I’ll do that over the public high school if it comes down to it. I’m hoping I can convince my parents to allow me to do option #1 with modifications.
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Is a compromise possible, where you enroll in the high school and take math and maybe science as well at the university via DE?
Also, did you take the ACT or preACT? How did you score on each section?
Ok I talked to my mom about it for a couple of minutes.
Their reasoning is still a (little) silly, but it’s not ridiculous.
Basically, they went ahead and did a lot of stuff to prepare for me going to option #2 and want me to stick to the commitment. I guess they were trying to scare me with the public high school after I tried talking to them, but that really isn’t the option they are pushing for. They’ve already invested into option #2, to the tune of about 800$ (appliances, room fees, etc) and it looked to them like I was randomly ditching it. That was the problem.
The reason option #2 was considered from the get-go was because I mentioned it to them in the 9th grade. They’ve indicated that from there, that was the option they believed I was going after. This school year they had me apply to the school telling me that I should just see what happens. I think they mistook my dislike at the time based on the for option #2 as teenage nervousness or cold feet.
The real reason was that I’d actually seriously just looked at what the school options were, besides the general thing of “free college credit” and decided I didn’t really like it. I didn’t exactly have a choice though.
They somewhat made me apply, but I honestly did my best because at the time I didn’t have a job and option #1 would’ve required them to shell out 20k over the two years. Option #1 just wasn’t feasible.
I got into option #2 and accepted it. I still wanted the first option, since from the 8th grade I’ve been targeting doing the classes at the state flagship, but I couldn’t really ask them to pay out 20 thousand. That just wasn’t in the cards with how the family finances had changed in the months before that.
About one month after that, I ended up getting into the state flagship program. Option #1 was more feasible (since I was in the actual university), but it still was reliant on them using huge amounts of their resources. I mentioned it again to them, but they pretty much confirmed what I was thinking.
Then another month after that, I was looking for a job. They told me they’d help with one summer class, but I needed to get employed. I didn’t like it, but it was reasonable enough. On my last two applications, I just directly went in and asked about employment. This worked much faster, and I got a job in a day!
I hadn’t really considered what this meant yet, since I had pretty much accepted option #2. Then in the last couple of weeks, I got fully taken of training and got notified that they’d put me in for more hours after I turned 16. Even just being fully into the position raised my income about 50 percent, without any changes to my hours.
What changed things was that when it came time to schedule classes, the class offerings seemed to be significantly more limited than what I had expected. Option #1 came up again, and this time I seriously introduced it to my parents.
The finances had been solved with some new state legislation and the fact that I now had a stable job. I really like the state university, and I love having a job and contributing to my own future. It wasn’t some privileged abstract idea that would force my parents to give up 10 percent of their income anymore.
To my parents, it looked like I just decided to give up admission to the state’s best high school on a whim after hearing that they wouldn’t have a few courses… which they thought was crazy.
I’m going to try and explain it from this angle to them now that I get where they are coming from. If commitment is their concern, I’ll try to explain to them my reasoning and what caused the shift.
I’m not exactly sure that they’ll let me go with my plan, but I do think that at the very least they’ll be more willing to compromise if go about it this way. Fingers crossed!
EDIT: They really weren’t kidding about the public high school though, that was where they had decided I should go if I wasn’t going to stay committed. I still think that part is a little distasteful.
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Well, if they invested $800 in your going to Option 2, I would take it, considering it is a very good option and lots of students have had excellent admission results attending that program.
Revising your program to really set you up for the best universities in the US/the world(I removed the # because you wouldn’t get credit at top colleges anyway)
11th 1st Semester
- Advanced Topics in CS
- Electric Circuits 1 + Lab
- Calculus III
- Composition I
- Foreign Language or History
11th 2nd Semester
- Computer Programming III
- Elementary Differential Equations
- Electric Circuits II + Lab
- Composition II
- Foreign Language or History
12th 1st semester
- Discrete Mathematics
- Graphics Programming
- Speech
- Social Science (Anthropology, Geography, Gender Studies..) or Leadership
- Calculus-based Physics
12th 2nd semester
- Linear Algebra
- Game programming
- Web programming
- Environnemental Engineering or Science
- Art (graphic design? Art appreciation?)
It should still include quite a few courses you would really enjoy and enough to cover any university’s entrance requirements : each year you’d have 6 advanced STEM classes that would be right up your alley, 2 classes you recognize as necessary, and 2 for selective universities/to discover something new.
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The fees are refundable, they were not deposits. The other major purchase was a small fridge, but they got it early since our actual fridge is broken.
I mean we can still send it back, I just don’t know if we can since we would be throwing away a bunch of food if we did.
And yes, this is still a great option. I’m going to modify my plan to be more balanced regardless. I want option #1, but I’m definitely doing option #2 over a public high school at the end of the day. Doing the opposite would be ridiculous.
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Okay that makes more sense 
I thought you were being quite careless throwing $800 away 
(especially considering you have a job so you know that $800 isn’t play money).
However, in your own words, how would you explain the benefit of Option 1, vs. option 2 (beside being able to earn money developing people/service skills ..) ?
The about 14 thousand I’ll have from the job after school expenses, that I can use for further education.
To tell a little story, the thing that first got me started in STEM was (ironically) game programming. I did everything I could programming wise, but I quickly figured out Algebra 1 and Physical Science weren’t sufficient for the complex games I wanted to create. I ended up studying STEM extensively pretty much so that I could go back to making games, but I ended up liking the STEM more than the games.
I got three things out of the experience though. One, making projects is expensive. Two, managing development is difficult. Three, my current programming skills. My favorite experience from it was learning from a real application. It’s a different feeling learning how to implement classes for AP CSA than learning them because you have a combat system you want to build.
The same principle still applies despite my changes in interests. I want to utilize my academic skills, and I know I’ll grow them faster with real experience. For the fields I’m interested in, this means hands on projects.
Unfortunately, 8th grade me wasn’t wrong. Bringing meaningful projects to completion is expensive. Thousands of dollars level expensive. In the real world, this comes from material, equipment, and labor costs.
Fortunately, my job pays thousands of dollars and I have a great schedule that doesn’t interfere with my academics. This means that I can explore pretty much whatever concepts I want practically over the next two years. That’s the driving factor behind why I want to do option 1.
Disclaimer:
This isn’t to say there aren’t cheaper projects I could do material/labor wise, and my original plan was to be a lot more frugal (small scale only). The real problem with option 2 is the equipment. I just can’t see the residential high school allowing (or buying) me to just use a soldering iron, welding machine, laser cutter, 3D printer, DC power supply, etc. I’d be substantially limited in the scope and type of projects I could do.
And of course I’m going to be responsible about how I spend. Just because I have the money doesn’t mean I’ll spend it all. I’m going to make sure that I have around 5000-6000 in savings going into college, which I’ll adjust based on my FA.
Anything I don’t need for college is fair game though!
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Can you check out the selective HS website?
If the website doesn’t indicate anything, perhaps politely contact the relevant Dept Chair?
Nowadays these HS often have a “makerspace” with whiteboards, tools, a robotics arena, 3D printers… So that students can work on projects and apply what they learned in their STE(A)M classes. They may not be large scale but I’d be surprised if they didn’t have some material already.
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There are two mentions of it on their site. It doesn’t say how big it is or what it has.
Now I’m a little miffed you mentioned this. I definitely wouldn’t have access to the same kinds of materials and equipment, but it’d still be something. You are making my choice harder!
One thing I definitely wouldn’t have is savings going into college though.
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You’re a pretty good writer!
Also check out these schools: Members (at least, the privates that give good aid)
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Is choice 1 covered (financially) or would there be an out of pocket cost to your parents?
A big difference I see between choice 1 and 2, beside keeping your job to save money for college, is that choice 1 you stay at home with your family and choice 2 is a residential school.
I imagine the residential school is more contained and has definite college admission results, such that attending is not only an honor but a chance at many colleges other high schools don’t offer.
Option 1 sounds likely much riskier to your parents: you won’t have a college adviser, your time will be very unstructured, everything will rest on them and on you.
Wrt the financial aspect, you should run the NPC on these, including the last 2:
MIT/Caltech/Stanford/Olin/Cornell/UIUC/GTech
Which are affordable? Which aren’t?
Do you need your job’s income&savings to attend college?
Could you simply work during the summer and breaks (though you will likely need those to rest& recuperate from the residential school?)
You can politely email the person in charge, explain what you’ve been doing, and ask what they have, how they support students’ projects…
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It’s my perspective that the majority of the risk falls on me. If I screw up, I’m the one who will have to deal with it. If things go well, I’m the one who will benefit the most.
This kind of situation is precisely what I’ll have to deal with when I go off to college. It’ll be my own choices that determine my own outcomes. No matter how things go at the state flagship, I can guarantee that I’ll come out of it better prepared to be an adult than if I went somewhere that all the risk was pushed onto someone else. That difference in maturity will make me better prepared to succeed at places like Caltech or MIT, even if I was weaker academically.
In my view, situations that force you to take responsibility dramatically increase your capability. There just isn’t a better way to grow up.
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There isn’t an out-of-pocket cost to my parents. There are some specific ways to leverage state policy to ensure this, but they ultimately place no burden on my parents beyond about an hour of paperwork. Actually, with the modifications proposed (taking more humanities classes), the COA would be covered about 92 percent by the state.
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Please understand that your chances to attend either one of these universities is very small. They receive far more applicants than they can admit. Even kids with 4.0, 1600 SATs and national level awards are rejected every year. When the time comes, you’ll need to have a balanced list of schools of varying admission chances. You may very well end up at your state flagship. Good luck to you!
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Thank you! I’ll keep the chances at top schools in mind when it comes time for me build an application list.
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You’ll start with 2-3 schools you know you’ll get into no question, that are a good fit and that you like, plus of course within the budget set by your parents.
This would likely be your state flagship, perhaps UAlabama, perhaps ASU, perhaps UAz, perhaps other colleges that have what you want through upper level classes, professor’s research, and honors college. These are the hardest colleges to find because they must have things you like about them and must be good fits for your ambitions even if they’re not the big names you’re dreaming of. So you need to identify what exactly you like about the big names beside their prestige and exclusivity (which you’ve already said… Don’t matter to you so I imagine you see my point here ): is it opportunities for research? Financial support for student projects? Close contact with professors? Hands on learning? Abstract learning? A large size and large campus? A compact campus? A green quad? A college with no campus, immersed in a city? A good football/basketball/hockey/handball/pickleball (or whatever) team? A great pool with a lazy river? Good food? No communal showers? Mandatory chapel? Any deal breaker? Etc etc.
So, you start building your list from the ground up- bonus, working on your safeties (…a poster said “foundation colleges” and I think it’s genius) also gives you info for your targets and reaches.
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As an update, I’m doing option #2. Parents basically straight up told me option #1 was never an option, regardless of modifiers. At least I tried though.
There are some things about #1 I liked more, but I am genuinely excited about the school’s research/project programs and the other STEM kids. Those are the best available, above what option #1 has.
It also seems like they are willing to bend heavily on some things (new equipment, classes, materials, etc.) if multiple students are interested. I’m hoping the two main STEM clubs’ members would be willing to work together on petitioning for things.
I’d like to lobby for new materials and equipment this way, but also some intensive noncredit classes. I’m not sure if the department would allow it, but I’d like it if we could have to opportunity to learn supplemental/focused topics over a few weeks. Eg, rather than a full-on writing class we learn over two weeks how to write decent lab and technical reports based on material we are doing in our regular classes or how to integrate a specific circuit element (eg radio receivers) into our projects. Supplemental materials that could take our projects and self-study efforts to the next level.
For college, I’m not really sure what I want to do anymore. The thing is that even though I still abstractly want to go to the big names, my state flagship is actually … good? I actually kind of love it there and wouldn’t mind going for four years, especially considering I’d be an automatic admit into the honors college from GPA alone and would likely get a full ride from option #2.
I would like it if the various schools out there had 1.5-week residential programs where you could dive into a single subject (within regular hours) and then see what the campus and surrounding area was actually like. I’ve seen now that campus tours don’t give you anything compared to actually studying at the school.
I think Missouri S&T or my state flagship are my safeties right now.