I grew up in a hyper-religious “girls don’t need education” family, and wasn’t allowed to attend school. I got fed up and left at age 15 to enroll directly in college. Exactly ten years later, I successfully defended my PhD Dissertation!
Hey everyone, thank you so much for the overwhelming feedback! I'm seeing a lot of similar questions, so I'll do my best to answer them here:
- I couldn't take out loans due to my age. I got every odd-job that would hire me and worked a ton, went to community college part time, and barely survived the first year. Then I applied to the honors program at the local University and somehow got accepted, which came with partial scholarships. My state provides partial scholarships based on SAT score too. I also joined the Army National Guard the second I turned 17 to help with funding
- Yes, it was difficult to jump into college with no prior education. I did have access to books as a kid, and I read a ton. So, I studied math textbooks on my own for months to be able to pass a placement test at a community college, and started at University the following year. The first essay I ever wrote was on the SAT.
- Under the guise of "homeschooling", parents can get away with this in less-regulated states. My parents intentionally moved to one of these states that has no enforced homeschool laws
- You don't need an actual highschool diploma to attend college if you claim "homeschooled". I took an exam called the ACCUPLACER to be allowed to enroll in classes.
- I am still in touch with and mostly on good terms with my family. My Mom has come around to be very supportive, and many of my 8 siblings have also gone on to higher education. My family has also slowly drifted further toward normalcy in recent years, after finding that all of the older kids left as soon as possible.
Althalus_Black on August 8th, 2020 at 11:51 UTC »
Congratulations! An amazing feat in itself but given the background you escaped from, even moreso. Very very well done indeed!
May I ask what field you study?
hangry_ginger on August 8th, 2020 at 11:51 UTC »
My degree is in Organic Chemistry
hangry_ginger on August 8th, 2020 at 13:02 UTC »
Hey everyone, thank you so much for the overwhelming feedback! I'm seeing a lot of similar questions, so I'll do my best to answer them here:
- I couldn't take out loans due to my age. I got every odd-job that would hire me and worked a ton, went to community college part time, and barely survived the first year. Then I applied to the honors program at the local University and somehow got accepted, which came with partial scholarships. My state provides partial scholarships based on SAT score too. I also joined the Army National Guard the second I turned 17 to help with funding
- Yes, it was difficult to jump into college with no prior education. I did have access to books as a kid, and I read a ton. So, I studied math textbooks on my own for months to be able to pass a placement test at a community college, and started at University the following year. The first essay I ever wrote was on the SAT.
- Under the guise of "homeschooling", parents can get away with this in less-regulated states. My parents intentionally moved to one of these states that has no enforced homeschool laws
- You don't need an actual highschool diploma to attend college if you claim "homeschooled". I took an exam called the ACCUPLACER to be allowed to enroll in classes.
- I am still in touch with and mostly on good terms with my family. My Mom has come around to be very supportive, and many of my 8 siblings have also gone on to higher education. My family has also slowly drifted further toward normalcy in recent years, after finding that all of the older kids left as soon as possible.