<p>Sorry for cross-posting this, but maybe someone could give me some advice that I haven't really been able to get in the "chances" forum. </p>
<p>I'm a 25-year-old high school drop-out (dropped out in the 10th grade) trying to enroll in a top program. Here are my statistics:</p>
<p>GED (no grades, hence no GPA)
30 ACT score (plan to retake)
Minority group
Permanant disability/low-income (Medi-Cal eligible)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:</p>
<p>Founded own city, formed own municipal government, and started own dot-gov website
Helped set up MySpace (basically put servers into racks :-) )</p>
<p>I was wondering what to do to build a competitive application, and how to go about doing so. I'm really sorry if this comes across as a joke...please be assured it's not. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>You FOUNDED your own city?? If this is really true, and that city is still in existence and functioning…this would be a way to build a competitive college application. Is this for real??</p>
<p>Yes, I started my own city (and made sure to do it legally!). But how could I explain it so that it is (1) plausible to an admissions committee, and (2) offsetting, so far as making up for my checkered history in high school?</p>
<p>“I was wondering what to do to build a competitive application (to a top program) …”</p>
<p>All you really need are excellent grades, excellent recommendations, proof of intent, and proof of ability to do college-level work in a top program. Two years of Community College taking the most rigorous coursework offered should suffice.</p>
<p>Yeah, you need some kind of grades so community college is your best bet. You need to show them that you can do college-level coursework (founding a city is great and all, but can you do calculus?) and that you have the foundation to succeed in their program. As soon as you start in community college, make sure you start networking and making friends with your profs so they can give you good recommendations. </p>
<p>And what exactly does founding a city mean (not in terms of the legal paperwork)? Do people live in your city? Is it on a map? are you in charge of or at least a part of the government? Why did you do it? Or is this just kind of a “I found out all you have to do to create a city is fill out some paperwork/get some signatures for a petition, and I did it, and it was awesome!” I wouldn’t use the “I formed a city” thing on your application unless it actually involved some substantial work and you did it for a compelling reason.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there’s no way to “make up” for a really checkered high school history and a drop out. You can still definitely get into a decent college, but depending on what you mean by “top program” you might be out of luck. Still, with a couple years of community college you can probably apply to and get into a pretty good four-year college and get your BA, which is really what matters and will help you get ahead in the working world and hopefully achieve your goals.</p>
<p>If you can afford it, you might want to consider investing a couple of thousand dollars in a professional college counselor who could assess your qualifications and tell you what steps you might take to position yourself to appeal to adcoms and describe your existing qualifications in a way that appeals to adcoms.</p>
<p>There are specific programs and scholarships that are designed for those whose education has been interrupted. One person I know who eventually was an Ada Comstock Scholar at SMith was advised to take a year of CC and earn straight As before applying, which worked.</p>
<p>My goodness, you’re selling yourself short over here. Did you forget about that invention you patented in two hours and posted about on the chances thread?</p>
<p>Am I missing something here? I have used every search engine I know of and can’t find any mention of Calumet, California. The web site from the link here just takes us to a page that says it’s under construction. Hhmmmm…</p>
<p>You will probably need some grades to prove to colleges that you are capable of handling the work, especially given that you dropped out of high school. Is there a local community college you could attend for a few years to take the basic general education requirements?</p>
<p>Google map cannot find a Calumet, California, but I don’t think it would be possible for someone to fake a website that is a part of ca.gov (the state of california government website).</p>
<p>It’s probably because you can create a city on paper without creating one physically, which is what I suspect this person did. I don’t think it’s a real place.</p>
<p>The initial paperwork for a (provisional) patent is not hard: you can either find an agency that will file on your behalf, or get a customer number from the USPTO and do it yourself.
It’s the review process that takes forever: it can take two to three years. </p>
<p>You can found (form) an unincorporated city by looking up the appropriate laws and acquiring land. Writing a charter and establishing a government comes later.</p>
<p>I would think Harvard would want you if you invented the internet. But without submitting documentary evidence of having done so, the Committee might be dismissive. </p>
<p>It looks like the best way to proceed might be to submit supplementary materials detailing the procedure and “current state of art” (no pun) in addition to an essay.</p>