I’m currently a high school senior already accepted and committed to a performing arts college in California. It’s a 2-year program in which you can earn your associate’s degree in performing arts and you can get an associate’s degree in “Gen Ed” through partnership with an online community college to have the option to transfer to a 4-year university afterwards. I’ve done quite horrendous in high school (2.1 GPA) with no honors or AP classes; I’ve been in mostly lower-level and standard courses my whole high school career due to the fact that I just simply don’t understand any of the material in class. It’s not simply an, “I’m weak in one subject but strong in another” sort of thing — I’m weak in all core subjects: math, reading, etc., and it’s been like that my whole life even though I never miss assignments and my teachers usually say I’m one of the hardest, most committed workers in the class. I usually stay after school most days, and I put in about 40 hours on average of help from either a teacher or a tutor, and I still manage to squeak by with mostly C’s and D’s while the majority of the rest of the class roll out of bed and scores A’s continuously — as about 40% of the students from my school are on the “A” honor roll.
The admissions to the program is contingent based on SAT/ACT scores instead of high school GPA, and the requirements are not high at all. They only ask for an 18 in english and a 21 in reading to not have to take remedial classes. You can also skip the first required math class if you score 23 on math. My ACT scores are currently 21 C, 24 E, 22 M, 18 R, and 21 S — and I’m pretty confident I’ll raise my math score one point since I keep scoring 24-26 in practice tests. Reading is my biggest weak suit on the test, but I’ll talk about that in a different post.
Honestly, if the ACT score requirements are this low (in my reach), than it can’t be “that” hard, can it? I mean, they wouldn’t accept students that they didn’t think could do the work, right? If I can score these scores on the ACT, I believe any average middle schooler can roll out of bed and score similar to that to be quite honest. In fact, my 12 year old sister, who is dyslexic, and currently has a semester GPA of about 2.7, took a practice ACT test out of the “big red book” (one section at a time different days), and without any prep whatsoever, scored 20 E, 17 M, 16 R, and 18 S, which is an 18 composite — one whole point higher than the first time I took it April of my junior year. My math skills are at a 7th grade level at best and my reading comprehension skills are at a 4th grade level. Yes, I was tested for actual, “grade level” measurements.
Also, in case you were wondering for those that actually read this far instead of clicking away laughing at how horrendously low my numbers are, I do have learning disabilities. I have autism, ADHD, short-term memory loss, and an estimated IQ of 72 (not sure how much overall IQ has to do with it; just thought I’d throw that in the equation), to let you know my struggle in school is not a case of simple, “laziness.”
I just want to know from anyone who is willing to help or give me advice instead of bash me for the fact my GPA is less than 3.9 UW and my ACT scores are less than 33 — as I understand this is College Confidential and not Yahoo Answers.
My main question is for anyone who has taken gen ed’s online, what should I expect and how hard is it? This is important to me because I want to transfer to either USC or UCLA after I complete my two-year degree and I feel like I’m not really in control of my grades, and I don’t want to not get in because of a “bad roll of the brain genetic dice.”
Thanks!