I am currently a high school junior at a public school (San Lorenzo Valley High School, Felton, CA). I have an overall gpa of 3.95. I am currently enrolled in 7 classes: Honors Physics, Spanish 3, U.S. History, P.E., Yearbook (I am yearbook editor), A.P. English, and Math Analysis (Pre-Calculus). I come from a low income family so I have about a 50% chance of going to a junior college straight out of hs for the first two years anyways because of financial inabilities to go to the universities. I have seriously been considering independent studies lately because I am not happy with my life. High school is a stressful environment for me, and I feel as if I have no friends. I am 16 years old and have more stress and work in my life than most adults I know. I want to have some fun and be able to look back on my childhood and say I enjoyed it, instead of having to say I was a work-a-holic. However, if I choose to do independent studies I will be automatically eliminating my chances of getting into a university straight out of hs. Although I could still transfer to a UC after my GE at a Jr. College. I am torn. I want a more relaxed and fun childhood; I am not happy. Can I still be successful if I choose independent studies? Please Help.
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First and foremost...Congratulations on your academic achievements!!!
You have several things going on in your post, so I am going to try and get to them all. First, talk to your guidance counselor about your path to college and your current class load. In talking with my daughter's (straight As and on the top tier track for math) English teacher and she says that AP English isn't a must. If your work load is too much that the other AP courses are more important.
Don't stress about whether you go to a junior college first or straight to University. As an employer I look at if someone finished college, not that they started at a Junior college and then finished at a University. All of your upper division courses that will be part of your major will be at a University and that is all that matters. I do care if someone has gone to many universities for a single degree.
Don't discount scholarships and grants. There are so many out there and some of them are really bizarre, i.e. red heads who want to major in French literature. You and your guidance counselor can start looking now for all of the various scholarships. Also, when you apply to colleges, you can find out what scholarships the department you plan on majoring offer.
If your school hasn't been taking you on field trips to different Universities and Community Colleges, I recommend you set up a tour at one or two and talk to them about your concerns. After all, they are the ones who have the real answers on the after high school quesitons.
High school is a stressful environment for many students. Given the scores of the overall student body of your school, you are in a small percentage of high achieving students. Feeling as if you have no friends is not uncommon for your situation. You will feel better if you focus on developing 1 or 2 friendships with other high achieving students. I wouldn't be surprised if you actually feel more comfortable with adults.
When you get to the University level it will be easier for you to find people who are more like you. This is actually true for everyone.
I am not biased one way or another with independent study versus traditional school. I home school my youngest and my oldest is in traditional as at her level, she is better challenged there.
As for being a work-a-holic, that is a choice you make as opposed to something being imposed on you. You have the ability, with your school counselor, to make some changes in your schedule to give you more time.
It would be good for you to really look at how you think your life will be different if you do independent study and do a "reality" check to see if you are being honest with yourself.
You are and will be successful if that is what you choose for your life. How you get there is not relevant.
Best wishes.
I been home schooled for the past 2 years, and I hated it. I mean yeah it was alright to not have to get up early and to be able to do your schoolwork outside or on your bed or whatever, but I had NO friends, and NO life whatsoever. I really wish I would have just stayed in public school. In the end it is up to you, if you are afraid, then just change schools or go to a private school. I am going back to school this coming year. =] And I know it gets annoying with everyone saying "You will miss out on everything" but seriously you will and like I said I wish I never would have started homeschooling! See if you can dual-enroll in a college nearby, you will still have to finish senior year, but you will have a head start in college. When you graduate, you can transfer your credits from that college to a bigger one. That's what I'm doing. Just check with a junior college nearby. Btw I will be a sophomore.
Our daughter home-schooled all the way through high school here in Arizona and is now a freshman at Arizona State University on a merit scholarship that more than covers tuition. The key to this kind of success is 1) doing well on a standardized test (SAT or ACT) and 2) having extensive documentation of your high school education.
In your case, the documentation up through your exit from public school will be your public high school transcript. For the rest of your high school education (home school or what you call independent studies), you need to well-document the courses you take and their content. Such courses could be from various sources: community college (which is great because they might be dual credit), a home school curriculum provider (like A Beka), even another public high school that offers on-line courses.
Choose your courses carefully based on previous research into the entrance requirements of the university/college(s) you wish to attend. Make sure you cover all the core-course bases and check what they may want for hands-on lab classes.
Don't worry about not having an official high school diploma - the universities don't care as long as you have the back-up documentation of your studies. My daughter doesn't have a diploma. Once she graduates from the university, no one will ever ask about high school.
Good luck.