The next 2 years

SiggaardAndersen
Sat, 06 Aug 2011 15:59:28 +0000

My first two years of high school were spent somewhere in the Balkans. During my freshman year I attended a local private high school where my GPA was around 2.5. Sophomore year - still in this unknown country - I was enrolled into an online program located in the US. My GPA that year was 3.8. Unfortunately not many AP courses were offered and I took AP Biology. With that being said, I never took the AP exam.

Next year onward I will be residing in the US. I have three options.

The first is IB. There are multiple IB schools in the area I will be living. However, they’re all fairly far. I’ve never been very good at making it to school on time and after the online experience I’ve become accustomed to no expectations regarding attendance. During my first year of high school I missed around 40% of my courses but was given a free pass due to my father paying grotesque amounts of money. The closest school isn’t accepting new students other than freshman which I obviously am not. The second closest school has an awful selection of courses; none of them are mildly interesting. The third school is… very far.

Moving on to option two. We live beside one of the top high schools in the state. It’s a 15 minute walk from our future place of residence. However, I dislike this option on the basis of not requiring instruction. One of the pearls of online eduction is being able to self-study. For the past 8 years I have had my face smashed into countless books by instructors of all ages, religions and ethnicity. I don’t need to be taught; I can learn myself. Perhaps that sounds a bit arrogant, but through my life I’ve learned that I function at my absolute peak when tackling issues independently. A few years ago, for example, I didn’t know what abbreviations were. Through the miracle of time and hard work - work conducted by myself - I have almost mastered this language. It’s funny, really, because I remember not knowing a word of English. Anywho, moving on. Physically attending high school isn’t necessary for me. I don’t need anything explained to me. I don’t need anybody holding my hand through exercises and assignments. All it does is slow me down.

Finally, option three: online education.

Freshman year: <2.5 GPA
Sophomore year: 3.8 GPA with no AP exams

That’s not great at all. Academically, to a university, I’m trash tier in terms of worth. Who’d invest in me when an overwhelming majority of applicants beat me down multiple times over? The answer is clear: nobody.

In an attempt to rescue my dream I wanted to continue attending online school. However, I would take AP courses and enter the Running Start program. Because online school frees up a lot of time I wanted to find employment (the reason for employment extends far beyond academics and skills; it’s a result of my life) and volunteer horrendous amounts. Employment would allow me fiscal stability; in the case of receiving an acceptance letter from my dream school I’d need to fund it. Volunteering would perk up application.

I’d love to make it into the University of Washington. At this point, though, I just don’t know what route to take in order to achieve the best results. Some things such as learning I can do myself, but making this decision I must ask for help.

Perhaps this is irrelevant, but my math skills are at an Algebra 1 level. I have problems with basic calculations and to this day I don’t know how to apply the sequence of operations while solving problems. I don’t so much as know the times table. Up to 5 I can do. Math is by miles my weakest point, and it will be of tremendous harm to my test scores (taking the ACT whenever possible). It’s disgusting that a soon-to-be junior doesn’t know how to divide, but it’s relevant and may assist you all in providing me the best information. However, I do excel at science.

I believe this is the correct forum for my thread. Apologies in advance if I’m wrong.