<p>I am a sophomore/junior (In between credits. I do independent study). My counselor says I will be able to graduate by 2012. I have NO AP or Honors classes AT ALL. My GPA is a 3.8. I have no extra-curricular activities on my repertoire. </p>
<p>I have signed up for a community college class to gain credits and boost my GPA, I am going to start volunteering (I already booked an orientation for the Red Cross), and I’m considering taking the AP/CLEP tests. I am also practicing guitar and am going to become more involved in my community. </p>
<p>I was researching the admissions requirements for many schools and realized that I don’t stand a chance! I am desperate to change my ways and become valuable to good colleges.</p>
<p>If I take the AP tests with a passing grade, would that be the same thing, in the eyes of college admissions offices, as taking AP classes in high school?</p>
<p>I am so desperate and lost. Please help! I don’t want to be a failure
I am ready to work hard and do anything it takes to get into a very good college, maybe Ivy League if I can help it! </p>
<p>Do you have any suggestions for:</p>
<p>a) Boosting my GPA to a 4.0 or higher</p>
<p>b) Becoming comparable to those who have taken AP courses</p>
<p>c) Which tests are best for college admissions, hs credits, and college credits</p>
<p>d) Making my application stand out among so many impressive and mind-blowing students</p>
<p>Once again, I’m not asking for a miracle (yes I am). I just want to know what I can do to improve as much as possible and how realistically of a chance I stand getting accepted.</p>
<p>For b) and c), taking AP tests and getting 5’s will look very good to adcoms, especially if you haven’t taken the AP class for them. It proves you can study by yourself and that you are interested enough in a subject to do well in it. To be honest, a 3 probably isn’t enough to really make them take notice, and a 4 is okay but a 5 is really what you want.</p>
<p>^Not true. Self studying APs isn’t really impressive at all to colleges. AP scores aren’t even officially reported with your application- you report them yourself. Taking the classes is what’s important.</p>
<p>As it stands, you have zero chance at top tier schools. Take some AP classes and try to get plugged in with some interesting activity (can be an internship, volunteering, writing, anything interesting really that has some tangible proof of your work). You’ll have a shot at some great schools.</p>
<p>Would there be any harm in self-testing, though? I am not sure if my independent study school offers AP classes. The main campus does. If AP classes aren’t an option, would self-studying help?</p>
<p>And should I take the CLEP exam for college credit? Is it impressive or transferable?
What about the DANTES?</p>
<p>I am very motivated and will do anything to make up for the extra push that I never received.</p>
<p>A miracle? Well, you can always take a gap year and do something that reflects your unique interests and aptitudes. Check out The Gap Year Advantage to learn more. The experience can broaden you as a person in a way that your ECs would have done if you’d been totally engaged in them.</p>
<p>Many things depend on the reasons why you are studying independently rather than being in a regular high school program full time. You may have a compelling story to tell that makes you attractive to a college or university. If you are being home schooled, you should visit the Home School Forum, and present your situation to the parents there. They will have ideas for you. To find that forum, return to the main page for the forums, and scroll down to the section titled “Pre-college issues”. Here is a link for you:
[Home</a> Schooling and College - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/home-schooling-college/]Home”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/home-schooling-college/)</p>
<p>Not all colleges and universities award credit for CLEP or DANTES exams. If you search their websites for these exams, you will find out which exams can be used to replace which courses. The CLEP exams that I have reviewed appear to fall between the SATII and AP exams in difficulty. I have not looked at any DANTES exams, so I can’t speak about those. Your public library probably has review material for all of these exams as well as model exams for practice so it should be easy for you to determine whether or not you would get good scores.</p>
<p>When you apply to college, the admissions committees will receive your transcripts as well as a letter from your counselor that describes your school’s grading system. If no AP courses are offered, your transcript will be evaluated taking that into account. Not everyone has the money to shell out for a bunch of AP exams, so there are good students who don’t self-study for those exams either. It may be more to the point to take extra SATII exams that you can score well on. They are cheaper, and take less prep time. It also is my understanding that it is easier to get a waiver for the SATII exam fees, however I may be wrong about that so do ask.</p>
<p>The most important issue though is the money. You need to talk with your parents about how they expect you to pay for your education. Spend some time in the Financial Aid Forum to learn more about those issues. The sooner you know what your financial limits are, the sooner you can determine how you will deal with them.</p>
<p>Take AP tests if you want credit for the courses in college. They will not help your admissions. Colleges look for AP classes because, in most cases, they are the most rigorous classes available. Scores are ONLY used to grant credit if you do well enough on them.</p>
<p>To be honest, you don’t have a good shot at a “good” college without APs/Honors (schedule will not appear rigorous at all) or extracurriculars (you will be hard-pressed to distinguish yourself from other applicants). That doesn’t mean hope is lost, though. There are plenty of schools that offer a good education even if they aren’t prestigious. Look at your state university.</p>
