Please provide me with some insight regarding my college admissions predicament

Applying to College
1

Hello. I am actually currently incarcerated due to a violation of my Probation. I am a college-bound 11th grade student, previously enrolled into AP courses. Due to my circumstances, however, I have no AP classes whatsoever currently and have a very unimpressive academic record if turning to an official standpoint when analyzing my high school record. I’m in Algebra 1 here in juvie and on the outs, I’m in AP Calc. I’ve been through now 3 breaks in continuity in regards to my schooling situation. Presumably, I have accumulated zero credits in all of the classes I have been enrolled in throughout the 11th grade because of my unstable living situations. Therefore, I am considering my options for senior year, since I have behind an entire year now. I would like to sign up for the May AP tests and at least take those and receive a 4 or 5 to improve my chances to prestigious colleges, but I have been prohibited to take such exams because my educational rights holder, my father, has denied my access to them. He has explicitly explained to my high school counselors to not grant me the ability to sign up for them because it would get in the way of my completing a successful program at the next group home I am being admitted into in a few days. Therefore, taking AP tests is out of the picture, even though I have mastered a substantial amount of content areas in AP Spanish Lang. & Culture, AP Psychology, AP Calculus, AP Chemistry and AP English Lang. & Comp. I have the alternative plan of going to a community college and possibly “testing my way through” the general ed. courses colleges require so that they could replace my inability to take these AP tests. Once I have completed my court-ordered placement and am out of the Juvenile Justice System and Probation, then I will be back home and will enroll in AP English Lit, AP Physics, AP Spanish Lit, AP Human Geo, and AP Calc BC. Though, I have no idea what will come of my 11th grade grades, even though I have primarily A’s and B’s. I have the documentation to prove this, however, I believe that legally the academic reports I have from my teachers portraying my success in their classrooms cannot substantiate any amount of credits, at least not by LAUSD’s standards.

So what would you do if you were me? I have been apart of several school activities and have been an active member in several clubs (Debate Club, Math Club, Literature Club Vice President), sports (cross country, volleyball), and to top it off, Academic Decathlon. Obviously, however, I have participated in such activities intermittently due to my aforementioned current institutionalized conditions.

Should I resort to a community college or talk about my struggles in my Personal Statement essays? Should I really place the effort in AP courses, even though from what I have heard, they are not as useful as they appear in that they have an expiration date for graduate’s school, etc.

Thank you. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

2

OK, having read your whole post now, I think that you need to contact your guidance counselor at your high school.

I can’t imagine why taking AP courses would stand in the way of the next group home, but you need to speak to someone who can help you sort that out.

The best of luck to you.

3

Your situation is delicate. No one needs to know things about you unless you choose to divulge it to them individually. See if you can change your name to something more generic.

4

I am confused. In your other posts last year your said your were a senior. Did you get sent back a year?

5

Frankly you may have some emotional growing up to do before college. I would talk to one of the juvie counselors about this. The stress of going away and being independent may be more than you can handle at the moment. Plus have you had the financial talk with your dad? So many students are finding out AFTER they’ve applied to certain colleges, that they are unaffordable.

6

It seems you are from CA. If I were you, I would be compliant with whatever it is you need to be. Make sure NOT to violate your parole again. Then talk to your guidance counselor about getting on track to graduate next year. If need be, scrap the AP tests. Use the knowledge you gained from them to earn great grades at a CA community college once you graduate. After two successful years at a CA community college (where you take the required courses and earn the required grades) apply to transfer to a UC school.

*Also make sure to attend a good CA community college. Santa Monica College had 783 students transfer to a UC in 2014, while Feather River College only had 1. (Chart: http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-uc-transfers-20140515-story.html)

This ultimately is your best plan. Six of the UC schools (Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz) have a Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) that makes it a guarantee that you will get in IF you have the required grades and courses. More on that here: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/

Basically, you’d need AT LEAST a 3.2 GPA with 30 semester (aka 45 quarter) UC transferable units to be eligible for a TAG plan.

Though you can only apply to one school via TAG, you can still apply to others (like UCB and UCLA) which take many CA CC grads. I belive UCB takes over 90% of their transfer students that way (though not sure on that statistic, please correct me if I am wrong).
If you want to transfer to UCB aim to get AT LEAST a 3.77 (the median successful GPA of transfer students). Ideally get the highest GPA you can though.

This is the course of action my cousin is beginning as the end of her high school career looms near. It is also what my mom did (though I don’t think they had TAG back then). She ended up transferring to UCSB and now does extraordinarily well financially.

You are extremely lucky that you live in California.

Good luck!!!

7

Do you have a court appointed special guardian (CASA)? If so, ask your CASA for help with the AP situation. You may be able to make arrangements to take the AP tests wherever you will be for your next placement.