Test scores are particularly valuable in order to confirm the academic achievement of homeschooled kids. She has no AP scores to submit? What was her ACT score? Maybe it’s not as bad as you thought - after all, there are so many postings on here about whether it’s worth it to retake an already very high ACT/SAT score, it would make you think that everyone gets a very high score, which is not true. And if it really was very bad, you have to consider, is that a true reflection of her academic preparedness for college?
From what you describe - homeschooler with ADHD and anxiety, and very high financial need, considering nursing, she is absolutely best off starting off at a community college, ideally with an RN and transfer agreement to a public 4 yr college with a BSN. I realize that academically she might be able to handle a more competitive school, but with ADHD and anxiety, plus having been homeschooled, I fear that she may crash and burn living away at a 4 yr college. She can get her RN at Tidewater CC, and then transfer to a 4 yr institution to get her BSN, or get a liberal arts degree if she wants law school.
The schools that you have listed as match and reach are extremely unlikely to take her.
Another option is the two step method, where the student attends a community college for an associates degree in nursing (ADN) / RN. This can allow working as a nurse, and/or can allow going to an RN → BSN program at a four year school – entry to that may be less competitive than regular BSN programs (but entry to the ADN program is often selective, unlike other community college programs).
She won’t get this at Penn through student health services. Lately, they have had trouble meeting existing demand for mental health services and encourage students to seek off-campus assistance. There is a fee-based Adult Neurodevelopmental Disorders program through Penn Med that offers treatment, assessment, and executive skills coaching.
Also, If she plans to seek accomodations, documentation of her condition is required. I expect the same is true at most colleges. Gathering the necessary papework could take awhile so you may want to get organized now.
You already know Penn is a reach (it’s the top nursing program in the country) and applying TO from an overrrepresented state is unlikely to help her chances. A solid nursing education can be obtained at many colleges. There are a lot of good suggestions in this thread that I encourage you to explore.
Most recent available CDS (2021-2022) section C5 says the following units (years) of high school courses are required and recommended:
Subject
Required
Recommended
Total
16
19
English
4
4
Mathematics
4
4
Science
2
4
Foreign language
2
4
Social studies
1
3
The general thought on these forums is that “recommended” should be treated as “required” unless the “recommended” item is not available to the student.
Based on the opening post, student had at most 3 years of math, possibly retaking Algebra II or spreading it over 2 years (it shows up in Freshman and Sophomore year) - in which case it potentially might be the equivalent of 2 years of math in total?
I assume A+P w/lab is “Anatomy and Physiology”, not math.
Student is taking precalculus in 12th grade, which is the typical 4th year of high school math. Seems like a typical level versus number of courses situation that UVA does not clarify.
Although it is true that a ‘typical’ HS math progression ends in pre-calc, that is not the typical progression of students admitted to highly rejective colleges.
Moreover, OP’s child chose not to take any math junior year…when they certainly would have had the option to take pre-calc. Also not a common choice for students targeting highly rejective schools.
It does look to me like OP took 4 years of math (I assume that freshman year Algebra II is a typo, and should be Algebra 1. Then, OP doubled up on math in soph year taking Algebra II and geometry…perhaps OP can clarify)
@mamak2, homeschooling can be very different. Is it mom or dad provide grades or somebody else? Do you belong to some homeschooling program? Was student enrolled for some external classes? I homeschooled one child and she took Art of Problem solving classes (way above school level Math.) Child also took JHU gifted and talented classes online with grades, so we had no problem to validate rigor level. During HS child took mostly DE classes in CC, so we went for AA. I am also interested what bombed ACT means. My child had 720 in 10th grade PSAT in Math and in high 500s in English. I would not consider it bombed. Child never took SAT since by that time we focused on getting AA with good GPA to validate homeschool education.
Most colleges are very sceptical about homeschooling. Also check websites of TO schools. Often they say that they are TO for all but Homeschooled kids.
I love homeschooling. It can be great for kids who do not fit our one size fit all system. Hower, it is on you to prove that 4.0 is not fake and compatible to 4.0 from other schools.
Virginia Wise is not a community college. It is a 4 year residential college, but has an articulation agreement with UVA so Wise is fresh/soph heavy as far as the numbers go. It has Div 2 athletics and offers the full 'college experience.
@mamak2, consider McDaniel College in Maryland. Somehow we know absolutely great lady who had chosen that over many very top colleges. She got almost full ride scholarship there.
Another to consider is Western Carolina. Has a nursing program. Good honors college. Pretty campus. And the best part is the $21,000 or so for tuition room and board. If you end up wanting law school that will be costly so saving on undergraduate tuition is a good thing
Sorry I didn’t scroll through the thread before posting. I see that @tsbna44 already mentions WCU.
Have you run the npc for every college on your list? For now, assume no merit without scores. You need a list of safeties you can afford after npc is run, and with high admissions rates.
Many people find community college invaluable.
You are now seeing that it is going to be pretty much impossible to get to anywhere near 20K/yr. The only way that you might have been able to have gotten a cost of attendance that low is if your child were to have been accepted by one of the most generous schools, which are also the most selective, and that appears to be extremely unlikely.
So, the options are to get the grandparent to pay, or to take out substantial loans, or to start at a community college. With your child having no experience of group classroom learning in high school, I strongly urge you to consider the community college to in-state flagship U route. People with ADHD do better being taught one-on-one; it’s going to be an adjustment for her, best accomplished in the less challenging setting of a community college. Your child should also be able to do some dual enrollment coursework starting in January, possibly for free since she’ll still be in high school. That combined with some CLEP courses which she can start now, self-studied via modernstates.org, plus officially starting community college in the summer term, would probably enable her to be at your flagship state U or another 4 yr in-state public college by Sept '25, with junior standing. You would have to do some research to find out which CLEP exams the community college is likely to accept, and whether the flagship state U would accept these credits as part of an associates degree before transfer. She might be able to keep the cost of her BA or BSN to under the 80K total you think you can contribute, and she can still take out 27K in federal loans, if necessary.
I would never recommend Penn to a kid with anxiety. It’s “work hard, play hard” by reputation; there is a lot of striving — inside and outside of the classroom.