Elite Colleges with no AP's or Dual Credit?

Pre-College Issues Home Schooling and College
1

We’ve been working with my son on a list of possible colleges. I see that most homeschoolers on this board have a lot of AP’s, dual credit, and college courses. Is it even worth applying to elite colleges or trying for competitive scholarships if you have none of these on your transcript? Many of his courses are honors level, BUT were done at home.

My son did well on the ACT (35), and on a couple of SAT II’s (Literature 750, Biology 750). He’s planning on taking two more, US History and Math 1. We also just found out he is a National Merit semifinalist. He’s also a conservatory level violinist with several awards and elite summer programs. He has extensive community and work experience mostly involving music.

But, are no AP’s or dual credit a deal breaker?

2

I would definitely have him apply. My kids have all taken different approaches. Some have had a lot of AP and DE credit. Some not. My current 12th grader has none, but she is absolutely one of my strongest students and her transcripts and course descriptions definitely reflect her strength.

In many ways I think some of the top schools would like her application more than the schools she is applying to. She needs a lot of scholarship $$, so she is on the merit hunt. But in terms why did you choose to homeschool and did you use that freedom to reach certain personal goals, the answer is a resounding yes. I think that is what top schools want to see. It sounds like that is what your child did.

Make sure your course descriptions and school profile provide the information that schools need to have in order to evaluate your student.

3

With all that you have described, not a deal breaker.

(for a student w/out his stats it could be; with his stats + ECs, no)

4

Thank you! It sounds like he may have a shot!

He’s had some incredible opportunities and done a lot of really neat things, many with a leadership role.

Several years ago some of his homeschool friends formed a professional group and asked him to join. It was kind of like a boy band of classical music, and they set out to make a name for themselves! They were actually really good. My son, and other boy in the group were good at arranging and accommodating special requests. PLUS THEY WORKED CHEAP. They soon had almost more work than they could handle. Oh, the stories I could tell!

Listing his regular school work on his transcript should be pretty straight-forward. But figuring out how to properly show all the musical pursuits is a bit daunting.

5

Definitely apply IF he is interested in some of those schools (not all students are). He has enough to prove his academic capability with high national test scores and his ECs could make him quite attractive. I think he would do well if admitted.

6

My middle son sounds somewhat similar. He was/is conservatory level as a cellist, but wasn’t interested in conservatories. He did a ton with music including a lot of professional work (local professional theater companies, his own cello duets, a quartet that did gigs, and so on), solo work with his orchestra, and lots of service (fund raisers and the like). His test scores weren’t as strong (2230 SAT; 730 SAT II math, 710 SAT II Lit), and he didn’t have APs. He did have dual-enrolled classes (39.5 units), but nothing terribly spectacular (Calc I, Physics, English 105, Java and Italian I were his highest levels).

He had some awards/honors (his robotics team won a lot of awards; National Merit, Elks Foundation scholarship, and so on), but not too many.

He did not have a perfect GPA in his college classes, either. He applied to about 7-8 “top” schools (schools that meet 100% of need). I did not consider him particularly strong because of weaker course rigor, imperfect GPA, and no APs. He was shooting for just one affordable school.

He got into exactly one of his reachy-reach schools (WL at two), and that happened to be one of the two Ivies he applied to. He had no expectations of getting into any school, so this was a huge, huge surprise. The breakdown admissions-wise was this:

Admit rate < 10% Rejected by 2, accepted by 1
Admit rate <20% Rejected by 2, WL by 2 (eventually rejected)
Admit rate < 30% WL by 1 (eventually rejected), accepted by 2
Admit rate < 40% Accepted by 2

I would say your son should apply, but have a good sensible list of reach, match and safety schools.

As far as how to show his musical pursuits: both my boys did music supplements and had music resumes, and so should your son if he’s conservatory level. Even if he’s not going to major in music, he should absolutely submit a supplement. I believe that’s one reason my son got admitted to his college. He got a very generous music scholarship from U Rochester, as well.

7

Even if your son didn’t take college level courses, he has a nearly perfect ACT score, which could really help in applications. I’d advise you to have him apply anyway despite lack of AP’s-the test score is impressive as is the fact that he’s a Semi Finalist, and all of his activities look great as well. Just because he didn’t take APs shouldn’t affect his acceptance to many colleges-he has a cutting edge in most other ways.

8

Many times while digging through College Confidential posts I often wonder what eventually happened to the original poster??? So for those who might find themselves in a similar boat come application time, I thought it might be helpful to update my thread.

My son applied to 10 different schools. Here are his results:

HPY- Waitlisted at Harvard, denied other two
Williams- Waitlisted
WashU- Accepted with half scholarship (financial/merit)
UA- Accepted with National Merit Scholarship
OU- Accepted with National Merit Scholarship plus smaller music scholarship
Baylor- Accepted with merit/NM scholarship plus large music scholarship (almost full cost of attendance)
State School- Accepted with large merit scholarship and large music scholarship (full cost of attendance)
*State School- Accepted with large merit scholarships and music scholarships (full ride +)

*for various reasons he chose this one

WashU was the only school where he received any kind of financial aid.

So… my takeaway from all this? Did no AP or dual credit hurt him? Maybe. Harvard is a long shot for almost everyone, but I will always wonder. I’m thrilled with his results though, and he loves his new school.

9

No, it’s not necessarily a deal breaker as long as he has shown some talent in other areas. But I do suggest you don’t obsess over brand-name schools. Going to a prestigious school doesn’t guarantee anybody success, so if he doesn’t get into Stanford or Yale, don’t look at it as a failure due to his shortcomings in AP and DE courses.

10

Thanks for the update!