The next 2 years

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

<p>My first two years of high school were spent somewhere in the Balkans. During my freshman year I attended a local private high school where my GPA was around 2.5. Sophomore year - still in this unknown country - I was enrolled into an online program located in the US. My GPA that year was 3.8. Unfortunately not many AP courses were offered and I took AP Biology. With that being said, I never took the AP exam.</p>

<p>Next year onward I will be residing in the US. I have three options. </p>

<p>The first is IB. There are multiple IB schools in the area I will be living. However, they're all fairly far. I've never been very good at making it to school on time and after the online experience I've become accustomed to no expectations regarding attendance. During my first year of high school I missed around 40% of my courses but was given a free pass due to my father paying grotesque amounts of money. The closest school isn't accepting new students other than freshman which I obviously am not. The second closest school has an awful selection of courses; none of them are mildly interesting. The third school is... very far.</p>

<p>Moving on to option two. We live beside one of the top high schools in the state. It's a 15 minute walk from our future place of residence. However, I dislike this option on the basis of not requiring instruction. One of the pearls of online eduction is being able to self-study. For the past 8 years I have had my face smashed into countless books by instructors of all ages, religions and ethnicity. I don't need to be taught; I can learn myself. Perhaps that sounds a bit arrogant, but through my life I've learned that I function at my absolute peak when tackling issues independently. A few years ago, for example, I didn't know what abbreviations were. Through the miracle of time and hard work - work conducted by myself - I have almost mastered this language. It's funny, really, because I remember not knowing a word of English. Anywho, moving on. Physically attending high school isn't necessary for me. I don't need anything explained to me. I don't need anybody holding my hand through exercises and assignments. All it does is slow me down.</p>

<p>Finally, option three: online education.</p>

<p>Freshman year: <2.5 GPA
Sophomore year: 3.8 GPA with no AP exams</p>

<p>That's not great at all. Academically, to a university, I'm trash tier in terms of worth. Who'd invest in me when an overwhelming majority of applicants beat me down multiple times over? The answer is clear: nobody.</p>

<p>In an attempt to rescue my dream I wanted to continue attending online school. However, I would take AP courses and enter the Running Start program. Because online school frees up a lot of time I wanted to find employment (the reason for employment extends far beyond academics and skills; it's a result of my life) and volunteer horrendous amounts. Employment would allow me fiscal stability; in the case of receiving an acceptance letter from my dream school I'd need to fund it. Volunteering would perk up application.</p>

<p>I'd love to make it into the University of Washington. At this point, though, I just don't know what route to take in order to achieve the best results. Some things such as learning I can do myself, but making this decision I must ask for help.</p>

<p>Perhaps this is irrelevant, but my math skills are at an Algebra 1 level. I have problems with basic calculations and to this day I don't know how to apply the sequence of operations while solving problems. I don't so much as know the times table. Up to 5 I can do. Math is by miles my weakest point, and it will be of tremendous harm to my test scores (taking the ACT whenever possible). It's disgusting that a soon-to-be junior doesn't know how to divide, but it's relevant and may assist you all in providing me the best information. However, I do excel at science.</p>

<p>I believe this is the correct forum for my thread. Apologies in advance if I'm wrong.</p>

2

<p>You should give the high school by you a chance. Not to sound mean but learning on your own clearly isn’t working for you if you can only multiply up to 5 and can’t divide at all. Most students can do that by the 5th grade. You aren’t at Al. 1 level if you can’t do basic math like that. Math is one of the most fundamental subjects and while many people will not use math past Al. 1 in life, there are still a lot of people that do. If you want to go to a college it’s worth learning how to learn in that sort of environment.
If you are looking to major in something science related you are more than likely to have to take a lot of math in college.</p>

3

<p>school is not just for developing intelligence. a key part of the experience is development of intra-personal, inter-personal, and other skills that are, at least, just as important as the actual possession of knowledge in the real world. Give school a chance. And I agree with bandgeek1 on everything he said</p>

4

<p>I agree with the other 2 guys, you should try the school 15 minutes from you. You seem like prodigy and languages and literature, but you clearly need math help, possibly even remedial placement in that category specifically (and there is absolutely no harm in that if you can handle many other higher level categories of subjects). Math is one of my weaker subjects and I almost had to repeat a semester once. I also like science, but chemistry was pretty hard when it came to the math, and physics is too much of a fear for me considering the entire basis is mathematical. Even if you fulfill in a biology major, you will still need the other two sciences.</p>

<p>You can also miss out on so many social skills if you go to an online school, high school is where you first learn everything about social life. Yes, waking up in the morning is really one of the anti-benefits but even when I wake up ridiculously early I manage to feel better in an hour or less. Dealing with teachers and the commitment to deadlines are critical factors in the real world. Imagine (hypothetically speaking) you end up with an aggresive boss who demands his office runs like clockwork. How would you be able to cope with that if you never had that one strict teacher?</p>

<p>If despite our opinions you still choose online school, strongly consider a math tutor. If you get up to fully understanding Algebra I, you can have enough math to get you through life if you don’t choose a math-based career.</p>

5

<p>No offense, but your “I can self-study everything attitude” doesn’t seem to be working with everything, especially math. School is something that can help here. Another problem I’m seeing is that you took AP Biology and never took the exam. Why?</p>

<p>I would recommend the high school for the same reasons listed above.</p>

6

<p>Thank you all for the wonderful responses. I appreciate it.</p>

<p>Regarding math, the day I posted this (I have just awoken from some much needed sleep) I wasn’t feeling the best and the self-assessment I provided was far from accurate. Freshman year I was taking a course which included algebra 2, trigonometry and calculus. However, due to personal reasons which I admit now are quiet silly my studying was quite minimal compared to what I could have achieved. Sophomore year I began with algebra 1, but after the first semester I switched to algebra 2 because the former was far too easy. Upon switching I earned a B+ from the course with minimal practice. The reality of the situation is that my years of sitting through lectures in this unknown Balkan country has left me with a wealth of understanding but little applicable knowledge, and all I need to get myself going is some instruction. </p>

<p>Science is my passion and I consider myself an overachiever to some degree. Rather, I overachieve in every area other than math. Because of this, I find myself at a level with human sciences, for example, which can be found in most upper level university courses but if I were to take AP Calculus I would fail.</p>

<p>CantConcentrate, you bring up an excellent point. However, rest assured that the reason is more regional than anything else. Schools here don’t use AP. Not even one. It’s because universities here don’t award credits for them. I couldn’t find a school at which I could sit in on the exam. With that being said, I looked for a way - I even considered flying out of the country. Now I’m in a situation. Next year I plan to take on a heavy workload, and regardless of how secure I was of the material for AP Biology a 5 on the exam requires hefty review if left unattended for over a year - this is time I don’t believe I’ll have. Regardless of past issues I have had sitting in on the exam, though, I will take it at some point.</p>

<p>Going back to math, my family will be fairly large. Without proper funding it will be improbable at best to steadily work with a math tutor. This is help I need, and I won’t sugarcoat this. Without at least 3 sessions a week I will never be at the level required of me for a path in biochemistry. As with university, nobody other than myself will pay for this which brings me back to employment. Do I believe I can work, be in Running Start, take AP courses and maintain at least a 3.8 GPA and 4-5 on the exams while attending school physically? No. The physical attendance bothers me because I’m learning to the same degree as I would be independently though it’s much slower.</p>

<p>Perhaps it seems as if I’m dead set on the online path, but that’s not the case. I would just like to figure out which path is indeed the most successful. Again, I appreciate the responses thus far.</p>

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<p>If you learn best on your own, by all means try online education. Perhaps BYU Independent Study where you can take college courses at the same time and show University of Washington that you know how to be a good student for them. </p>

<p>Although I would suggest the following as well if you choose the online route:</p>

<p>(1) Hire a math tutor, or take a community college class where you can get a tutor provided for you for free – you cannot learn math on your own based on your self described abilities – so find someone to teach you 1-to-1 which would be a tutor. </p>

<p>(2) Participate in some sort of community organization, or club with individuals your age. If you have a sport or interest you like, still pursue it. Online education frees up a lot of time and eliminates a lot of the useless things that happen in a normal HS setting. </p>

<p>(3) Do volunteer work and seek employment as you described.</p>

<p>(4) Make sure you are happy and motivated throughout your studies. If you are not both of these things, online will NOT work out for you. And, if it does, it means you have sacrificed another part of your life. </p>

<p>I’d be happy to discuss this further with you. </p>

<p>I went to a traditional high school, did a traditional associate’s degree in HS, an online bachelor’s, an online master’s, and am now starting a traditional Ph.D. – so unlike most people I know the experience of both modalities of learning, and can speak well about them. I’ve also found that many people that have not tried online, are almost always against it for a multiplicty of reasons.</p>

8

<p>@SiggaardAndersen: I appreciate the response, and it does make complete sense to me. At this point, I wouldn’t think that it’d be necessary to take the AP Bio exam for the reasons that you yourself listed. After a year, the information would have to be relearned and would thus be a waste of time (unless, of course, you are dead-set on taking it).
You say that you want to go to University of Washington (one of my prospective schools also). Have you taken the SAT/ACT yet? If so, what are your scores?</p>

<p>By all means, if you perform better by yourself, go to the online school route. There would be no reason for you to force yourself to go to high school just for the sake of going to a school. You’ll have to be prepared to work really hard, however. Assuming that you had a 2.5 GPA freshman year and a 3.8 GPA sophomore year, you currently have a 3.15 cumulative GPA. If you get a 4.0 next year, you’ll have a 3.4 by the time you begin applying to college. While this isn’t necessarily bad, it isn’t great either. To counteract this, you should plan to write excellent essays and have good SAT/ACT scores.</p>

<p>With your prospective online education, will a teacher(s) be present on the online portal? That is, will actual teachers be grading your work and looking over everything (I’ll assume that they will be present)? If not, however, I would once again recommend going to the high school. For college apps, teacher and counselor recommendations are important, and thus forming a personal relationship with them would be beneficial.</p>

9

<p>I haven’t taken the ACT yet. I will be taking it next year. I’m hoping for a 30+. Considering my older brother has taken the ACT and scored a 31 I have somebody that can help me accomplish this. As for the school, yes, it’s teacher moderated.</p>

<p>The cumulative GPA is what has been bothering me. At this point however well I do my GPA will never be competitive. For this reason it’s more than likely I will attend Bellevue CC and then transfer to UW. This is a much more realistic route and is financially responsible on my end.</p>

<p>BioAnthroPsych, thank you very much for the BYU suggestion. I didn’t know about it until you mentioned it. They have many courses I’m interested in and I will definitely go with it if online is what I decide.</p>

10

<p>A couple things to say.</p>

<p>Few online schools can be touted as pumping out 4.0s. High ranked schools can.</p>

<p>Science is hard to learn (once past biology) without math. And besides, a computer can’t help in lab experiments.</p>

<p>Your GPA and math are not complete failures. Your English is amazing (compared to others from the Balkans) and you love Science. IB and AP your good ones, and take it easy on things like math.</p>

<p>I’m also Applying to UW, but I’m a rising Senior. I can only say that there are scores that get in with 3.9 and 4.0s. For those like us, who straggled in early years, effort does pay off in the end. A strong finish shows determination- a 2.5 turning to a 3.6 is a big turn-on.</p>

<p>I can tell that you are confident on your goals. The same happened to me when I found my chances slipping away. I’m in Advanced Algebra, which is barely state level (while others are in Calculus). I kept low on Math, and took 5 APs in areas I was good at (English, History, Languages, etc). One thing I also highly reccommend you to do is Running Start. You can do online and further the areas you already know. I like how you see yourself as independent- if you feel like you can, go entirely to college. However, your math will probably force some to be held at high school. Again, give the high school a chance. I go to a non-IB, but I go to a school overflowing with APs, 2400s, and scholarship winners. Don’t think IB is almighty- its actually scarce in this state.</p>

<p>If you live near Seattle (I do), talk to me anytime. We’re kinda in the same boat, but if you try, you definetly can get in. Good luck. Honestly, cause I texted everything above.</p>

11

<p>Are you attending Redmond High? That’s the school I was referencing. Since it appears you go to it (from your location) perhaps you could tell me more about the school.</p>

12

<p>You’ve never been to high school so it’s kind of premature to say that the pace will move to slow. If you are in AP classes they will be very fast paced.
Also most high schools have Gifted programs where you’ll take an IQ test then if it shows your IQ is at ‘gifted’ level (I’m not sure all schools are the same. At my school it’s in the policy as an IQ of 130 or higher) once you are identified as gifted you’ll get an IEP and be put in a special ed program. Your parents will tell them what goes into your IEP and they have to give you everything in your IEP. It can have things like test out of class for units, self studies, extra help in areas you struggle, and first-choice scheduling. If the school you’re close to is a public school it will most likely have it. Your parents do have to bug them to test you though because the tests are expensive and time consuming.</p>

13

<p>Oh my, of all people on here, its one that might end up being a classmate!</p>

<p>Yes, I do go to Redmond and there are its ups and downs. We have classes of geniuses that scored 2400s in eighth grade in gifted classes. We have AP teachers that have recieved death threats for horrid instruction (but by AP students nevertheless). We have kids that do drugs and barely know basic algebra.</p>

<p>But I can promise you, that our school scores the best in the district, and our district is 10th in the state. If you feel superior still, there is a public school for the gifted- International Community School, still in the district. Only 300 kids, and its grade 7-12. Applications required, but its a public school still, and ranked 12th nationwide.</p>

<p>I can say, that either school you pick exceeds district, state, and national levels. There are other highlight schools such as Mercer Island, Newport, and Bothell, but the rigor in this area isn’t what you should expect of this country.</p>

<p>Like I mentioned before, if HS isn’t your thing, you can always do Running Start, and move onto college immediately.</p>