Uhh.... What do i do now?

Pre-College Issues Home Schooling and College
1

<p>Although i wasn't homeschooled, by educational background, or the documentation of - is nothing better than that. i.e. nothing. My background is rather strange and my family covertly dysfunctional.</p>

<p>Well, enough of that - i have attempted to mobilize on going to college next year, albeit quite late, but my attempts have yielded little so far. I am in the process of applying for a GED test here in New York, but i am not certain that there will be an available test date before the beginning of the year - this of course would delay my sending an application thereby causing me to waste a few more months.</p>

<p>However, i do inquire as to the other options or possibilities available, as i have a rather colorful background as well, i am somewhat of a modern jewish person, from a rather fervently religious background, about which i have written several booklets, I am also trilingual and am highly articulate (or so i have been lead to believe); I also believe my verbal and critical thinking skills to be superb.</p>

<p>Again, the problem is, i have no documentation for any of the above (save my publications, in hebrew)</p>

<p>The only documentation which i can show is the score from this year's SAT test (the only standardized test i have taken so far - in my entire life) which isn't that great (i can give excuses for this, but then this would already be inferred from the previous paragraphs) a 1640/2400 - of which all three sections had a similar subscore.</p>

<p>It is wishful thinking, the plausibility of which is unknown to me, to go to an ivy league college next year, but for now a CUNY college would suffice until a better substitute can be found.</p>

<p>I now ask, how far can i get without a GED; is it too late to apply to college?; would a perfect or near perfect score on both the GED and SAT (provided i retake the test next year) guarantee or give me a high possibility for getting into a good college?</p>

<p>My father was an MD at a point, but he has a criminal history and is estranged from me as well, so i don't know how or if this information may be used. my mother has an MS in education. I am 18.</p>

<p>Pardon me if i have said anything that sounds strange, they are certainly a result of evil spirits which may have entered me at those moments</p>

2

<p>I'm unclear of your educational background. You say you were not homeschooled and you say that you don't have any documentation for any other school. That tells me that your only choice is the GED. With the GED and SAT that you mention, you should be fine for a local, state school - community college or maybe one of the colleges if they aren't overly competitive. Some of your admission ability may have to do with how well you present yourself and what you have actually been doing all this time.
As far as Ivy league, unless you have some sort of "pull" (with a politician or other heavy weight), I'd assume that your chances are very slim. Your best bet might be to contact a local college and ask them what you need to do or show them to get admitted. Good luck.</p>

3

<p>I belive the GED is given monthly, or every other month, at least in NJ- I don't see why it would be so different anywhere else. I have to say that a person in your situation really has no other choice than to take it- and anyway, it wasn't hard at all. </p>

<p>I was homeschooled and took the GED in Nov. 2004. I then enrolled at a county college, graduated with an AA after three semesters and will be starting at Columbia in August with 53 transfer credits under my belt. It is not impossible to pull off, you just have to work hard.</p>

4

<p>I suspect a high GED score won't have a big impace on your applications to competitive schools, but can't say for certain. If you haven't seen it yet, you might want to have a look at this</a> very recent discussion about the GED.</p>

<p>I think competitive schools will be more interested in your SAT I and SAT II scores, and you will probably need at least three SAT II's. </p>

<p>The best thing to do is decide how you are going to present yourself, then contact the admissions offices at the schools you are applying to and find out what they will want to see from you.</p>

5

<p>If you search the web sites of various colleges (try "GED admission" for a start -- it should lead you at least to the common data set), you can find out if they accept the GED. Some colleges do, some do not. I think the more competitive places do not, but I haven't studied the matter.</p>

<p>Realize that the GED may or may not substitute for a high school diploma; it wouldn't substitute for required courses. I don't think a selective place is going to go for someone with a high GED and SAT without documentation of any coursework. You might be able to work your way around this with SAT IIs, CLEPs, use of the ACT instead, etc., but you would have to ask.</p>

<p>I also am unclear about your educational background. Did you attend a school but didn't graduate, did you learn at home but failed to comply with state homeschool requirements, or what? It is difficult to give advice without knowing.</p>

<p>As has been already pointed out, you can always contact potential schools, give them your details, and see what you will need to be considered. Without knowing more, I think your best bet would be a year or two in community college and then transferring.</p>

6

<p>I just wanted to add my observation -- you mention that you have been led to believe that you are highly articulate and you also mentioned that you are trilingual.</p>

<p>Your post is written haltingly and with some odd turns of phrase and some incorrect word usage and grammar -- it is clear to me that English is not your native language. </p>

<p>If that is true, that is most likely the reason for the lower SAT verbal score. Will you be applying as an international? If English is not your first language, many schools will require the TOEFL as well.</p>

<p>Again -- not really knowing your educational background, it makes it hard to give you suggestions. You say you are 18. Do you still live at home with your mother? Will you have financial considerations when applying? (in other words -- will you need money?)</p>

7

<p>well, my comments about me being highly articulate may be skewed, but english is my first language (but again, i am self educated, and for the most part, i prefer to write in other languages).</p>

<p>yes, i still live at home with my mother -- aid will be a hard thing to get, as we have a lot of assets, but not that much out in the open.</p>

<p>i shall attempt to take the GED tomorrow on as a walk-in testee; provided i have all the correct paperwork, i will enroll at a community college (which informed me that they have transfers available for A students at the close of each semester - so the picture isn't so grim). The problem, however, is that i don't know what they will accept as proof that i'm not in highschool (will a signature from a foreign country suffice?). also, since i'm not scheduled to take the test tomorrow, what alternative measures can i take to get into a community college such as CUNY, will a homeschool 'diploma' be good enough?</p>

<p>actually, the verbal score on my SAT was in the 70th percentile (the other two weren't far behind), along with a grade 4 essay - i get incoherent swings at times, especially when a subject so sensitive to me - like this one - is concerned.</p>

<p>my main question is as follows: what is there to do if i want to enter college in september, as opposed to waiting until the GED and SAT tests are available to take again?</p>

8

<p>p.s.</p>

<p>after doing a quick google search, i have found that there may be CLEP test dates still open throughout the summer - what is the CLEP and what will it do for me?</p>

9

<p>first -- are you applying as an international? Or are you a US citizen or permanent resident?</p>

<p>When you say aid may be hard to get -- have you done the FAFSA calculator? </p>

<p>Going to college involves both getting in and paying for it -- those are two hills to climb and your circumstances dictate how you climb those hills.</p>

<p>as far as admittance -- you need to make an appointment with the admissions office of the community college you want to attend and talk to them. They are the ones that determine what you need to enroll. For community college -- the GED is generally accepted, but SAT tests are not needed. CLEP tests are college level equivlancy exams and are not necessarily a replacement for high school. You need to ask them about that.</p>

<p>So -- to enter community college this september, talk to admissions and see what you need to do to enroll. Fill out the paperwork and complete the requirements. Then you need to figure out how to pay for it.</p>

10

<p>yes, i have used the FAFSA calculator. I am a US citizen - i was born here and lived most of my life in new york. my expected contribution is about 30,000. paying the $5,000 for a CC is not a problem, but i don't know what to do if all else fails.</p>

<p>see, the people at the colleges cannot really tell me what to do (unless i really know them well, in which case they will give me some personal advice) many of them are bound by laws and rules - thick red tape, so options like fabricating documents or 'skewing' things would not be told to an applicant. i've talked to the college and it seems that unless i can produce something equivalent to a high school diploma, i'm doomed for september.</p>

<p>of course, i am asking about the CLEP, thinking that it may give me some edge in the event that i can't obtain the GED. i still fail to understand why the SAT will not suffice, although the material is about ten times easier than the GED. :(</p>

11

<p>Great -- it seems like the financial aid hurdle is cleared. You can pay for community college.</p>

<p>Now -- on to the admittance part. This is my suggestion. Apply to the community college using your SAT scores and a homeschool diploma that you construct based on the schooling that you have had for the past 4 years. Include science, social studies, english, foreign language, math and electives. give yourself credit for areas of learning that you completed. Go to this link and pick a high school transcript form and fill it out. If you feel comfortable giving grades, fine. Otherwise use pass/fail assessment. After completing the 4 years transcript, ask you mother to sign it (as the school official). Use this transcript to apply.</p>

<p>Now -- you wait and see if there are any questions and deal with them as they come up. Ask us here if they challenge you and maybe we can help. usually with adequate test scores and an official looking transcript in a format they are familiar with is all a community college needs.</p>

<p>What you have to understand is that you aren't fabricating a document or skewing anything. You are documenting the learning that you accomplished during the past 4 years in a document form that the school can use and understand. That is all. </p>

<p>good luck and let us know how it turns out.</p>

12

<p>


I'm curious, but I don't see the link.</p>

13

<p>AmbiguouslyClear, there are as many ways to homeschool as there are homeschoolers. If you lived at home and taught yourself, you are homeschooled. </p>

<p>I get the impression you need to have more respect for yourself and how you schooled yourself, then expect others to respect you for it too. People in the admissions offices at colleges certainly can help you and should. It's their job. If you approach them for the legitimate information you need to apply, they should give it to you. </p>

<p>Compiling your homeschool transcript is usually a necessary part of homeschooling. It's a job, but there are legitimate ways to do it even if you didn't keep good records. If you learned things, you can find a way to package that information into a respectable transcript. It looks like hsmomsef has a good suggestion. There are a few books out too, with excellent suggestions. I recommend this</a> book if you need advice about how to dredge up the information required.</p>

<p>If walking in and taking the GED will get you where you need to be right now, then do it. Either way, you may very well need a homeschool transcript somewhere along the way, so it's a good thing to do it now. It will only become more difficult if you wait.</p>

14

<p>sorry -- here is the link on making a transcript: <a href="http://forms.donnayoung.org/planners/hischl.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://forms.donnayoung.org/planners/hischl.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>And Nan is correct -- even if you complete the GED and score well, colleges still need the high school transcript most of the time.</p>

15

<p>the walk in didn't work. what can i do now? would a homeschool transcript help? would passing the CLEP help in getting in? -- is there anything i can do which could help me get into college in semptember?</p>

16

<p>did you apply using a homeschool transcript?</p>

17

<p>Here's what you do:</p>

<p>Call your local GED office. Schedule a pre-test. Once you clear that hurdle, you can usually get into a community college. If your eligible for GED testing, and your in GED classes, community colleges will usually agree to allow you to begin taking core classes till you get your GED. Ask the community college also for an entry level exam.</p>

18

<p>well, i applied for the GED using the homeschool application form - and it was accepted.</p>

<p>i am waived from the entry level exam due to my SAT scores. yes, it does seem (after clearing up many ambiguities) that i can enter as a non matriculated student, and then - after being matriculated - in this case, getting my GED, i would be able to transfer all of those credits.</p>

<p>but the feeling of being 'valid' would do so much of a psychological and emotional number - in the positive sense - on me.</p>

<p>i'll see what happens</p>

19

<p>ok, so i took the official practice GED test today, i scored a 3200; i believe i can get higher on the real one (considering that i didn't study for the practice test). would that help me with anything?</p>

20

<p>The test scores? Yes, if your trying to get into a specialized science or nursing program.</p>