Is it possible to start college fresh after dropping out?

When and how should I start the college admissions process if I am graduating HS in the middle of November?

• Hi, so I am a 16 year old junior in high school. I just switched to online classes this spring semester and have already finished my junior year classes. I have also finished 1 and started 3 of my senior year classes already. The school I get classes from is closing it's doors from june 28-august 28 so I will not be able to take classes throughout the whole summer due to the fact that the midterms and finals have to be proctored in the schools computer lab. Anyways, the point is that I am pretty much set to graduate mid-November maybe even sooner because I go through the classes quickly. My questions are: 1) When do I start filling out and sending in FAFSA and college applications? 2) What semester should I apply for? most of the schools I am looking at accept applications on a rolling basis and I and I can sign up for any semester 3) Is it a good idea to take a semester long break? or should I just go start school as soon as possible? I am not exactly sure what the common semester start dates are for most colleges so I might end up having a break between when I graduate and when the semester I sign up for starts. 4) Will there be any problems with me entering college at age 17? I know my sister had some issues because she was under 18 when she was going through some of the prep stuff for college like switching banks and some other stuff that I don't remember, but she started college when she was 18 so I have no guide for this. I guess my main concern is if I am going to need to have to get parent permission for everything I do, if there's going to be any special rules at the universities for students under 18? 5) Right now I am taking an online Trig and Pre-Cal course and am struggling. I am wondering if these are required for college? They aren't required for me to graduate high school, it's just that friends and family told me I should take the classes now to get them over with so I wont have to do them in college. are these classes required? even for liberal arts majors or majors completely unrelated to math? I am really struggling with them so if I don't need them I will probably drop them, which brings me to yet another question, will dropping a class that I do not need affect my gpa? Please help me, I'm really confused and none of the researching I do helps and my school councilor isn't much help either. I really appreciate any thoughts!

• Answer:

  You can apply to community colleges and fafsa now if you want to and the colleges will accept you, but that doesn't mean you need to enroll in classes right away. I applied early and got accepted about a year ago and my first classes will be this summer. Fafsa you have to renew every year between January and march. I believe the deadline for spring classes is March 2nd. Taking a break may slow you down a bit, but it may also help you prepare for the new lifestyle you're about to enter. As long as you have a high school diploma, you will be treated like all other students. You need your parents tax info and signatures on you fafsa applications until you are 22 or married or emancipated. Everything else, you will be fine on your own except for entering your parents' info onto some forms, but it won't change anything that has to do with your classes. When you enter a community college, you can take the most basic levels of math, science, English, etc. or you can take the ACCUPLACER test and they will tell you which level of each subject you should be in. You can also use your SAT and ACT scores to determine the next class you should take. Basically, you should finish the classes you are taking now and then you will be further ahead and won't need to take them again. Good luck to you :)