<p>As in the title, I have no clue where to start, and a lot of questions.
I was wondering, I'm getting homeschooled ( high school ) over the internet, and my GPA is 3.68, with 4 more classes to completely finish, and I don't know any ways to get extra curricular activities if I'm not enrolled in an actual high school, unless middle school clubs and accomplishments count. I wanted to know what really affects my chances of getting in, and how to start the application process and everything. Would it lessen my chance or anything if I applied straight out of my homeschooling, without going to a community college first? Any information anyone can give me would be great. Thanks.</p>
<p>The college I wanted to get into was NYU for Dramatic Writing, this is where I originally posted this.</p>
<p>Extra curriculars are more than sports and school clubs! Are you involved in a church youth group or anything else associated with church (or similar)? A community band? Do you scuba dive? Do you travel? Have you written and entered competitions - essay competitions to creative writing? Do you play competitive chess? Do you dance? Do you have a job? Do you tutor other students somewhere? Do you volunteer anywhere? Do you love models/comics/Star Trek/whatever or delve into anything as a hobby?</p>
<p>There are oodles and oodles of options. The more interesting they are and the more you get into something, the more colleges like it. Sports and school clubs are a dime a dozen on applications. Doing something “different” is more likely to get you noticed. From a homeschooler, they often EXPECT something different. If you don’t do any of the above (or similar), pick an interest or two (SHOULD be interesting to you) and get started!</p>
<p>If you want to do Dramatic Writing, you need to prove your interest as Creekland is saying. It was obvious on my application that I wanted to do tech business, it’s written all over my application, witnessed by my EC’s, businesses i’ve started, etc. </p>
<p>But at the same time, I had EC’s such as Photography (photo published in an international mag), film (spent 2 years producing an independent short), history competitions, community service by the ton, traveling, choir, DJing, skiing/snowboarding, speech competitions, 4-H etc. Just do a lot and do well!</p>
There is no need to go to CC first. Some kids do CC as dual-enrollment credits, similar to online classes or co-op classes or any other kind of outside classes. Some kids take CC classes for financial reasons, since they’re usually cheaper than universities. Some homeschoolers take CC classes to provide outside grades as opposed to “mommy grades”, for credibility with the colleges. </p>
<p>But CC enrollment is <strong>NOT</strong> necessary, and can actually hurt if done incorrectly. If you graduate from high school and THEN take college classes, most colleges will look at your application as a transfer student, and in some cases it’s harder to get in as a transfer student.</p>
<p>If you only have four more classes, then you plan to be applying this fall, right?</p>
<p>And by the way, you need to consider finances. There’s [ul][<em>]the amount of money your family thinks it can pay, [</em>]the amount the schools think your family can pay (Expected Family Contribution, or EFC, determined by FAFSA and FAFSA 4caster), [<em>]need-based aid (the amount between Cost of Attendance and EFC that the school CHOOSES to pay), and [</em>]merit-based aid (the amount the school will bribe you with to come there because your academics or sports are high enough that the school really wants you). [/ul]The school is under <strong>no obligation</strong> to pay the difference between COA and EFC, and most don’t. If they DO, almost all will include some loans in that amount. The schools don’t care at all about the amount your family thinks it can pay. NYU is notoriously poor on financial aid (I don’t know anything about it - Google it or search this site). Most people agree that no school is worth $100K in debt for undergrad.</p>