<p>This is kind of long. I’ll try to sum it up in a paragraph at the very end.</p>
<p>I’m new to these forums, and with only a brief skimming over a few pages, I already see that this type of thread is pretty common. That’s okay, I don’t believe that everybody can benefit from a one-size-fits-all, read-the-FAQ type of thread when it comes to college. However, you may not feel the same, so feel free to ignore this thread if you want to, but if you think you can help, I’d really appreciate it.</p>
<p>First off, is there a certain age you have to be before attending college? I ask this only because I considered starting this paragraph with something to the effect of “I’m not of age to attend college yet”, but I realized I have no idea if there even is an age you have to be to attend college. I’m sure they want you to have your diploma, which leads me to think that you have to be 18. However, I know a lot of homeschooled kids get GEDs when they’re through with their schooling, and since you can also get your GED at 16 years of age (at least here in Missouri, I don’t know about the compulsory school age in other states), wouldn’t that mean that a sixteen year old could get their GED and apply for college?</p>
<p>The only reason I ask this is because I’m not 100% sure how college works. Do you absolutely have to be a certain age? Do you absolutely have to have a HS diploma or GED? Do you absolutely have to have a certain amount of credits? Or do any colleges ever make any exceptions?</p>
<p>Next, I’d like to kind of describe my situation and what I’m looking to do when I get older, and why I’m considering going to college.</p>
<p>Right now I’m 16 years old. If I attend public school this year, I’ll be a junior. I’ve attended public school every year from Kindergarten to 9th grade. In 9th grade, I withdrew from the public school district after the first semester, to be homeschooled. I had originally planned to continue homeschooling for the rest of my high school years, but something came up and I returned after the first semester of my 10th grade year. I had to have a meeting with someone in the district who said if I could pass every class (he said all I had to get was a D in each class, even though I knew I could do better, and I did) then he would give me credit for all of my 10th grade year as well as the semester of 9th grade I missed. So, I passed all my classes and, if he did as he said he would, all of my credits are caught up now.</p>
<p>I turned 16 in April of this year, so up until that point I was required by law to attend some sort of school. However, that law no longer applies to me, and I could - if I wanted - ignore registration next month and not attend public school anymore at all. Throughout this past semester, I had been planning to go ahead and finish my high school years in the public school, but now I’ve changed my mind. (This will all make sense and fit together eventually.)</p>
<p>Okay, so. What I want to do “when I grow up” is be a translator. Either the technical kind who translate manuals and documents and things of that sort, or the kind who actually work in person with people like new students at a school, people who get arrested, patients in hospitals, etc., to translate what they’re saying. I might even do both.</p>
<p>I’m looking for the college that is going to best suit me as far as getting degrees in languages (I think I’m probably going to start out with Spanish because of all the immigrants in the country [whether or not it is a good idea to provide more translators instead of just trying to have immigrants learn English is a discussion for another thread], but I’m eventually going to learn all of the languages of the United Nations as well as the five languages usually highest in demand [I forget which ones they are right now]).</p>
<p>I’ve made a very strong effort to use the Internet as much as possible in my search for a college, but it’s been incredibly overwhelming. I cannot seem to find any way to narrow down my choices because I cannot seem to find any actual information on specific colleges’ websites about their classes, etc. I figured a forum would be my best bet to get some personalized feedback from people, but even this forum was overwhelming. There’s a lot to consider and a lot to plan for, and I have basically no idea how to get started. The guidance counselors at my high school have proven to be incompetent, at least in my experience, and I don’t mean to insult them, they just have not been of any help at all to me and have been of very very little help to my friends, from what I’ve heard. Also, the foreign language classes offered in high schools around here are a joke. If you want to really learn anything, you have to take them for the entire four years and that’s ONLY so that by the time you reach, say, French III or IV, the kids are in it because they WANT to be in it, not because they HAVE to. Once you get past immature idiots distracting the teacher and generally bringing any sort of learning to a grinding halt, you’re already a junior or senior in high school and you haven’t had adequate enough education in the language (thanks to aforementioned idiots) to understand what is going on in the III and IV levels of the class.</p>
<p>Also, I’m not sure if this is a stupid question or not, because, again, I don’t really know very much about college yet, BUT: Am I out of luck in trying to find a college that deals specifically with foreign languages? I understand that math and science and geography are very important and all that, but my career’s focus is pretty much going to be translation (I understand a lot of people make career plans that don’t go the way they want them to, but I’m not trying to say I’m “definitely going to be in the NBA” or something, I think it’s pretty reasonable for me to expect that things will work out as far as becoming at translator) and I don’t want other classes getting in the way of my education.</p>
<p>Because of that last paragraph (which, technically these aren’t paragraphs, they’re more like groups of text), I’d also like to ask something else: If I can’t find a college that will allow me to take only foreign language classes and not core classes, are there any other types of institutions (i.e. not colleges or universities) that do focus solely on foreign language instruction and offer some sort of proof that you learned there? This is why I want to go to college: I want something to show that I have actually received proper instruction in my language(s) of choice, because I assume that will probably help me get a better job.</p>
<p>So, going back to whether or not to attend public school for the next two years: should I? Are there any colleges or other institutions of education that will accept someone with a 10th grade education about geography, science, and math, but who is aspiring to become fluent in foreign languages? I don’t intend for this to be a “no-brainer” or anything, I’m asking because I honestly do not know. If I can find a college or other institute that will teach me only foreign languages, then I would rather spend the next two years either: getting my GED and then doing independent study in the language(s) of my choice to reach as much fluency as possible before going to college, OR, homeschooling to at least have the “basics” of my core classes taught to me, but putting my real focus on foreign languages anyway.</p>
<p>As for the last paragraph summary: (Note: Some of these questions may sound like no-brainers, but if you read the rest of my post then hopefully you will understand I actually am intelligent, just uneducated as far as college goes)</p>
<li>Is there an age requirement to attend college? (i.e. no college ever takes anyone under 18, etc.)</li>
<li>Is a high school diploma or GED -required- to get into college? (i.e. no college ever accepts anyone based on personal meetings with them and recognizing their ability and potential [I know that may sound unrealistic, to meet with them and get accepted, but I have no experience to base it on, so I figure it’s worth a shot])</li>
<li>Do you absolutely have to have a certain amount of credits? (basically the same as number 2)</li>
<li>Am I out of luck in trying to find a college that deals specifically with foreign languages and doesn’t require you to take math, science, and geography courses?</li>
<li>If I can’t find a college that will allow me to take only foreign language classes and not core classes, are there any other types of institutions (i.e. not colleges or universities) that do focus solely on foreign language instruction and offer some sort of proof that you learned there?</li>
</ol>
<p>That’s about it. If you read this all the way, thank you very much. I really do appreciate it. And, again, I understand I’m probably a good target for flames because all of my questions are probably stupid (and I say this because right now I am under the assumption that 1. you have to be 18 to go to college, 2. you have basically no chance of getting in if you have a GED instead of a high school diploma, 3. all colleges require you to take math, science, and geography courses as well as your major, 4. there are no learning institutions that focus solely on learning a foreign language and respectfully disregarding the other core subjects (math, science, geography/history), and if all of these assumptions are true then my questions would therefore be pretty stupid, however they are only assumptions and I could be wrong), but I would really appreciate it if you would just offer helpful, unbiased (e.g. about whether or not I should attend high school for my junior and senior years) advice and personal college recommendations if you have any.</p>
<p>Well, look at that. I made a whole new paragraph after my summary. 
Scroll up a bit to the numbered list if you missed it.</p>