<p>The title says it all. It is obvious that students that study independently at home stand at a disadvantage in terms of academics, compared to students who attend school. So do adcoms put this into consideration when reviewing a homeschooled applicant's app???? For example the mid 50% SAT Subject Scores Average for students admitted to Princeton is 700-780... Would say a 680+ and less than stellar AP Scores (sprinkle of 3/4's) be accpetable?</p>
<p>And is it true that heavy emphasis is placed on standardized test scores of homeschoolers, since the validity of a homeschooler's grades are questionable???</p>
<p>They probably want to see your SAT 2 writing higher than 700 and your overall SAT 1 over 1400 or whatever the new equivalent is. One 5 on your AP's would look gr8 but 4's would suffice. </p>
<p>The Class of 09 has about 6 home schooled students and I think they all are from the States. Applying as an international would be a plus.</p>
<p>Of course they have to substantiate your education more by tests than by GPA. Did or are you sending a transcript, course description, and book list in?</p>
<p>Do you have any special talent that can be highlighted by the supplemental form?</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply! You really think being a homeschooled international would be 'unique'? I'm a junior, so I'm still in the process of compiling my application... But I might apply to one school just for "fun", since I'm taking a bunch of AP's now and I have no clue what to do after completing the 11th grade. I'll do so if I achieve my target scores on the SAT I/Chem, Math II that I am going to take in Dec/Jan... </p>
<p>Oh yeah, and what would be appropriate SAT II scores for schools such as Princeton??</p>
<p>Unfortunately no, I do not have any extraordinary talents that I can stress in my application :(... I guess this would be temendous de-hook :p.</p>
<p>Yeah, they do look at the tests a bit more. (Contrary to popular belief, very few colleges that I have seen require any kind of official degree, a few require tests, but that's it). From what the guy said they focus a good bit though on letters of rec. </p>
<p>They also have to consider something else in their admissions though. Unless the homeschooled kids do self training with other books, they don't have all the standardized tests that PS kids are raised with. </p>
<p>The best thing I have found, between me and my friends, for getting into an upperlevel school, is doing your senior year at a local college, or distance college classes. That way you have one solid and valid year of "official" grades to back up the previous 3 years from highschool.</p>
<p>Applying homeschool international would totally rock!</p>
<p>I took five courses at a community college and maintained a 4.0 GPA...I hope this is good enough to prove my worth, because I didn't take any AP tests, and I only took two SAT IIs in addition to the SAT I.</p>
<p>At the minimum you should take 3 SAT 2 tests.</p>
<p>With Princeton receiving apps from too many qualified students you should spend time with your essays. It's not just a numbers game with elite schools
rather they try to put together a class of kids with different talents.</p>
<p>Be creative and let your writing show who you are. You have to hold the readers interest as they each have to read around 1000 applications:)</p>
<p>No, standards are not lower for homeschoolers. If you want to get into a top university, they still will expect top scores. As some have said, taking a few community classes or other outside courses can help, as you will have some official grades. Otherwise, yes, your standardized test scores will be looked at very carefully, as will letters of recommendation and essays.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It is obvious that students that study independently at home stand at a disadvantage in terms of academics, compared to students who attend school.
[/quote]
What an odd statement. I don't think that's obvious in any way. Many students homeschool specifically for the academic advantages. Admissions officers will have their eyes out for such students. They'll want to see that you've made the best of opportunities you had.</p>
<p>I think if you put your application together with the idea that you have more to prove than schooled students do, you won't go wrong. That's a much better approach than hoping they will cut you slack because of homeschooling. If you are concerned about your test scores, put extra effort into your essays and transcript presentation. </p>
<p>Also, are you sure you're hookless? Some homeschooled students don't realize how unusual their experiences are, and sell themselves short. The admissions folks will want to hear what you are passionate about, and how you have used your homeschooling freedom to pursue those interests.</p>
<p>I think nopoisonivy is right - my daughter found she needed three SAT II's for most schools. If you're taking a number of AP tests and do well on them, that will certainly help too.</p>
<p>Wow thanks for all the reponses!!!!! Nan, what I meant there was that students that study completely on their own like me without any assisstance are in a disadvantageous situation, not homeschoolers in general. No harm meant there :).</p>
<p>I just want to make it clear that I am not expecting pecial treatment in term of academics just because I am a homeschooler. It was just that I was extremely shocked when I found out that 25% of students admitted to Princeton score above 780 on their SAT IIs!! That would be a challenging thing to achieve for any student, homeschooler or not. </p>
<p>Well, the only "hook" I guess I have is the extraordinary situation I'm in. Hopefully, my app would full of unusual stuff :). I think my extreme weakness is my extracurricular activities... As a homeschooler it's very hard to find extracurricular oppurtunities in a place where the only available activitiy outside school is studying.</p>
<p>SweetestSith- Applying as a homeschooler would own, but I don't know about international with all the cut throat competion :p!</p>
<p>caesar_rexus, many homeschoolers say they have experienced superior academics precicely because they have studied completely on their own without any assistance. That is exactly why many choose to homeschool. </p>
<p>All I'm saying is that you might be shooting yourself in the foot if you play it up as a disadvantage instead of showing how it has enhanced your education. If you had no choice in the matter, it's fine to let them know that, but I'm afraid it might be a mistake to portray it as a disadvantage since many have shown it to be an advantage.</p>
<p>I agree, it is shocking to see the SAT score averages at the "top" schools. I think it's important to remember two things. First, those are averages so it's always worth a shot if you think a school is right for you. You don't want to live your life wondering what might have happened had you applied. Second, there are a lot of incredible schools out there, so it's good to fall in love with a few others where the odds of being accepted are in your favor.</p>
<p>i'm guessing standars are highered for home-schoolers...in my opinion. since it gets harder to do other extra-curricular activities, i guess it makes more sense to say that the schools look at the scores more.</p>
<p>For EC activities, it really depends on where you live and your definition of EC. From looking at both NY and GA, in either one, for example, you could find music teachers for piano or other insturments, but band is a different story, the one in GA is huge, the one in NY is miniscule. </p>
<p>For the youth groups, we were simply to spread out in NY to get together mmore than 1-2 times per month, that's why you have to make the EC's sometimes. Gets harder when you don't have alot of homeschoolers to pull from. </p>
<p>I think the only EC activity I miss that I would LOVE to have done is debate. THe only debate team is 1 1/2 hours away. If we had someone to run it, we could do one, but that is sadly lacking, lol. </p>
<p>most homeschoolers have lots of ECs, but they are community based rather than school based. About the only thing you can't do is football. There are community based theaters, orchestras, soccer. Summer programs and things like scouting or church activities that school kids do outside of school are also options for homeschoolers. Many of them get into mentoring relationships or do internships. If there is a large homeschooling community in your town, there may be activities exclusively for homeschoolers.</p>
<p>For ideas on how to "prove" to colleges that you have pursued a rigorous college-prep program, look at The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn.</p>
<p>Wait....are you guys talking about international homeschoolers applying to top US colleges or US homeschoolers applying to top international schools?</p>
<p>Lily - probably US homeschoolers applying to top US schools. The posts would apply to people in non-traditional educational settings anywhere in the world who are interested in US schools, but may or may not be relevant to non-US schools.</p>
<p>I am not sure what colleges will think of me, so to cover all bases i started dual credit asap. Since i hope to be an Earth System Science major i am making sure to take almost all of my required science and some extras (Physical geology, historical geology, oceanography and astronomy) as dual credit. this way no one can argue that my grades were given unfairly.</p>
<p>"And is it true that heavy emphasis is placed on standardized test scores of homeschoolers, since the validity of a homeschooler's grades are questionable???"</p>
<p>Oh, I've gotten arguments about this one quite a bit over the years. The position of the umbrella school we used was that parent-generated grades are disregarded by colleges. So it would not even list them on the transcript.</p>
<p>Beyond her safety school, my daughter was accepted at Brown, Chicago, and UNC-Chapel Hill. The only grades they got were two courses she took one summer at Brown. The other schools she applied to never indicated that her application was incomplete due to the lack of grades. When GPA was asked for, she simply put down NA.</p>
<p>I've heard there are colleges out there that require grades, but I'm not sure who they are. My daughter's safety school does have a form where you are supposed to put in the course names and the grades achieved. We just said to look at the attached transcript.</p>
<p>And BTW my daughter didn't submit SAT II scores and never took the SAT I (she obviously had a nice ACT score). She had no AP scores. There is more to the application process than racking up lots of high scores. </p>
<p>But Princeton is different than the other schools I've looked at in only accepting the ACT when all other schools being applied to require it. Since most accept both, this can't be too often.</p>
<p>The only time the absence of grades hurt was getting eligibility for Division I athletics. The NCAA Clearinghouse rules for homeschoolers specify grades and so they wanted them. They ended up accepting a fax saying that the courses on the umbrella transcript were all things I thought my daughter had passed. How silly is that?</p>
<p>I don't believe that the standards are lowered in admission for homeschoolers. The biggest comment that I have heard from admissions is that they want some proof that the student can function in the classroom setting. So if your child has been in a coop, a community college or college course, ask the leader/instructor to write a letter of rec attesting to their ability to "function" in the classroom. </p>
<p>Standardized tests such as SAT II's or AP's help the admissions office because they are used to those exams. I had my daughter take both SAT II's and AP's. Although my daughter intends to focus on math and sciences I purposely had her take a SAT II in a humanities area so that they could see that she was "well-rounded". In the interviews that she has had thus far they were pleased with that. </p>
<p>I also believe that course descriptions are very important especially if you are looking for any financial aid. Case in point - my daughter applied to local honors university as her safety. She included a detailed course description with her application and transcript. The admissions officer was delighted because in her words "this makes it easy." I saw the admissions officer's face light up when she saw the course description and resources for each of her courses. Three weeks later, daughter received a package in the mail offering her a full merit based scholarship. I believe the combination of traditional testing in addition to full explanation of courses that were "outside of the box" helped tremendously. She said that the combination of outside testing and outside courses helped a lot.</p>
<p>I am a junior and am looking at
Columbia University, and on their admissions websites it says that they require at least 4 SAT Subject tests from homeschoolers, which to me is an awful lot. I guess what I am saying is that I agree with many others that the standards are higher in admission for homeschoolers</p>
<p>I don't know about Columbia, but my son applied to another college whose website stated that homeschoolers had to have 4 SAT II tests. But that wasn't strictly the case. They just wanted at least 4 items of quantitative data. AP scores or grades in college courses would have been fine also.</p>