<p>Why is it that most colleges require homeschoolers be interviewed?
Also, what kinds of things should a homeschooler expect to be asked?</p>
<p>I think most colleges just want to make sure that a homeschooler has not been "locked in a closet" all his life but actually is a presentable person. My dd had to do more interviews this year because we homeschool, but I don't blame the colleges for being extra careful with kids who are out of the mainstream.</p>
<p>My daughter did actually get her second-to-largest amount of merit aid from a college that didn't interview her (the closest alum was in D.C., a 3-hour drive for us, and we didn't visit the college), so certainly not ALL colleges are reluctant to look at homeschoolers.</p>
<p>Besides the usual type of college interview questions, my dd was asked:
1) Why did she homeschool? Was homeschooling her decision?<br>
2) How did she do classes? (She did a lot of online, and that took a LOT of explanation, especially to older alumni interviewers.)
3) Does she have friends? How does she get out and meet people? (Given the stuff on her transcript under activities, I wonder about that question, but it came up in every interview.)
4) Will she be scared to leave home and her family? (I thought that was a weird question....she had some good replies to it.)
5) Dd is taking a class at a local 4-year college, and interviewers asked LOTS of questions about it -- does she talk to the other kids in the class, etc. Some of that was just strange.</p>
<p>One interviewer (unfortunately, my daughter's first), an older alum, just said that none of her questions were relevant to homeschoolers so she didn't know what to talk about. Obviously that interview didn't go well, but my daughter did learn from that to be prepared to be VERY up-front about her background and take the initiative if the interviewer was disturbed by the lack of conventional schooling. </p>
<p>The admissions counselors and the younger alumni seem very comfortable with homeschooling; it's just the older alums who think it's weird.</p>
<p>Wow, thank you cockatiel. That was very helpful!
Now you've piqued my curiosity, how did your daughter respond to #4?</p>
<p>Are there colleges that require interviews only of homeschoolers and not of other applicants? Which ones?</p>
<p>Last year my S was not required to interview at any college he applied to.
Most colleges don't require interviews of any applicants.</p>
<p>Some colleges appear to require interviews of all applicants (if an interview can possibly be arranged) while other highly selective colleges don't require interviews of any applicant.</p>
<p>Having had two home schoolers in our family go through the process thus far, it hasn't seemed to make a difference whether the school does interviews or not.
If they do offer interviews and they are available on campus, I would suggest doing that. These are done by admissions officers or current students who seem more familiar with and/or open to home schoolers than some alums are, if just out of familiarity.
My son ended up with an alum who was a public school teacher for one interview. My daughter's alum interviewer asked whether she had "taken" Calculus AB or BC. My daughter had no idea what she was talking about.
In neither case do I think it made a difference in their admissions decisions, however.</p>
<p>Note for tokenadult: homeschool applicants are a category whose SAT reports are read especially carefully, as there is no benchmark for the home-generated credentials. I would imagine that this means extracting all possible information from the score report, not necessarily just the highest scores. This is documented in at least one of the admissions books that have come up for discussion on the SAT issue, I don't recall at the moment which one.</p>
<p>Homeschoolers have been figuring out for years how to deal with college admission requirements. </p>
<p>My D. was not required to interview at any of her colleges and had no trouble being admitted. Nevertheless, if an interview is suggested for any applicant, it's important to try to go. We actually visited one school and had had a suggested interview set up, but ended up not going. She apologized for not being able to make the appointment, but still ended up being admitted. But she had made an excellent case for herself in her essay as to why she's fit there well. I had been aftraid the missed interview would have killed her chances, but it didn't. If an applicant is especially comfortable and likes to talk about their interests and successes, I would think an interview could be an asset. It's also good practice to go interview at some schools you may not be that excited about first.</p>
<p>Interviews give homeschooled students a place to really shine. This is where all those years of "alternative education" can dazzle admissions officers. Where traditionally-schooled students sometimes have an advantage in GPA, class rank, that sort of thing, homeschoolers can knock the socks off admissions officers by simply sharing how they have spent their time.</p>
<p>The interview is an opportunity for homeschoolers to express their individuality and personal successes.</p>
<p>most of my interviewers didn't actually spend much time on homeschooling. even though I was expecting it and prepared to talk about it...</p>
<p>As a homeschooler who did a few successful interviews, my advice would be to just speak honestly. Don't crank homeschooling up to be something that it isn't. Explain what you did and why you did it and don't go on and on about your motivation - let the interviewer draw his/her own conclusions.</p>
<p>I have found that quite a few colleges do require interviews for homeschooled students when they don't for others. I think that's totally understandable and probably a really good idea for all parties involved. Every single student's experience is different and there is no one standard curriculum that's used by homeschooled students, so it's important to be able to explain exactly what you did, and also for the colleges to ask any questions they might have that are best answered in person.</p>
<p>You can check pretty easily to see if interviews are required by going to the College Board's website and looking up admission requirements. The homeschooling section is right at the bottom and usually gives you everything you need to know.</p>