<p>There's a lot of elements to this post, and it's going to span many of the topics of the forums offered here, so I apologize if this isn't in the best location.</p>
<p>I feel like putting all of this to writing and perhaps get some opinions and comments from others. I'm about to enter a transition phase from my "past life" into my "future life."</p>
<p>As the thread title suggests, I never properly prepared myself for college. I can't really explain why, other than I just lived a life of apathy. I didn't have the best home life, but I don't want to use that as an excuse. In the end, my (lack of) success throughout my school life was my own doing. Homework felt like a waste of time to me, and ECs were completely out of the question. I probably had the largest gap between GPA and test scores out of anyone who ever attended that (albeit small) school. I barely got by on near-passing grades and perfect test scores my entire life. And when I graduated high school and my parents separated, college was not on my mind.</p>
<p>I also have always had the problem of my interests and my abilities not aligning. My interests have strongly been in physics, technology, and engineering; whereas I much greatly excelled in creative pursuits and especially writing. No matter how uninterested I was in a class, if there was an essay to be written I was safe. A good example is a US Government essay question that I completely didn't understand, since as always I had put no effort into the class. I wrote a lengthy and convoluted essay comparing the small knowledge I had on the topic to Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse and received a perfect score. But I digress.</p>
<p>Math was always my "weakest" subject and I never took Physics formally since it wasn't required. I studied Physics on my own time, usually trying to wrap my head around Theoretical Physics until I ran into math symbols I didn't recognize.</p>
<p>I eventually began taking a graphic design course at a vocational school, where I did very well. However I sort of did this to please my school and family, as I was always skeptical of this field and the lack of stability a career in art could be. Unfortunately I didn't get the wake up call until graduation and instead of standing in the front row, I was placed near students who I may have respected personally but not academically. For some reason I didn't understand that I could be smart yet my grades would affect me until this moment.</p>
<p>For four years I drifted from job to job. I did alright for myself, landing a decent paying job where I was making more than both of my parents (although this wasn't a huge feat). I was laid off when the economy took a nose dive, leaving me unemployed and unable to make payments. I'm currently $10,000 in debt and usually unemployed more often than employed. And never in job positions I enjoy.</p>
<p>So of course, I realized that school is where I belonged and here I am today. Now here comes my concerns.</p>
<p>My entire life before now is a mess. My high school transcripts are a blemish that I'm not sure I'll be able to escape. I also have lofty goals. I would very like to be in a position to transfer and be accepted into a top engineering school such as MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, etc. But no matter how hard I work between now and then, I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull these goals out of "fantasy land."</p>
<p>The college I will be attending in less than a month is the lowly of the low, but it was the best I could do. I'm taking a Math and Sciences General Studies w/ Math Focus course at a local community college. I want to be as completely prepared between now and 2 years so that I can transition into a meaningful education, even if it's "just" a school such as RIT.</p>
<p>What can I do to "build my portfolio" if you will, and make myself look as attractive as possible to prospective higher tier schools? Maintaining a pristine GPA is a given, and I also plan on retaking the SAT, and also the SAT IIs in Math and Physics. What should I look out for as far as ECs go, while I'm a freshman in college? Even with the lack of ECs I participated in in high school, I was wedged out of probably the most important. I participated on an Odyssey of the Mind team that placed 4th in the World Finals. The problem is that the day before our first local competition, our adviser decided I didn't "deserve" to be a member of the team and removed me for (to me, anyways) no good reason. This was after I contributed my time and creativity into the project, and essentially came up with our entire theme. But I'm getting somewhat off-topic...</p>
<p>Essentially what I want to know is how my high school history is going to affect me in the future, and what I can do about it. I am 22 years old now, and will most likely be 24 or older when I transfer. Will schools overlook my high school transcripts, since it is documentation of my (again, lack of) work ethic from over 6 years in the past? Also, will the fact that I am attending a very low-end community college look bad? Even if I do pull off a 4.0, I'm assuming that still may not be good enough as I'm expecting this college to basically be "Thirteenth Grade." Has anyone heard of attending a community college for a year, transferring to a slightly more prestigious school, and then finally transferring to a top tier school?</p>
<p>Anyways, thanks for reading this lengthy post if you got this far; I do appreciate it. I'd also appreciate replies with any comments, advice, etc. Thank you.</p>