Help me choose schools for my Homeschool Senior

We are in Florida, my son desperately wants to go to a school in the northeast near a major city. His Act score was 29 (he gets the latest results for his most recently taken test on Dec 26), he took the sat and got 600 Math and 700 english but doesn’t want to submit it???, his unweighted GPA is 3.77. He has taken one AP in English and got a 4.

He has taken about 4-5 classes at his local community college, mostly honors otherwise, some very high level mathematics classes (which unfortunately don’t translate to his ACT–he isn’t a good standardized test taker due to mild ADD–no accomodations received unfortunately). He is captain of the local high school’s bowling team, was selected for an internship at a local Marine center (for last summer and for htis school year), he works part time, has been practicing tkd for 12 years and is a 2nd degree black belt, assists in the younger children’s classses. He has travelled A LOT as part of his homeschool experience: France Italy, Japan, Spain, Belgium, Germany with his dad mostly (who is an art historian and conservator so lots of art history exposure). He is a good kid, needs some structure, a little laid back. Not looking for an overly competitive atmosphere but really enjoys discussions with smart kids. Needs some guidance so a smallish school (but not too small) is what he needs. doesn’t know what he wants to major in yet.

So far here’s his list (and YES we know some of these are major reaches; he has accepted that he probably won’t get in, but he’s very into the ‘prestige’ factor, unfortunatley.) I dont want him applying to more than 12 schools. As a homeschooler, it’s already overwhelming me and him both with the extra essays and requirements.

Please help. We need more solid Matches. I really like Goucher for him, and hope he gets in.

Vassar ED–rejected
NYU #1 choice-Reach
Bard-Match
Trinity College-Match Reach
Connecticut College-Match
Goucher-Safety
Eckerd-Safety
Knox-Match Safety
Sarah Lawrence-Match Safety
Skidmore -Match Reach
Dickinson-Match Reach
MIddlebury-Reach
Swarthmore-Reach

From my daughter’s perception after visiting multiple times, Swarthmore is not what we would consider to be laid back, and tends more toward competitive. NYU seems very different from the rest of the list. Can you afford to be full pay there? They’re not known for generous aid. My D19 is a cooke scholar, so she had a $40,000 a year outside scholarship when applying to schools- and NYU was the one that the foundation warned she still might not be able to afford. We are homeschoolers too. D19 had similar stats to your S and ED’d to haverford after not matching during Questbridge match, and D20 is much lower stats but doing well in admissions so far.

Ursinus might be a good one to look at if being in the Northeast is important. Not onerous to apply, he would be eligible for merit aid with those stats.

thank you. we probably can’t afford nyu- we are definitely not full pay-but he insists on applying there. i told him if there are a lot of loans it will be a no go. Did your daughter get into Haverford? He is considering that school but looks to me like it would be a real reach, and we have enough of those.

He wants NYU simply because he loves NYC and wants to go to school there.

thank you! I have looked at ursinus but will revisit.

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thank you. we probably can’t afford nyu- we are definitely not full pay-but he insists on applying there. i told him if there are a lot of loans it will be a no go. Did your daughter get into Haverford? He is considering that school. He wants NYU simply because he loves NYC and wants to go to school there.

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Yes, she attends Haverford and absolutely loves it there. She just finished her first semester yesterday. I guess if he has fee waivers there is no harm in applying, but it’s very likely to nearly impossible that it will be affordable. My daughter loves NYC too. Originally she looked at Columbia, Barnard, NYU, and Fordham. She decided that a smaller campus near a big city was better for her (hence haverford) and that being in NYC would be too expensive to truly enjoy it.

Have you looked at University of Rochester? Might be more of a low reach but it ticks a lot of boxes. My DD wrote her essay on being homeschooled and how the open curriculum would be a great match for her and she got admitted. She had a much lower uw gpa but a 31 ACT. Maybe Clark as a safety? Have you looked at any other CTCL schools? Also, his ACT is better than his SAT, so he should submit that. I think Dickinson is a solid match.

I can only speak to one on the list - Goucher. We loved it. D20 was recently accepted and got a very generous merit offer. I know they have a sever gender imbalance, so I imagine that would be an extra incentive for them to entice your son.

If NYU made the list solely because he loves NYC, then have him take a look at the umpteen other places in/near NYC. Fordham, Wagner, Pace, etc.

As for affordability, use a math or economics class period to run all of the Net Price Calculators for the places on his list so that he knows now which of them are likely to be workable.

i did the NPC for Ursinus and it’s higher than Goucher and Knox by far. So probably not going to apply there. His safeties also need to be affordable for me.

Yes the NPC for us for Goucher was great. I imagine he will get a lot of merit aid. It’s my first choice for him, but not HIS first choice. Yet. We have to visit.

haha just for kicks did the NPC for Fordham and the EFC is more than double my annual income so…no.

I will say, the package we got from Goucher brought the COA to about $5k per year higher than when I ran the NPC on their site. That said, the merit they offered brings us right to what FAFSA says our EFC should be. My D20 has applied for a tuition exchange scholarship there (I work for a school and we are eligible). Goucher is her first choice, but without that TE scholarship, it isn’t doable (in spite of what our EFC says we can afford). So, we’re in for a wait…

As the parent, have you set the price limit and clearly communicated to him what it is, and that admission but too expensive = rejection?

What about Temple? Seems like it would be a solid Match.
My homeschooled dd was accepted there.
If you’ve already done the common app it shouldn’t take much to complete, if I recall correctly. Maybe some questions but no additional writing submissions.

Is 3.77 GPA his “mom” GPA, distance learning GPA, dual-enrollment GPA, or some combination of the above?

One of the difficulties of applying as a home schooled student is putting the GPA in context. For most home schooled students applying to selective schools, the best way to do that is with standardized testing - primarily APs and SATIIs.

Having an ACT score at about the 50th percentile for a school (Skidmore, for example) doesn’t necessarily make it less than a reach when combined with a 27% acceptance rate and a GPA that is hard for the school to get a handle on relative to other applicants.

Applying as a home schooled student with limited standardized subject testing to provide context for his GPA may take more than 12 applications if you’re looking at schools with low admissions rates. To put things in perspective Skidmore is more selective today than the average IVY was when I was applying…

Hopefully you’ll get some tips on home schooler friendly colleges in the home schooled forum.

I agree Re Dickinson. Their global studies emphasis is perfect for him, too. Very strong if you want to study abroad and have an interest in international studies or something along those lines, which he does.

We have looked at other ctcl schools but need to revisit their website. Goucher is in there. I think the town that Clark is in would be too depressing for him.

I will look at u of rochester but likely too cold (0ive visited there in the winter and it’s ROUGH). To be honest I think he needs a bit more structure in his freshman year and maybe even his junior year as he matures.

Ugh. I hope it’s not too off (the EFC) . I just got divorced and afaik Goucher only uses custodial parent info and right now mine is very low (it will go up as I grow my business but low now). I am prepared for my efc to rise as my income rises but right now I can’t pay much out of my own income. That said, my parents contributed money to his 529 when he was young and we have a sizeable amount that’s accrued in there.

Ooh i hadnt thought of Temple!! Thank you, I will investigate!! You all are so helpful!!!

I think he probably should submit the SAT. The 700 in English looks good. And the more data points that the school has for a home-schooler, the better.