<p>Hi everyone! I´ve got a very complex case here. My problem is that I´m the most undecided person in the world - short list of stats:</p>
<ul>
<li>until age 14: straight A student, later at competitive (equivalent to) junior<br>
high</li>
<li>started painting at age 12/ wanted to become an artist,
exhibitions, awards at age 13/14 (nothing prestigious though)</li>
<li>admitted to art boarding school at age 14 - didn´t go due to problems - 9th<br>
grade finished with mediocre grades</li>
<li>age 15 - started at art school again at 9th grade (=lost one year)</li>
<li>9th/10th grade: straight A´s</li>
<li>11th to 13th grade: A´s except for math. (school was a 5-year-school.<br>
Curriculum low on science, high on art (esp. audiovisual - due to this still
some knowledge in engineering and computer science)
I guess school had good reputation, but only for art achievement,
otherwise nothing special</li>
<li><p>graduation with all A´s and one B (I hate the teacher)</p></li>
<li><p>languages: German=mother tongue, English=foreign language for 12 years,
3 years Latin, 1 year Italian</p></li>
<li><p>off to local college, one year of art history, one year of English - still<br>
continuing</p></li>
<li><p>summer jobs at photographer´s and video company</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Okay, now the problem: Since graduation I´ve had NO idea what I wanted to do. The art stuff had lost its luster, I had no inspiration anymore, I didn´t believe in art anymore…But it´s still the only thing I´d have above-average qualification for.
I´ve always played around with the thought of going to the U.S. to go to college, but I thought it was too tough to make and, above all, too expensive. And now I fear it´s too late for everything. I really feel the urge to learn (in a stimulating environment - our college here is just so dull. People look at you as if you were crazy if you cite Saul Bellow´s nobel prize speech in literature class [“Stick to the textbook!”]). I´m not even sure if I should go on studying English, since it doesn´t challenge me. Since 10th grade I provided our English teacher with a reading list for the year (so that we read something decent), and in the last two years she sometimes let me correct the quizzes and essays from her other classes. I´ve never, ever had other grades than A´s in German or English my whole life. What I can learn here BORES me to hell!</p>
<p>So I´m considering doing something really demanding, because I want to get the best I can out of my life, and I honestly was leading a very laid-back life the last years. I could have done way better.
But now I have no credits that could get me into some good college, and the time is running out. I´m already quite old, so who will want me?
I´ve got really not much except my wish to learn, and all the odds are against me. My mother even is against me. She doesn´t get the concept of learning just for the sake of it - she just sees college as the necessary evil that is to get over with as soon as possible to start working (which probably has a lot to do with the prevalent education ethic here).
So what I´d like to do, if possible, was: taking all missing tests asap (I´ve got no TOEFL or SATs) and applying to some U.S. colleges - just giving it a try.
Realistic opportunities: applying for local art colleges to at least get an education that is a notch above NOTHING, even though I´d rather not become an artist anymore.</p>
<p>What I want you all to ask now is how you´d guess my chances if I applied to U.S. colleges, at which colleges I´d have chances and what I could possibly do if I wanted to improve chances.</p>
<p>I just feel my time is over anyway. It will remain a wonderful dream. </p>
<p>By the way, I´d need as much financial aid as possible since we are poor.</p>
<p>Another question: what would my situation look like if I tried it as a transfer student? What do they look for under those circumstances? Do you strictly have to stick to your major after the transfer?</p>
<p>Thank you a lot. Sorry for bothering you.</p>