<p>I felt that, because of my unique situation, the people in this forum would be the best suited at answering my questions.</p>
<p>My situation...</p>
<p>Past: I was "home schooled" starting at 6th grade, but my mother was a lazy procrastinator and hardly attempted to teach us anything or keep any records. Everything I know, above a 6th grade level, I have taught myself. My parents didn't allow me to get a job and I became homeless at 17 when they discovered that I was a lesbian. I have since gotten myself a GED and onto my own two feet.</p>
<p>Present: I work full time (34-40h a week) as an assistant manager in food retail and I hate my job. I play rugby, I do street/park BMX and I volunteer when I can. I continue to teach myself and my favorite subjects are government, mathematics and science. I'm 27 years old and thought that I was too old to start college and that I wouldn't be able to afford it. I've recently become friends with a Physicist who suggested that I go to college and has been urging me to go since the day we met. So far I have applied to FAFSA and have signed up for the SAT.</p>
<p>Future: I'm mostly interested in pursuing Engineering, Physics or Political Science. I plan to start at my local community college and then transfer to a 4 year college. I also intend to go to school full time.</p>
<p>Questions...</p>
<p>Admission Prep: For the most part, I have no school record except for a GED. Lets assume that I score well on the SAT and maintain a 3.0+ GPA at my CC. What else will I need to do to prepare for and be considered for a half way decent 4 year college?</p>
<p>Intern Prep: I've been told that to be successful, after graduation, you need internships. Same question as with Admission Prep. What do I need to start doing so that I will be accepted?</p>
<p>Possible Problems: What problems have you been faced with, when applying to colleges or internships, because you didn't have a "traditional" education? How did you solve them?</p>
<p>Misc: Is there any helpful advice you can give that I have not touched on in this post?</p>
<p>Thank you in advance,
MKSRulu</p>
<p>My son was unschooled K-12. We taught him to read and thereafter he was on his own to develop his interests. This method worked well for us and he is now a successful college student. I mention this so you will recognize that your self-taught background while uncommon, is not unique and not an impediment to success. </p>
<p>You don’t need to take the SAT to go to a community college. Once you have two years worth of transferable credit from a community college you will find many schools that will welcome you and most won’t require SAT scores. If your community college have an advising office it might be the best place for you to gather information about which courses are transferable and with which public universities your community college has transfer agreements. Then you can choose your community college classes knowing they will transfer and which univ ersity requirements they will fulfill. Check the online copy of your community college catalog and read the information they provide about preparing to transfer. Don’t worry about internships now, just focus on getting good grades in transferable courses. And when you feel burdened by your school work and tempted to blow it off, remember how much you hate your current job and how doing well in school will help you get a job you’ll enjoy.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to hear of your past but you are obviously a very self-motivated person to have taught yourself everything you needed to & colleges will be glad to see how self-motivated you are more than likely. (:</p>
<p>I can’t really help with you questions about internships, etc but I was wondering about your SAT and where you’d like to go to college. (: Have you tried any practice SAT tests yet? They’ll hopefully give you an idea of your score so you know of any areas to work on.</p>
<p>Your friend is obviously very good to you as well =) About your lack of records, etc though. How did you do your GED? Was it just the exam alone or did you take a class for it, etc? </p>
<p>If you did, that could be useful but if you didn’t, maybe you could say you were unschooled? You were, technically, whether it was supposed to be like that or not so maybe you could do what other unschooled/homeschooled college applicants have done and put together a portfolio-type-thing? </p>
<p>Tell us how you get along. =)</p>
<p>EDIT dntw8up might well be right about the SAT. If you have an idea of the CC you’re looking at maybe you should call them & ask them about the SAT and how homeschoolers have gotten in in the past (was it with a portfolio, interview, test scores alone, etc).</p>
<p>Community colleges usually just require a placement test. It isn’t a test that determines whether or not you can attend, but just what level of classes you will begin with. And, yeah, students who transfer after two years of community college do not generally have to take an SAT test.</p>
<p>@dntw8up - Thank you, hearing about your son certainly raises my level of hope. I’m checking out the catalog now and I’ll hit the advising office when possible. From what it sounds like, I don’t even need to bother with the SAT. Thanks again!</p>
<p>@its3amagain - Thank you, but there’s nothing to be sorry about. My past is a part of who I am today and I just so happen to like me! I haven’t taken a practice SAT, yet. I literally decided that I was going to go to college about two days ago. So I am now in the process of gathering as much information I can as fast as I can. As for my GED, I took my exam in 2000 and I didn’t take any classes for it.</p>
<p>@'rentof2 - You’re right. The community college that I’m looking at does use a placement test. Thank you for the heads up!</p>
<p>If your community college has a transfer office or an advising office, go there and ask about transferring to a four year college. Some community colleges are more focused on transfers, and some are more focused on remedial education or vocational education. If you have a choice among local community colleges, pick the one that focuses on transfers.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about an SAT. Your community college won’t require it. When you are ready to consider transferring, you might need an SAT-- some colleges require the SAT of transfer applicants-- but you can cross that bridge when you come to it.</p>
<p>If there is some four year college you have in mind as a transfer destination, find out right away what they require of transfers, so you can start right away taking the relevant courses. If you plan to transfer, don’t worry about an AA degree-- it’s not required for transfer. Just get your lower division classes finished. You’ll probably need to take Freshman English and a math class. Depending on your placement, you might need to take some remedial classes first to prepare for the college-level math and English classes. If so, don’t get discouraged-- just forge ahead.</p>
<p>If you get enough CC credits (usually 60, sometimes as low as 30), many (most?) colleges won’t request HS transcripts or even the SAT/ACT.</p>
<p>Just one more thing: judging by your writing and your attitude, you will be successful at community college. Plenty of four year schools will be happy to accept you as a transfer. Community college teachers love older students because older students are serious, hardworking students. </p>
<p>I advise you to get to know your professors. Go to office hours. Talk to them. They want you to succeed.</p>
<p>You definately should be proud of who you are today. You’ve got more self-motivation than I can dream of and I agree with Cardinal Fang -you definately do sound like you’d be very successful at CC and I think any college should be happy to have you xD </p>
<p>Well done on the GED too! I would have struggled imensely if I was left to my own devices so congrats on that even though it was a long time ago! =D</p>
<p>And since you now know it’s a placement test and not an SAT (which majorly fail, by the way xD) all I can suggest is finding out what’s covered in the test and studying for it in the same way you did the GED. </p>
<p>Good luck & let us know how you get along =)</p>
<p>Community College is your best bet, bar none!</p>
<p>But, no Community College is going to so much as expect a 27 year old with a GED to take the SAT. </p>
<p>The test you will have to take for Community College is called the COMPASS test. I am putting that in all capitals, because it is an acronym. </p>
<p>[COMPASS:</a> College Placement Tests](<a href=“http://www.act.org/compass/]COMPASS:”>http://www.act.org/compass/)</p>
<p>[ACT’s</a> COMPASS System: Sample Questions](<a href=“http://www.act.org/compass/sample/]ACT’s”>http://www.act.org/compass/sample/)</p>
<p>I have heard that the COMPASS test is a placement test and all it really does is see if you qualify for remedial classes or college level classes. The only other thing that I have heard about it is that you cannot use a really powerful calculator on the math portion and that is all. So, since you are pals with a physicist, you are just going to have to put that TI 89 calculator down, but you can bust out a slide rule (LOL). Where I live “they” provide the calculator, from what I have heard.</p>
<p>For Community College you…</p>
<p>send off your application along with the little fee all Community Colleges ask for and send off for your GED scores to be sent directly to the school, please try to do these two things downright simutaneously</p>
<p>get a few shots, some of which are optional depending on where you live</p>
<p>and then schedule a time and date to take your COMPASS test so your academic advisor knows what level classes you qualify for, and can register for.
i highly recommend doing both of those things within the same week, so that way you can knock them both out of the way and learn of the prices of books.</p>
<p>Good luck! I would really assume that you will probably qualify for all college level classes with no troubles, deary!</p>
<p>@Cardinal Fang - Yes, the community college I’ll be attending is mostly focused on preparing students for transfer. I have a few ideas of four year schools I’m most interested in and found out what their transfer and general education requirements are. I also have a general idea of what I want to major in, based on what I’m looking for in a career and what interests I have. I’m not making any decisions, yet, because I want to see what interests have staying power.</p>
<p>@psych_ - You’re right, the four year schools I’m most interested in don’t require test scores after 30-60 credits of college level course work.</p>
<p>@its3amagain - I was able to take my placement test, talk with my advisor and go to orientation in the same day. My financial aid was finalized, I enrolled in my classes, my work schedule was approved and my first day of school is on the 17th. The one thing that made me faint was the fact that my used books cost me more than my tuition.</p>
<p>@mildred - I took the COMPASS test and I’ll be taking college level courses, minus one remedial algebra class.</p>