Should I Give Up?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Let me just spit this out!</p>

<p>*I've been homeschooled all my life! Never been to a school.</p>

<p>*I have a 3.9 GPA!</p>

<p>*I was only able to take the SAT twice, 1st time-1610, 2nd time-1540. Took three SAT Subject Tests, Biology-370, Math I-500, and Literature-510</p>

<p>*I have no extracurriculars to report ONLY because my highschool years were completely unplanned. Freshman year, we (me, my sister, my dad, and my mom) were moving and Dad was finding a new job. Sophomore year, my parents got divorced and we (me, my sister, and my mom) moved to a different state. Junior year, my mom needed surgery, couldn't work, and we have government assistance. Senior year, I am (rightfully so) OVERWHELMED and decided to take a year off to see if even wanted to bother with college anymore.</p>

<p>*During my Gap Year my mom needed another surgery, a much more serious one, and while I'm taking care of her, I still decide I want to go to college, and I manage to take my SATs, going in completely blind!</p>

<p>*I've already been rejected by University of Illinois. I'm still waiting to hear from Purdue, Northeastern, and my DREAM University of Southern California.</p>

<p>I know I don't have the best chances, but I honestly feel I'm prepared for college. The irony of college applications is that no matter how you good or bad you did in highschool, college is an entirely different animal were highschool no longer matters.Students with 4.0's or 2400's can still be unprepared for college, and flunk out! I am a good student! I love learning, doing research, writing papers, and expanding my mind. I want to be judged by that, not this political beauty pageant wrapped in red tape. I just want to know if I have a chance. Or if I should just prepare for more rejection.</p>

<p>To anyone willing to answer, thank you!</p>

2

<p>Illinois is probably on the lower end of the four schools you listed, so I’d say admission to the others are very unlikely. While excellent SAT’s don’t guarantee excellent college performance, most find a strong correlation. Start out at a CC and get some solid grades to prove yourself, then try and transfer if you’re still interested.</p>

3

<p>UIUC was the lowest reach of the gang… yet it still was quite a reach.</p>

4

<p>What about starting with community college and prove your ability to perform in a classroom setting? It is also cheaper. You can transfer after two years. Your test scores are a huge mismatch with your GPA, which is one reason schools require standardized tests – so they can compare academic skills across a pool of applicants on the same measuring stick. You may not like them, but standardized tests are not just a “political beauty pageant”. </p>

5

<p>I would certainly not give up… If you can show to schools that you’ve been able to work through life’s struggles they might consider you. If you are rejected, I agree 100% that you should try out community college. If you do well there your chances will definately improve :slight_smile:
Good luck! :smiley:
Help me out? <a href=“US student applying to British unis help? - International Students - College Confidential Forums”>US student applying to British unis help? - International Students - College Confidential Forums;

6

<p>I love your spirit! Keep it up and don’t ever let any college rejections bog down this mindset of yours!
Now back to business - did you try out for any of the UCs? Because UC Riverside will guarantee your admission if you get an SAT score of 1600 and above - which you have! And if you want to aim for something a little more erh, “ranked”, try out for UC Davis or Irvine or SB or even UCLA - if you write a winning essay, you may just get accepted. In fact, try out for all the UCs! If you don’t want to apply to anymore colleges and are happy with the ones you’ve applied to, then I think you have a good shot at Northeastern. I got my acceptance letter on Friday morning. Check your NEU portal to see if yours has been updated yet. As for USC, it’s definitely a reach school. Even if you do get rejected by USC, at least you tried, right? OK enough rambling. Good luck with college and remember to always keep up your spirit! </p>

7

<p>Keeping it real.</p>

<p>You SAT scores are quite low and your homeschool GPA is very high.
What does that signal to a college reviewing your application?
It signals that your curriculum was not particularly rigorous.
I think it’s going to be very tough for you at any of the schools you mentioned.
I think you need to be looking at a very different category of school.</p>

8

<p>Not to belabor the point, but I’d start redirecting ASAP. Go to community college, get some good grades, and then you can re-apply with a higher probability of getting in. Don’t just focus on grades though (although that should be your primary focus). Try and do some volunteer work or debate or something that shows you are a three dimensional candidate. I’m sure it will all work out in the end and your rough start won’t hold you back for long :)</p>

9

<p>Thanks to all who answered! But, I admit, I know nothing about community college! I’m going to school for Industrial Engineering. Are there even CC classes for that?</p>

<p>@intparent, I completely understand why standardized testing is necessary. The SAT is still known for being ridiculously tough and even the brightest students have gotten terrible scores like mine!</p>

<p>@soze, my curriculum was VERY rigorous! I studied physics, Latin, classical writing, and I put all of that in my application. I just didn’t study the tricks for the SAT, AND I was so nervous because I could only take it twice, AND I spaced on so many questions (ones I can answer after the fact! ):< ) that I left most questions blank, not just incorrect.</p>

<p>Oh, and @intparent, I wasn’t saying the SAT was a beauty pageant, the WHOLE APPLICATION PROCESS is! We highschoolers have to make good grades, have a million extracurriculars, hire SAT tutors, all the while trying to appear ‘well-rounded’ on paper, and we could still be beat out by some dumb alumni child whose parent makes a phone call. And even if these perfect highschool students do get in, they WASTE their college experience away, thinking that college is ‘just what you do after highschool’, wander aimlessly, then pick a degree that will make the most money that they have no real interest in, and will eventually move back home and call college a joke.</p>

<p>“High school just wasn’t my time for extracurriculars, but that doesn’t mean I’m not a social, well-rounded, multi-faceted person. I just became one in my own way. I feel extremely prepared for college… Some students go to college to find out who they are. I’m going to college to become more of who I am.”

  • The last words of my CommonApp essay-</p>
10

<p>Okkaaayyy… your disdain for your future classmates is showing through loud and clear. You will want to keep it out of your application, and any interviews you do if possible.</p>

11

<p>^ I agree with the person above. </p>

<p>OP you exude a sense of superiority that quite frankly isn’t justified. Furthermore your view on life is limited because of your lack of experience. </p>

<p>Goto CC and get straight As, which should be easy for someone as well qualified as yourself, correct :wink: Then reapply with a valid academic background. </p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>What you mean “we” kemosabe?
You’ve never been to High School.
You took the SAT twice and all you have is excuses as to your poor scores.
And no, you’re curriculum was not “very rigorous” since you managed a near-perfect GPA but yet you could not manage above a 1610 in two SAT sittings, which is pretty much the smoking gun which proves your curriculum was weak.</p>

<p>News flash: the exams you will have to take in college will be much closer to the SAT than whatever evaluations were used in your homeschooling. Your 3.6 will likely turn into a <2.0 at most if not all of the schools you mentioned, as you are frankly not prepared for college-level work at a top-tier school.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Facepalm</p>

13

<p>*I was only able to take the SAT twice, 1st time-1610, 2nd time-1540. Took three SAT Subject Tests, Biology-370, Math I-500, and Literature-510</p>

<p>These do not indicate preparedness. At all.
Math is 18th percentile. Literature 27th. Biology either 2nd or 1st, depending on which test you took. These are truly awful scores… You’re not ready.</p>

14

<p>Are there even CC classes for that?</p>

<p>YES. THEY’RE COLLEGES. THAT’S WHAT THEY DO.</p>

15

<p>You will have much better success with your college applications after you have demonstrated your ability to learn in a typical classroom setting. Based on your test scores, it would be a waste to spend a lot of money on an expensive freshman year at a four year university. Save some money, and go to community college while you get some college credits in hand and your test scores up.</p>

16

<p>Whoa whoa whoa! I was not trying to sound superior or disdaining! I admit, I was taking my frustrations out. Only because I’m scared/disappointed in myself. I can understand why I’ll most likely be rejected.</p>

<p>I honestly don’t know a lot about community college. I thought engineering would be at a technical trade school or something. The first time I really thought about CC’s was while watching ‘Community’. I’m a total noob.</p>

<p>And I know my scores are HORRIBLE. I choked, and I didn’t prepare for the UNIQUE way the SAT words its questions. Everyone knows the SAT is unlike any other test! 2013’s average score was 1498. And the SAT isn’t an honest college preparedness test. Millions of students get bad SAT’s and do great in college. That’s why I think I still I had a chance.</p>

<p>Anyway, thanks to all that answered. And while I haven’t even officially gotten rejected, I’ll be looking up some more info on community college. That’s just being smart, not negative. Thanks guys!</p>