Very Worried about getting into university

[VeryWorried]

I am extremely worried about getting accepted to university.
I am 16 years old and my whole life things never worked out for me. I always studied very hard but my grades never went up.
I am currently in my 12th grade year, first semester and we had 2 out 7 tests so far in each of our classes and this is what I am getting:
Advanced Functions: 57.9%
Chemistry: 59.3%
Computer Science:: 99.6%
Drama: 96.2%

I am extremely worried. I also have not got all my community hours done. I have 8 out of 40.

Sometimes I reckon ending my life.

I love computers. I code in Python, C/C++, Ruby, and Assembly. I contribute to many open source projects on github and own a huge repository.

I want to get accepted into a networks and security course but I don't know if I can... If I don't get accepted - 1. My parents will kill me (emotionally, and maybe physically) 2. I Will probably drop out of school and run away and dedicate my life to creating something big so I can actually go somewhere and go back to school later on.

Next semester I have:
Calculas and Vectors
Law
Media Arts
English

I have my 6 U courses in there, I am just so worried. I want to get accepted into any networks and security or computer security course. I don't care which university, I JUST MUST GET ACCEPTED. I am very worried.

Please guide me, thanks.

Sincerly,
A worried person.

RE: I looked at E-info and the admission averages. Some of them look possible but even if I somehow get it who knows if the university will even accept me. I am so scared

[rdrake]

Well...

Assume you don't get into university. Apply for local colleges and get into a similar program there. After you complete college (if you still want to go to university) then apply as a mature student to university. Colleges have much more hands-on programs that universities anyway. For your choice of specialization, college may actually be the better option. University is a bit too well rounded; I had to take biology and chemistry in first year.

You're also only 16, which means it's unlikely you're in your final year. Grade 11 marks are usually just used for early admission and scholarships.

Where abouts are you located? I'm sure there are some local food banks or something you can volunteer at. It might even make you feel better helping people.

Also remember that it's your life and you don't exist just to appease your parents. If you do, great. If not, oh well. Do what you do because it's the best thing for you, not them.

[[Gandalf]]

If you work hard(er), you still have plenty of time to improve your grade 12 marks. Remember, if you intend to go to university, you will eventually have to work harder because there is just more expected. I didn't think I could handle it until I experienced it and then coped. On the other hand, the work in university is very different, so it might work for you better anyway.

Don't bank on getting into one university for one program. If you're unsure about admission, apply to multiple universities and multiple (different) programs. That increases your chances of getting into university immeasurably.

Note: in university, security programs (and to a lesser extent any CS program) tend to involve lots of math because of the mathematical nature of cryptography. So, focus on that.

Note 2: the fact that you have an active github account, and that you love programming on your own time are huge pluses not only for university but for job opportunities.

Note 3: keep things in perspective, not getting into university is just one moment in your life. You'll have plenty of opportunities to do great things going forward. If you're only 16, you're 2 years ahead of everyone else already. You'll have time to change things.

[VeryWorried]

Thank you very much. Your posts made me feel much better and less worried.

[Insectoid]

Quote:

I am 16 years old. I am currently in my 12th grade year.

Um...that might be your problem? I was in 10th grade when I was 16. University was just a dream.

There are way more opportunities than you can imagine. All is not lost. I did two years at Lakehead University. By the end of second year, I wasn't doing very well, so I dropped out. Now I'm in one of the top flight colleges in Canada. Half a year ago, if you told me I'd be flying airplanes by now, I wouldn't believe you. A lot can change in just a couple of months.

[mirhagk]

You gotta remember that you can always take an extra year to redo courses you didn't do well on. If you're 16 you will probably even benefit from taking an extra year, it'd be weird going into university when you're just 17.

The college to university route is something that many people take, and getting into colleges isn't very difficult. There are even universities that have very low admission averages (Guelph has their admission average as 70). Witb my marks I didn't get into Waterloo's compsci program, but even so Guelph emailed and called me over and over constantly letting me know it's still not too late to accept their offer (with a $2000 entrance scholarship).

Going to university gives you a great kickstarter to your career, but after years of experience, what school you goes to, or whether you went at all becomes less important than years of experience, desire and past performance. At my work a lot of people have college degrees, only a few are university grads.

[Dan]

rdrake @ 23rd October 2012, 10:04 am wrote:

Assume you don't get into university. Apply for local colleges and get into a similar program there. After you complete college (if you still want to go to university) then apply as a mature student to university. Colleges have much more hands-on programs that universities anyway. For your choice of specialization, college may actually be the better option. University is a bit too well rounded; I had to take biology and chemistry in first year.

This is very good advice. Not getting into university is not the end of the world and you still have many options if you are not accepted. I knew several students in university who went to college first and they tended to be more well rounded and did better in most courses then the students that went in straight from high school. Also some of the college credits might transfer to the 1st year courses (at least for some of your electives).

In addition to going to college if you don't get in you can also be admitted into an alternative program and transfer at a latter date. Some universities will even automatically send you an alternative offer if you don't get into the program of your choosing.

I would also recommend applying to multiple universities. Smaller universities may have lowered admission requirements as they have less students applying but will cover the same material and have a similar educational experience albeit in a smaller environment with less options for electives and fewer students. You can always transfer between universities after your first year if you relay hate it and your credits should transfer as well.

[Tony]

University is not for everyone. The typical response is to cite a number of famous successful people in tech industry that have dropped out of college... but more realistically the long term benefit of attending University is that it provides some career opportunities, but

VeryWorried @ Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:46 am wrote:

I love computers. I code in Python, C/C++, Ruby, and Assembly. I contribute to many open source projects on github and own a huge repository.

You seem to be years ahead of peers already. Keep this up, and you are likely to be a better job candidate than someone who has a degree but lacks practical experience (this would be most people that graduate).

Still, University is a life experience, so lets take a look at your academic performance -- you are doing very well in some courses, and less so in others. This suggests that you are capable of getting the work done, but there's something different about the classes. Studying this difference is key to improving your grades. Review the past tests / assignments and see where you lost the points. One technique for getting to the root cause is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys -- challenging your own responses with "why?" until you get to the bottom of the issue.

Why are the Chemistry marks lower than Computer Science? Not doing as well on tests.
Why? Losing points on questions asking to describe systems (as oppose to CS's solving of problems).
Why? Couldn't remember the names of terms.
Why? No good technique to remember terms.

Bingo, we found a problem. At which point I would recommend reading Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything (a book I'm currently reading). Although the most valuable part of the entire book is a section that encourages you to follow along to try out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci It's been a week and I still remember the 15 item sample todo list (in the exact order!) after surprisingly little effort.