r/collegeadvice

TLDR; PLEASE give me any advice on college (what to do/what it is)

Hello. I am a high school senior preparing for graduation, and I am looking for guidance on navigating my next steps. Because I do not have a support system at home to help me with the financial aid or admissions process, I am feeling very overwhelmed about where to begin.

I don't exactly know what career I want to pursue and if I did I would not know the steps needed to go onto that path. I am incredibly passionate about voice acting/acting and musical theatre so maybe pursuing a path related to those interests would be good; however, due to my grades, I have faced skepticism from others saying that it is a "waste".

I am also realizing that many financial aid and scholarship deadlines are closing quickly. I stayed highly involved throughout high school, and I have attached my academic transcript and extracurricular list. Any advice on how to narrow down my options and find accessible paths forward would be greatly appreciated. Any advice on college in general would be appreciated actually. I have no idea what a major or minor or undergraduate is so please share your knowledge with me !

Clubs:

INTERACT Club (It's run by rotary, I was a member for 2 years and the president for a year but mostly because I was uncontested and there were only like 3 other people)

Key Club (with Kiwanis, I was a member sophomore year, president junior year, and now secretary this year)

NAHS (National art honors society, I was a member sophomore year, and this year and last I'm the treasurer)

NHS (National Honors Society, I was a member sophomore-junior year and this year I'm "hours coordinator")

Student Voice ( I joined this year and am only a member)

Drama Club (I joined this year but have done multiple lead roles in school performances)

I'm in a few other clubs but I don't believe they matter in terms of college, they're mostly for fun. I also did track and field but dk if that's useful.

Transcript things:

ACT: Cumulative: 24 (Math: 26 Reading: 22 Writing: 8 Science: 23 English: 25)

GPA: Weighted: 4.582 | Unweighted: 3.932

Honors Classes: English 1-6, Frml Geometry, Chemistry, Algebra 2, Paiute 3-4, Psych in Lit, Pre-calc with Trig

College Classes: AP Euro, CE DUAL CR ENV 101, CE DUAL CR HIST 101 and 102, CE DUAL CR PSC 101, CE DUAL CR ECON 101

Misc: I've done Theatre 1-2, Musical Theatre 1-2, and ADV Theatre junior-senior year.

XTRA: Cowardly Lion (The Wizard of Oz), Mrs. Gloop (Willy Wonka), and the Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland)

I'm on track to graduate with an honors and CCR diploma. I can take the seal of biliteracy for paiute but I don't know if I should because I took the class last year and just dont know how useful it would be.

Hey guys, I struggled with some mental health issues and we just hit fall break, I fell pretty far behind in my classes and I’m failing all of them, I’ve recently gone to the student center of outreach and support and emailed all my professors asking to meet this upcoming week. I’m terrified of flunking out and I’m in desperate need of reassurance, is this a hole im able to get myself out of?

So I’m 19, I turn 20 in December I graduated highschool 2025, my senior year of highschool I did dual enrollment meaning getting college credits while also in highschool. I decided to finish my associates degree there and also work during the year that I had left to save up because I was going to transfer into a university right after. I graduated this past June and transferred to a uni to study architecture. The thing is that at the uni none of my creds counted toward architecture only the main creds like history, English, comm.. etc. for their program you essentially start as a freshman. In the fall take pre reqs only offered at that uni, then apply to the program during your second semester in the spring so that your sophomore year you’re in the program for fall semester. So i transferred this fall and classes were going great everything was fine but due to a family emergency i had to drop my classes and go back home. Everything settled down now and im really contemplating on moving back, i really want to because I want to study architecture, but the way that it works is that you have to start in the fall. Because classes are sub-sequential to each other. If I want to study architecture I would have to start next year so FALL 2027 and by then I would be 20 already. On the other hand my community college offers a bachelors in business administration which also starts during fall 2027 and here I would be a junior pretty much because all my credits at my community college would transfer over. I initially wanted to move away because of my parents and being at home, for me it’s never been a healthy environment specifically with my mom it’s always arguments about something and always running everything in my face. I know I have made mistakes too so I take full accountability but now that I am back it’s the same constant thing and it’s so frustrating. So I’m really stuck on what I should do. Should I start fall semester at the uni as a 20 year old freshman? Or should start at my community college as a 20 year old junior?

To get the elephant outta the room, I am not using Ai for these written assignments. Writing is not my strong suit nor is it perfect, however i do not stoop low to use ai nor grammar checkers. This class is an important class i need to pass to pursue my degree....

Making this quick, I first turned in the first assignment a couple weeks ago....now granted looking back on it now, it does seem like ai due to bollet points i used to separate the question and answers. Got a good grade, with a comment This seems like Ai...... Alright fine, was upset at the comment and moved onto the next assignment. I decided to tone down my vocab and make it seem more childish and fun for the next written assignment. NOPE After that was graded, they thought apart my the paper was Ai......Now I am starting to feel very upset at these comments and terrified to turn in my next assignment thats due in a few. I have been thinking of half assing it and putting the most childish things into it while doing the assignment and using slang, but I dont know if thats appropriate

I have a great understanding what the use of Ai does to your college reputation and even can get you banned and kicked to the curb, and I do not want that. I have been thinking about emailing this prof, however i am scared that it might make the situation worse...I am looking into those google doc writing trackers that note every sentance you write or even recording myself writing and sending it to them....I am in a bit of a spicy pickle any advise is greatly appriciated and if needed context is still needed ill try to provide.

I have a question for everyone here. I 32f am currently completing highschool online, and getting ready for college. I am married with 4 sons, I also am an active artist who takes commissions. Im trying to decide between a few different options for college and have no idea what to pick. On the one hand I really want to do game design and an art track specifically related to that, however id have to take coding and possibly things relating to art that I have no interest in. The other option is something I genuinely love learning about, and that's a degree in archeology focusing specifically on ancient history, ancient religions ect, and mythology. If I chose this id probably still take a few art courses to help me improve but only the specific classes I needed. I love art and gaming to though. I genuinely can't decide...... what advice do you have? I am aware I can do both but with my situation that would be a lot of work.

Hey everyone I just got accepted into college for microbiology but honestly I only paid the tuition because I wanted to study at college, not because I actually wanted this major

And tbh I feel really lost and scared rn I’m not interested in microbiology at all and I know that if I stay in this major I might end up failing because I’m really not the type of person who enjoys studying and memorizing a lot

I also don’t wanna disappoint my family, especially since they paid for my college I’d really appreciate any advice because I genuinely don’t feel motivated to study this major or put so much effort into it

I feel like I’m actually pretty good at practical/real-life stuff and I learn better by doing things rather than studying theory, exams, papers etc

The problem is if I drop out I can’t get the money I already paid back At the same time I don’t wanna just stay home with no job or income

So I’m kinda stuck between staying in college, switching to another major or finding some way to make money online or something My dad really wants me to continue college instead of dropping out

Any advice would be appreciated

I'm in my first year of college, and lately I've been feeling something that's kind of hard to explain.

I'm surrounded by people almost every day. I attend classes, talk to classmates, and see everyone hanging out with their own groups. But sometimes, even in the middle of all that, I still feel lonely.

It's not that people are bad or that I have nobody to talk to. It's just that there's a difference between having people around you and having someone you can genuinely connect with.

Sometimes I miss having that one person you can talk to about literally anything without overthinking what to say or worrying about being judged.

I know college is still new, and friendships take time to develop. Maybe I'm just overthinking things, but I wanted to know if anyone else has felt this way.

Does it get better with time? And how did you find people you genuinely connected with in college?

Would love to hear your experiences.