What do you do with an "odd" child w/unique extra-curricular background?

<p>My son, while he was in high school, took the equivalent of almost two fulltime years at community college. Most of the other local homeschoolers we know do the same, taking community colleges as part of homeschooling high school.</p>

<p>Every college my son talked to said they would regard him as a freshman applicant. He was accepted as a freshman at both schools he eventually applied to. I do not think the dual enrollment will be a problem for the OP’s daughter.</p>

<p>I think if the courses are used to fulfill high school requirements, they do not pose a problem. However, if a student is enrolled full time in a community college, that might indeed be an issue.</p>

<p>Cardinal Fang, it’s a bit different for homeschoolers. If the child applies this falls, graduates in the spring and takes classes after receiving a diploma, she should be fine <em>if</em> she goes directly into college. If she takes a gap year, the poster who said she could be considered a transfer student is correct. Each college would decide and it may depend on the total number of credits the student has or the number taken over the summer. I would research that carefully if a gap year is part of the plan.</p>

<p>I did want to make some comments about American and GW. I don’t get the sense that this would be a student who would be happy at either, especially AU. GW and it’s downtown location may be an option-- but I suspect the OP would find the students at these schools, especially American, too conventional for her tastes. It is not that they don’t share her desire to change the world. It is that many of them are students who want to do it in a very different way-- a way that involves politics and working within the status quo. This seems like a student who spurns conventional behavior. To be honest , this student may find too much drinking at several of the other colleges mentioned-- Bates included. And Bates and Bowdoin are a good 2-3 hours from a major international airport (Logan). But if 2-3 hours from a major intl airport is too far, then that rules out a lot of colleges, especially lacs which was where the OP’s interests seemed to lie. </p>

<p>I really do think that Goucher is a good fit. It is not a lac but it is within a city (and BWI is not far). It is very accepting, international and open. Baltimore has much to do outside the campus and it’s hours from DC, Philly and NYC. But honestly, there’s one more factor: it is both challenging and not so academically rigorous that a student like this will be suffocated. And Goucher is known for getting their students into internships-- something I think this student would enjoy and I think would be productive for her future. (It’s easier to transfer that energy into a real-world job upon graduation.) Commercial over.</p>

<p>What about Tufts? They appreciate kids that are citizens of the world.</p>

<p>As far as I can tell, no college treats dual-enrollment college courses (including homeschool dual enrollment) as counting towards any transfer-student definitional tests. Nor do they award college credit for such courses. For non-dual-enrollment courses (i.e., post graduation), rules seem to vary but everything I have seen requires (a) at least a full “term” of credits, and/or (b) being a degree candidate, and/or (c) that the credits be eligible for transfer to the college to which one is applying. </p>

<p>The Common Application requests that you list all college courses you have taken, and get official transcripts. I have trouble figuring out how one could be expelled for failing to disclose in December 2009 courses that one had not registered to take until June 2010 or completed until August 2010. I would take that case on contingency in a heartbeat.</p>

<p>One amusing lesson of this thread is that the case of a student who is eligible to apply as a freshman at the time of application, but who subsequently meets the definition of a transfer student, is not dealt with clearly by many colleges’ application materials. I’ll bet it comes up fairly frequently, though, with Southern Hemisphere students who may start college there around the time they get an admissions result here.</p>

<p>But in any event, there is hardly any cause for hysteria here. If the OP’s daughter is accepted to a college, and agrees to enroll, she will have plenty of time to ask if it’s OK to take community college courses that summer, or will she be expelled on arrival in September if she does? If the college says, yes, you will be expelled, she can find something else to do with her time.</p>

<p>My son was actually enrolled full time in community college last year. It was fine with the colleges, and he was still a freshman.</p>

<p>I doubt if summer community college classes after graduation, followed by fall matriculation into whatever college the student chose, would be a problem (though I advise checking with colleges of interest before doing it). However I do agree that graduating this spring, then taking community college classes next year during a gap year, would be very likely to cause an applicant to be regarded as a transfer student.</p>

<p>cardinal fang:</p>

<p>Your son was homeschooled? I would expect him to be taking community college classes full time.
Colleges offer many courses that would be deemed high school classes, such as precalculus and calculus, introductory science classes (equivalent to APs), language classes, and so on. Classes such as these as well as more advanced ones attract many homeschoolers.</p>

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<p>Policies at different colleges vary, but quite a lot of colleges do award transfer credit for dual-enrollment classes, unless the classes were offered at a high school. My son, as I mentioned, was accepted as a freshman, but he was also awarded a year and a half of transfer credit.</p>

<p>Well, it’s one of those “colleges that change lives”, right? I guess it doesn’t need a lot of time to work its magic.</p>

<p>It seems your daughter has a passion and a direction that few kids her age have been able to make into a reality. It seems that her college search is going revolve around where she will feel she can integrate her interests and activities with the curriculum. As she has had some issues “fitting” in at high school which has led to stress to her, it is important when selecting a college which is more of a 24/7 environment than high school, that she picks one that she likes. </p>

<p>I suggest she visit a number of different sorts of colleges so she can find a “home” for herself. </p>

<p>As for highly selective colleges, it is difficult to say from a post how heavily her outside activities will figure in getting her admitted. Would the activities give her a pass on the test scores, recs, class ranK at such schools? That is the big question, and if you are thinking about schools such as the HPY et al, it’s really hard to say. I know a gifted young man who has published a series of books for kids in tough inner city schools who I thought was pretty danged special, but he was not accepted to the most selective schools. It’s difficult to gauge what such schools consider so terrific and unique that they will let the more traditional part of the academic profile go. It also depends on how interested the school is in that particular activity at the time. </p>

<p>When she visits a number of colleges and assesses them, she should have a selectivity range that includes schools that would accept her even if her EC were not so outstanding just in case it is does not have heavy impact on her admissions. It appears that her academic profile is strong enough that this will not limit her much at all.</p>

<p>^“Well, it’s one of those “colleges that change lives”, right? I guess it doesn’t need a lot of time to work its magic.” </p>

<p>Assuming magic is the method by which they change lives…</p>

<p>Earlham College in Inidana and Clark University in Mass. would be great for her.</p>

<p>I second cptofthehouse. Some kids will fit in at a lot of different schools, but others won’t. It sounds like the OP’s daughter is in the second category. I suggest she do overnight visits and attend classes at schools that sound good, so she can find the right place for herself. If possible, she should try to talk to people who are involved in her EC or something like it at the schools, so she can see if there are like-minded people for her to be with.</p>

<p>I should be clear that I’m not making an assessement of admissions odds. That is way too much work, even for one’s own kid, let alone to dive into the level of detail necessary to do that. I am merely trying to suggest that the top colleges and universities in this country (including places menioned like Swathmore and UChicago and Harvard) love students who have shown the kind of initiative to get their hands dirty with international work. I am also trying to show the OP’s daughter that she might very well fit in very nicely at many of these colleges.</p>

<p>For example, here are two international projects started recently by Swarthmore students, both of which won Clinton Global Initiative funding:</p>

<p>[Pemon</a> Health](<a href=“http://www.pemonhealth.org/]Pemon”>http://www.pemonhealth.org/)
[The</a> Village Education Project — Volunteer in Ecuador, Support Access to Free Education](<a href=“http://www.villageeducation.org/]The”>http://www.villageeducation.org/)</p>

<p>There are parents on this forum whose kids have done international NGO work and used it to great advantage in college admissions. On a state level, my daugther was involved in community service work that was the centerpiece of her college application – work that her high school knew almost nothing about beyond nominating her for one fo the national recognition programs.</p>

<p>What I am proposing is that you and your daughter begin to identify the organizations that do this kind of work at colleges – as both a tool to begin thinking about colleges and, later, as a resource for guidance.</p>

<p>northstarmom gave the link to the organization at harvard.</p>

<p>Here’s the link for Swarthmore’s:
[Swarthmore</a> College :: Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility :: About the Lang Center](<a href=“http://www.swarthmore.edu/x16049.xml]Swarthmore”>http://www.swarthmore.edu/x16049.xml)</p>

<p>Some colleges commit much more resources to this stuff than others. It is going to behoove your daughter to start figuring out which is which because those colleges that value this kind of endeavor highly are colleges where your daughter may flourish and where her application may be appreciated.</p>

<p>is your DD the religious type?</p>

<p>her interests kind of go right along with missionary work.</p>

<p>if she is religiously minded she might find more kids with a heart for her work at christian colleges.</p>

<p>I am thinking Pitzer and UCSC. I believe Pitzer relies more heavily on the interview than any other part of the ap.</p>

<p>UCSC has a place for everyone if they are admitted. OOS GPA requirement is a 3.5 so she should be oK from that standpoint. </p>

<p>Both schools embrace the individual and I agree that your D sounds fascinating.</p>

<p>Re: UCSC, I’m thinking the OP’s daughter might not have satisfied the a-g requirements. The UCs, even UCSC, are formulaic in their admissions decisions. A private school might be more flexible.</p>

<p>I do not think that the posters daughter will need to apply as a transfer student. One of my kids earned over 75 credits prior to entering college and same kid went in as a freshman. It depends on the school daughter applies. The most selective schools will admit as a freshman.</p>

<p>I am the OP–and I want to thank you all for taking the time to express so many great ideas.</p>

<p>We (our family) has absolutely no guidance in this area and daughter’s high school is useless. Despite the community affluence the school administration is chaotic, and the apathy seeps down from the top. The teachers complain that they have to use the same parking lot as the students, and the students “make fun of” the teachers’ cars, because the students are driving newer and nicer cars. But all that affluence doesn’t foster a great attitude, and our community is so transient that this year the school reported a 48% new student rate. That’s high! </p>

<p>I have to correct some of your assumptions: our daughter IS very academic. However, she has been frustrated by her negative learning environment. Even among AP/DE/IB students there is a great deal of drinking and drug use. In the “Honors” wing where she has classes two of her fellow “Honors” students (girls) were discovered defecating on the bathroom floor and smearing it all over the wall! One of these girls lives in our nieghborhood and her family has (up to this point) prided itself on being one of the rich movers- and shakers- in town. This is just the tip of the iceberg in the h/s!</p>

<p>So, your communal guidance is invaluable. We had believed that college credits are easily transferrable from public to private university, and vice versa. Many state schools are as highly ranked as private schools, so we never considered a problem with transfer credits. However, it seems we are wrong???</p>

<p>Our daughter’s intent is to graduate early, go to college over the summer and pick up a few college credits, work part-time (to earn money) through the fall while still attending the c/c. In winter when she turns 18 she wants to take 6 months off and travel throughout the world while continuing work on her project and meeting with NGO and Peace Corp groups. Then she hopes to return back to the US and pick up where she left off, academically. </p>

<p>This does not follow the traditional teen path and we (parents) are concerned: how will she adjust? Obviously she will not fit into a Greek- centered, isolated campus. </p>

<p>Some of you have mentioned international education and that is a valid option. Daughter speaks decent Spanish and she has no problem going to school in a foreign country. Is there a list of American schools that have overseas campuses or affiliation with foreign universities? </p>

<p>Thanks! You “guys” are our guidance counselor!</p>

<p>If she is already involved in an important international activity that requires meeting with Peace Corps groups, then I doubt any kind of college environment, or taking a break in the middle of college, will faze her. She sounds like a kid that would fit in anywhere…the question would be whether she enjoys it or not. (Why would you worry about her not following the “traditional teen path” as you put it…since it appears that she already hasn’t?) </p>

<p>I may have missed it, but if you could provide her GPA and SAT/ACT scores, it will help folks here recommend college for her. No use recommending something that would not be an academic fit.</p>