<p>I am so tired of school. I am taking 6 AP courses right now, and do not find them challenging or enjoyable. My AP chem teacher today told me she wants to nominate me for some scholarship at Wash U. I am earning a high A in her class. Reality is, my SAT scores and such would not get me in to Wash U. And I think AP chem is easy and boring. I feel the same about most of my classes in fact. I have very nice teachers. But I cannot see facing another whatever number of years doing this. Go to class, do school work, take tests, etc etc etc. </p>
<p>My mom has suggested that I postpone college. My dad freaked at the suggestion and said I need to go now. It has also been pointed out that my AP scores will start expiring. I feel like I will end up working just a few minimum wage jobs next year. I don’t know. But I am sick of school, sick of trying to figure this stuff out, and I have no idea as to what I want to major in. I don’t know what to do.</p>
<p>I would have benefited from taking a year off before college, but back in the dark ages the only thing I could visualize was living at home and working at the A&P. Nowadays, the options are broader and the gap year route is more often taken.</p>
<p>Your dad is probably freaking because he thinks that if you take a year off you will drop out and never get back on track. I understand his point of view, but he could well be wrong.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you consider applying now, with the intention of deferring for a year if accepted and doing something worthwhile; for example, volunteering for a year in Central America or the USA.</p>
<p>I’m not sure, but I doubt that your AP scores will expire in one year. In addition, you may want to use those APs just for placement, not for credit. The better the school you attend, the more likely this is.</p>
<p>I have been taking AP classes since 9th grade, so the ones I took 5 years before will expire. They expire after 5 years. It would not be the end of the world to lose 1 or 2 scores though.</p>
<p>How do I do that volunteer work? I know about the Peace Corp, but that is only for college graduates I think.</p>
<p>I think an important question to ask is what would you do if you decided to postpone college? You shouldn’t go to college just because you have nothing else to do, but I think you should seriously consider what you would do if you decide not to go to college right now. College will always be there when you’re ready for it, and if you have an actual plan about how you will be spending your time during your gap year(s) productively, your dad may be more conducive to the idea. It’s probably just a knee jerk reaction because all he heard was that you don’t want to go to college, but if you have an actual plan, he may be able to see how you just don’t want to go to college right now.</p>
<p>To me, it sounds like you’re either burning out, in which case a gap year would be a great option, or you may just not be challenged at your school or you the humdrum of high school may be wearing on you, in which case going to college might not be a terrible option. College is structured very differently than high school. There tends to be less busy work, and your entire day won’t be engulfed in classes, like it is now. There’s more freedom to choose classes you like or are interested in, you have more time in your day to spend doing things that you enjoy, and you’re able to have more experiences outside of the classroom. I’m not saying that a gap year wouldn’t be a good option, but that you should consider why you want to go to college and why you’re not happy with school now. That being said, college will always be there if or when you decide to go. There’s no need to rush into it now, and it may be better to go when you’re really excited or driven to make the most of it.</p>
<p>Are you certain that AP scores expire? Double check that.</p>
<p>And frankly, who cares if they expire? If you need time off, take it. The biggest mistake of my academic career was powering-through when I should have taken time off. </p>
<p>There are many threads in this forum on Gap Years. Have your dad read through them.</p>
<p>Look ~ you are learning about herself. You overschedule, and stress yourself out. And you probably aren’t having enough fun. And you don’t need to know what you’re going to major in. You don’t have to impress anyone. How about this: take a very light schedule 1st semester of college. Give yourself the best of both worlds: ease into college life & breathe. Maybe take a part time campus job to help with the transition. Concentrate on a social life, and make sure you are having enough fun.</p>
<p>Let your Dad help you with applications. I’ve seen students- the A student is just as likely to freeze-up when it comes time for applications. Be honest with your Dad, or your Mom - no drama. Tell them you need their help, and that you need them to be patient with you.</p>
<p>Apply to colleges. High school seniors, at all academic levels, have that deer-in-the-headlight-look ~ it doesn’t mean you aren’t ready.</p>
<p>Apply to college and take a year off. I did. It was such a good idea I took a year off before grad school too. Both years I did productive things. (Learned French for one, had a grant to photograph fire stations for the second.)</p>
<p>All my AP scores were 4’s, except for a 3 I had this past year. I have been taking AP classes since 9th grade and took one over the summer, online. </p>
<p>I cannot find any evidence they expire. I am not even sure where I heard that now. Thanks for pointing that out!</p>
<p>Depending on the local HS/neighborhood/regional culture, his fear may have some reasonable foundation. For instance, those who didn’t go off to a far-off college, the military, or work right after HS in my old NYC neighborhood tended to have a high likelihood of getting mixed up with the wrong crowd and ending up in Rikers/upstate prisons, becoming single parents and/or dropping out of college as a result<em>, or sometimes even injured/dead for being in the wrong place at the wrong time</em>*.</p>
<ul>
<li>One was a teen-aged afterschool counselor who we looked up to as a role model and seemed to have great potential to go far back when I was in mid-late elementary school. Unfortunately, an unplanned pregnancy during her sophomore year in college and requirements to care for her baby caused her to drop out. As far as I know, she has yet to go back to finish her undergrad education due to family obligations and working to make ends meet.</li>
</ul>
<p>** Lost two elementary school neighborhood friends that way before the end of HS</p>
<p>Go through the application process this fall. Figure out which fields most interest you and pick colleges that include them. Next spring you will find out which colleges accept you. THEN you can opt in or out of college. You may change your mind about college in the next few months and it will be too late to apply to good schools later.</p>
<p>College is radically different than HS. Look at some schools online and via books from the library. Wash U may not be your style school but others may appeal to you. Check it out and see if they have things you might enjoy. Visit your state schools and other colleges in your region. See if you can spend the weekend with a friend at a school.</p>
<p>With many 4’s on AP exams and SAT scores you feel are not elite (perhaps they are, especially if they are in the 700’s) do talk to your guidance counselor about schools that could be on your radar. Figure out if you are artsy, literary, science/math, music, mechanical, business… minded. You likely have been leading a very structured life. Fantasize about what you would do if there were no restrictions. Do you feel liberal or conservative? Would being in the Greek system appeal to you? Look at clubs offered at colleges- you could try something totally different than available in HS.</p>
<p>From your list of AP classes it sounds like academics won’t scare you and you are used to being with students who go on to college. Find out about all of the varied nonacademic aspects of some colleges. Look at some of the off the wall courses offered. There is much more than standard Spanish, French and German for languages. So many more science fields. So many different social sciences and literature courses than your HS or AP courses cover.</p>
<p>APs don’t expire. Only thing which comes close is that some colleges have a policy of not counting your APs for credit if you didn’t declare them a certain period after your matriculation. </p>
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<p>Moreover, depending on college/campus culture, many friends who hated school during K-12 ended up loving their college experiences…including the academic aspects like going to class or doing the assigned readings/papers/problem sets/tests. </p>
<p>Echo those to say give college a fair shake before dismissing/postponing it outright.</p>
<p>There are millions of your peers that have neither the brains nor the opportunities that you have. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Suck it up. Go to school and grab a future.</p>
<p>^^^ Wow, if there was ever an occasion to IGNORE the advice of a total stranger on the internet, this (Post #16) would be it!</p>
<p>If you need to take a year off, then do so! And, yes, you have the option of applying to college now and then deferring your acceptance for a year . . . but if you feel you’re not ready to apply yet, then don’t do that either. No point in applying (and being accepted) to a school that offers X . . . and deciding later that you really want to study Y!</p>
<p>I have one question, though. If you’re consistently getting high grades in school (and find your classes “easy”), but scored badly on the SAT, I wonder if there isn’t something else going on here. Have you every been evaluated for learning disabilities/processing issues? That may be worth doing . . . an undiagnosed processing issue could be one of the reasons you find school so exasperating, despite your high grades. I’m no expert, but stellar grades and poor standardized test performance don’t mesh, and might be worth looking into.</p>
<p>I have a reading learning disability because I used to be hearing impaired. My reading SAT score was a 640. My math and writing were 730 and 720. No matter how well I do, it seems I have to look at my lowest score as the standard for where I will get in. I would LOVE to go to Rice. I have had family go there. I like the residential college and everything. But, all I ever hear is my 640 is too low. My SAT 2 tests are in a week. I feel so down on how I am doing. There is no way I am going to bring up that reading SAT score and everyone just sees me for that one score! My teacher who suggested Wash U does not know how I did on the SATs so she does not realize that she can kist skip recommending me to Wash U. Everyone else thinks I can do so great because I work hard and get good grades. But there is no way I am bringing up the 640. I did get in to TAMU already, but I play the viola and it means a lot to me, and there is nothing musical that I can do at TAMU. I was an automatic admit there. I wanted a smaller school anyway. I feel so frustrated that all I seem to be, when it comes to applying for college, is my reading SAT score. It seems nuts that I can work this hard, and so all I have done, and then know that I won’t measure up anywhere anyway because of that one score. That is one thing. Places claim to have a wholistic approach to admissions, but, then, you can do everything right, and then have a stupid hearing impairment and you are out of the running for competitive schools, no matter how hard you try.</p>
<p>It’s easy to feel the frustration in your words. You’re really hard on yourself and while it’s easy for someone on the outside to say that you shouldn’t beat up on yourself, it might be time for you to go and get some counseling. A good counselor can help you sort out what’s bothering you so that you come up with a plan for the future. It sounds like you aren’t sharing your frustrations with your parents–which is OK–but you really do need an adult with whom you can discuss your feelings. Is your high school counselor someone who is approachable? Is there another adult who you trust and with whom you might share your frustrations? A family doctor or a minister, perhaps?</p>
<p>You may also wish to try taking the ACT, which is an a test many Us accept instead of the SAT. Many students do better on it and you may too, and no longer be saddled with the 640 reading score.</p>
Nowadays, the options are broader and the gap year route is more often taken.</p>