck. My parents aren’t willing to drive me anywhere that is more than 10–15 minutes away and have just now allowed me to participate in sports. I’m 14. The high school I’m going into is subpar at best, and offers little to no opportunities for anything. We don’t have honors classes, and aren’t allowed to take any APs until sophomore year but then we can only take one. We don’t have a robotics team, which I was really looking forward to, or a swimming pool for me to do swimming and makes it so that my dad has to drive me 20 minutes to a school that does every single day during the season. Our debate club doesn’t do any actual debating, it’s basically group discussion as we don’t even go to competitions. I also absolutely despise the people there and I want to move schools or even go to a boarding school so badly but my parents absolutely refuse and although I have tried many times to refute this, they still think that my school is spectacular because of a banner that says, “top 5% of reward schools” hung at the front of their school. Everything just seems to revolve around what is convenient for my parents and not what is best for my education.
Oh, and I also forgot, my parents won’t let me do camps or anything during summer because they’re “too far away” and think that I’ll be fine at home cleaning and slaving my life away. So yeah, I guess you can say that my life’s miserable. I’m not even sure if my dad will drive me to swimming everyday because the school whose pool we’re using (because we don’t have one) is 20 minutes away.
If your parents are really beyond the point of convincing, then you’re going to have to pull some strings. I’ve seen kids do stuff like this at my school before. If no one will help you, then you have to advocate for yourself. In order to make the most of your situation, you’re going to have to talk to whoever can get you into more challenging classes.
Your education is vastly important. Talk to the principal if you have to. You have to convince the higher-ups at your school to make an exception for you. Keep your grades up and be an asset to the school. They will see how important you are to your school and will be more easily swayed to let you take more challenging classes.
That’s the best advice I can give you. If it doesn’t work out, then don’t be too discouraged. If you do well on the ACT/SAT, then colleges will take the quality of your school into account. A 4.0 GPA from a garbage school looks way better than a 4.0 from a school where everyone has all A’s.
Get your driver’s license as soon as possible.
Or get a bike. Try to make friends who have cars and share your interests. Good luck.
Try to change high schools. Some school districts allow you to go to others through inter-district transfers if they don’t offer the same opportunities i.e. IB, AP classes, sports or teams. Get your license. Try to talk to the parents about how unhappy you are
Why don’t you try to independently study some AP courses that you have past experiences in? I have taken AP Computer Science A and World History (with faculty advising) on my own. Human Geo, Env Science, and Psych would also be somewhat easy to self-study. Also, I’ll echo, try to make an exception with your administration. Our district has a hard policy of no more than 1 AP your sophomore year (made a deal with our counselor to do 3, given that if I got any Bs I wouldn’t receive any weighted GPA credit). Making opportunities appear for yourself is key. Coming from another tiny, redneck school (the Fellowship of Christian Athletes is the biggest club at my school) that doesn’t even offer swimming or any academic extracurricular you have to embrace what you do have. FInd one or two basic clubs at your school (e.g. NHS, Student Council, Music) or cross-train with a sport like track or cross-country. Starting a club is also a good idea if you school truly has the vacuums that you say it does. Even at the most redneck school in the world, there would be enough who care to start something. Feel free to DM with any questions about how I’ve made my hillbilly school work.
I go to a school that sounds very similar to yours. Sub par academics, no APs until Junior year (and as a Senior, I now have to travel to another school everyday to take AP classes bc my school only offers 3-- all of which I’ve taken), no extracurricular activities besides sports, I even participate in a swim team 30 mins from my home because there isn’t one at my school. So trust me when I say, I understand. Situations like ours are incredibly frustrating, but you CAN change things. Here’s what worked for me:
Stop blaming the roadblocks you face on those around you. You are at a disadvantage-- and that sucks-- but you have the ability to advocate for yourself.
APs: If you aren’t able to take AP classes at your grade level, go to the principal or superintendent and outline exactly why you should be able to. Reference previous instances in your academic career where you were able to handle heavy workloads and responsibility. Know your grade history, use it to show that you are ready for a higher level of learning. If your administration doesn’t budge, seek outside resources; such as online classes or books from which you can self-study AP material.
Sports/ extracurriculars: If you don’t have access to public transportation or a bike, then try to get your licence asap. Until then, find other people at your school who are interested in swimming, maybe convince a few friends to join the team and them carpool with them. As for robotics and other clubs, if there are none, start your own. This will be a lot of work, but if you are really passionate about something, it is completely worth the effort. Find a teacher or parent sponsor who would be willing to help run the club and then approach students to see if anyone would be interested in joining. Show your school that you really want this and they will be more willing to hear you out.
And know that if none of this works, you WILL be fine. The most important thing is to show colleges that you made the most of the resources you had. We have it harder than other people-- but this is only an opportunity to show how dedicated we are and a chance to take control of our lives.
If you have any questions or want to talk to someone who gets it and has made her school work, DM me anytime. 