<p>Okay I'm deciding to drop out of school when I'm 16 and work until I have enough money to go to a local technical school. For technical school, I think I'll do graphic design. After I get enough money, I'd love to go to college and then go to a selective grad school (for either the arts, math, or engineering, Yale and MIT would be my super reaches, RISD a reach, etc.). I'm doing this because my home life isn't the best and I won't be able to afford college by myself if I just go to high school. Nor do I have the grades to get a full ride (I got terrible grades freshman year). How should I prepare to make sure I don't get behind though? I have a lot of AP books at home that I'll read and I'm passionate about statistics, applied math, art (drawing/crafts), and creating things. I also might participate in art contests/competitions. I'm posting this here because many of you have experience. Also, is this possible? I'm ready to work as hard as possible to achieve these goals.</p>
<p>Can you explain whether you mean a technical high school or a technical school geared to high school grads (post-secondary).</p>
<p>Leaving high school can work for some but generally only with a lot of family support and help. Colleges will sometimes consider “outlier” candidates who have some intense commitment and dedication to something like art or music, but since your grades in freshman year were not the best, your choices, after dropping out, might be more limited.</p>
<p>From what I see, it can be hard to make enough money to get ahead at your age. Would you still live at home? Even when you live at home, it is hard to save a lot at the pay leve you would be at.</p>
<p>Is there a vocational/technical high school in your area?</p>
<p>Or does your high school have courses and extracurriculars in the specific areas you are interested in?</p>
<p>Do you have any mentors inside or outside of school who can help make school more bearable and help you develop your talents?</p>
<p>I am sure you are going to hear this from most people, but I think you should stay in school and finish high school. I say that as a parent who has welcomed alternative paths for my kids, so it is not a knee-jerk reaction to just urge you to do what everyone expects. I don’t know much about you, but that would be my recommendation based on the little you have told us.</p>
<p>If you can find a better school for you, that might help. But i any case, finishing will enable you to work on your talents and skills, get your GPA up, and maintain some stability and connection in a difficult family situation.</p>
<p>Hope this makes sense.</p>
<p>I mean a technical school geared to high school grads. </p>
<p>I see, that does make sense. </p>
<p>I’m planning to stay at home until I turn 18/19. I think I can get a job at a local grocery store and make about 5,000-7,000 dollars a year? A graphic design program would cost around 5,000-6,000 dollars and take about 1-2 years. I’d have to get a GED first though. </p>
<p>Yeah, there’s a technical school that’s really close to where I live. Though my high school does offer a few career courses that I’m not interested in. </p>
<p>Not really, I usually rely on how-to guides on the Internet. </p>
<p>Could you explain why? I’m thinking about it but I’m not sure. </p>
<p>Yeah, I’d like the stability part of high school. Maybe I should just change schools. </p>
<p>It does, thanks for answering.</p>
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<p>You would probably be able to afford a community college if you finish high school. If you work part-time while you go to community college, as well as the summers, you could manage it in three, if not two years. Then you would be able to transfer to a state university to finish your undergrad degree. Have you looked into your local community college? I wouldn’t be surprised if they had some interesting courses that you could take while getting some of the classes required by a university at the same time.</p>
<pre><code>What do you know about the demand for graphic designers in your area? I ask because a lot of the for-profit schools, where you pay for a certificate in something like graphic design, don’t really help you find work. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but doing that in order to eventually go to college and a selective grad school doesn’t seem realistic to me. Going to a community college for two or three years while working part-time would put you in a better position to go to college and eventually grad school. Good luck to you.
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<p>Hmm maybe. I’m not sure. Though how would I be able to afford tuition at a state university(which is around 20,200 dollars per year)?? My local community college doesn’t offer many courses. It’s part of this four college system and the college that offers the most courses is far away from both my house and the place I’d most likely get a job at. </p>
<p>Barely anything lol. I can’t find any information online. But that sounds reasonable. I’m not sure what else I’m supposed to do though. And thanks!</p>
<p>Your local CC must offer enough courses to be able to transfer as a junior to a state school. I’d be very surprised if this isn’t true, although it may take longer than 2 years if you are also working.
The combination of your working as well as any financial aid that you can receive could get you through the last two years at a state college. I know it’s hard, but a lot of students do work part-time all through college. They also receive financial aid from the college, or from federal grants. Look into it. If your parents are very low income, you probably will qualify.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/20/student-aid--amounts-increasing/2677237/[/url]”>http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/20/student-aid--amounts-increasing/2677237/</a></p>
<p>Definitely don’t drop out of high school. Your comments are showing me that you need to do a lot more research about what is out there for your future. Stay in school and graduate. There will be opportunities for more education at that time, and you will have more maturity and a better sense of where you want to go and what you want to be doing with your life. Hang in there, and good luck!</p>
<p>Don’t go the GED route. Lots of colleges don’t accept students with GEDs. Of course, there are many more that do, but why limit your options? Moreover, you may not be eligible for the GED. Some states now have age limitations; you can’t TAKE the GED unless you’re well past the normal age for high school graduation. </p>
<p>Second, there are some colleges that don’t count freshman year grades at all in making admission decisions. There are many more that weigh them a lot less than your grades in the last few years of high school. So, don’t assume you are out of the running for a good 4 year university. </p>
<p>If you go the CC route–preferably AFTER getting a high school diploma–check out articulation agreements before enrolling. These are agreements between CCs and colleges which state the conditions under which you can transfer credits from the CC to the college. Not all CC courses will count towards a degree at a 4 year college; your aim is to max# of credits that will transfer. Here is a link to the page describing articulation agreements at Sullivan County (NY) Community College. [Sullivan</a> County Community College - Transfer and Articulation Agreements](<a href=“http://www.sunysullivan.edu/academics/articulation.php]Sullivan”>http://www.sunysullivan.edu/academics/articulation.php) If you click on the link, you’ll see that Sullivan has different articulation agreements with different colleges for different majors. </p>
<p>That said, check out the CCs for technical courses like those offered by the technical school you are considering. I don’t know about elsewhere, but here in NYC, the CCs of CUNY offer a lot of vocational tracks for a fraction of the cost of that of most of the private technical schools. For example, this is a link to the professional graphic design course offered by Sullivan County Community College. [Sullivan</a> County Community College - Program Detail](<a href=“http://www.sunysullivan.edu/academics/program_detail.php?program_code=GD]Sullivan”>http://www.sunysullivan.edu/academics/program_detail.php?program_code=GD)</p>
<p>If you are presentable, articulate and like kids, there are some other options. My D had a good friend whose parents wouldn’t pay for college. She finished high school. She got a job as a nanny for two years.(It did help that she was the oldest in a large family and she had lots of experience taking care of her sibs.) It was a live-in position, so she didn’t have to worry about rent and food. She only worked Mon-Friday. On most weekends, she worked at a different job. By the end of her two years, she had quite a nest egg–not enough to pay for 4 years of college, but enough to give her options re moving, paying the deposit for a rental apartment, etc.</p>
<p>It’s tough out there. You don’t want to make it tougher for yourself, and a GED is often not looked upon favorably. Dropping out of high school is not looked upon favorably either. So you put yourself behind doing these things, unless you have come up with some striking reason to do so. </p>
<p>I say this because our cousin’s kids took this route. They are still paying dearly for that decision. Yes, there are situations where it could work out, but unless you have something really unusual in mind, the odds are not good, and for most of us, sticking with the odds is the way to go. </p>
<p>Some better ides have been presented to you here. Please talk to your school counselor, and see what your best options are. Dropping out is not the way to go most of the time, the vast majority of times.</p>
<p>Stay in high school.</p>
<p>An interesting post. Your thoughts about dropping out of high school after 10th grade followed by your desire to attend MIT or Yale in the future demonstrate how little you understand about your present situation.</p>
<p>Stay in high school and graduate. Speak to a guidance counselor now about your thoughts and desires for your future.</p>
<p>What’s the point of going to school though? I won’t afford college (any kind) and I’d have to live with my parents for 4 more years if I’m going to community college. And that’s interesting @jonri.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why you think you can’t go to college if you are low income. Low income families are exactly the families who get financial aid. And you can work.
Community College is affordable. If you’re working and going to school, you won’t be home much anyway, so living at home will be easier. And you’ll be an adult at 18 and able to have more freedom regarding decisions, life choices, etc.<br>
Stick it out. At 15, you already sound like you’ve given up and are just trying to escape- yet you said in your first post that you would work as hard as it takes to reach your goals. Staying in school is hard, but you’re up to it. Once you start making a little money working at the local grocery store and classes are but a memory, it will seem impossible to go back and finish. You will be limiting yourself and your future. It’s one thing to not have a college degree, but a high school diploma is necessary for most jobs that will get you in a position to make more than minimum wage.</p>
<p>Do you really expect anyone in a Parents forum on a College bulliten board to suggest you drop out of high school? Let alone so you can go to Yale for grad school?</p>
<p>In most states, low income students get free (or near free) tuition. You certainly can get an after school job and save money now. That will give you a head start. In most states, even the rich don’t pay $20k per year for tuition alone. I bet your CC costs less than 3k and your State College cost less than $10k. A bill you could cover working part time if you live at home.</p>
<p>Most private schools heavily subsidize the tuition of well qualified low income applicants.</p>
<p>Work hard and get the best grades you can in high school. That’s your best shot at a subsidized college education.</p>
<p>As I tell my kids, you get 80 years to be an adult. Don’t grow up too fast. </p>
<p>Talk to a guidance counselor at your school or an adult with a good job you can trust. Do the work, follow the path and thing will turn out fine. Honestly - stick with it.</p>
<p>I have no idea. I’ll end up with a 3.1-3.4 gpa by senior year if I keep going to high school which is terrible. I can’t study at home. I’m so old right now (halfway done with sophomore year) so I’m not sure if I’ll end up at any good school. Maybe I should just work at my local grocery store for most of my life and stick with reading/drawing as hobbies to make me happy. Dreams don’t really happen anyway. Reality matters more.</p>
<p>If you drop out, your family may kick you out of the house, which would then mean that all your minimum wage salary will go towards basic survival.</p>
<p>If you think a 3.1-3.4 GPA is “terrible” then you need a swift reality check. Sure, it’s not Yale-MIT level, but it’s perfectly fine for many good schools.</p>
<p>Part of growing up is precisely the development of more realistic dreams - or, if you are going to have a very ambitious dream, not making the achievement of it into the sole measure by which you judge success in your life. Instead, you should think of more realistic goals - like graduating high school, getting a part time job, improving your grades, etc. </p>
<p>Frankly, most people don’t wind up going to Yale for grad school, including people who, at 15, had far fewer obstacles to overcome than you do. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hold on to it as a dream, but it does mean that you shouldn’t make major life decisions based on the likelihood of attaining that goal. Maybe you won’t wind up in Yale, but will graduate high school, do well in a CC, transfer to a perfectly respectable 4 year state school and then pursue an MA and find a job in a field that you really like. This might take longer for you than it does for people of more means (or it might not, if you qualify for aid and grants), but it is still achievable.</p>
<p>All of this will be easier if you have a HS degree. Dropping out might mean that you have more money in your pocket by age 18 and can move out sooner, but then, it might not - how attractive is a HS drop out to prospective employers? You may do better working part-time while attending school than finding a full-time job. Even if you did get a full-time job, however, dropping out would still be an extremely short-sighted decision. You would MAYBE make more money for two years, and then have lower earning potential afterwards, and have more hoops to jump through in order to qualify for college admissions. To put it bluntly, whatever your current intentions, dropping out now makes it more likely that you will never graduate from high school or college. </p>
<p>Please stop acting as if you have no agency in this matter unless you do something drastic. Take things slowly: work hard in school, begin earning some money, and make sure you educate yourself about options for financing a college education. Just because you don’t qualify for merit aid doesn’t mean that a decent college is not and will never in the reasonably near future be a viable option.</p>
<p>Finishing high school would be the best thing but:</p>
<p>[Job</a> Corps](<a href=“Job Corps | Careers Begin Here”>Job Corps | Careers Begin Here)</p>
<p>I actually know an adult who had a bad home life and went into Job Corps for a couple of years. They feed house and clothe you while helping you get your GED and job training.</p>
<p>Go do some informational interviews with working graphic designers and ask for advice about breaking into the field and then <em>sustaining</em> a career in the field. Gather a lot of advice. Then, shape a plan.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why you think it’s too late to get things done as a H.S. sophomore.</p>
<p>Have you taken any standardized tests, yet, to see how you do?</p>