<p>Does anyone know much about home schoolers and how they tend to fare in Brown admissions? As in, how many are accepted, how many apply, etc? Thank you.</p>
<p>I've never been able to find statistics regarding home schoolers... I was told by an admissions officer that "Brown has certainly admitted home-schooled applicants in the past" and that "at least one is in our incoming class for 2005," but that's about it. They seem to be pretty "home school friendly" considering they don't require, or even request additional standardized tests, documentation, etc...</p>
<p>I'm homeschooled. I applied ED. I guess I'll see on Monday.</p>
<p>speckonthemirror, I'd love to hear more about your education and the transcript you submitted to Brown. I applied EA to Yale but my chances are mediocre at best, and a part of me has always really loved Brown most.</p>
<p>I basically wrote up about an eight page summary of all four years of high school. I listed my activities, books/textbooks, experiences, travels, et cetera. Paragraph form. I organized it by year, and within each year, by subject category (math, science, english, and so on). I took the new SAT and two SAT IIs (prolly should have taken three, though). I took five courses at a local community college and sent in the official transcript, plus had two of my professors write recs.</p>
<p>I'm not expecting acceptance - Brown was a reach. If I don't get in, I'll never really know if it was because I was homeschooled, though. My SAT IIs weren't stellar (670 US History, 680 Bio-M). I didn't think my profs wrote outstanding recs. My ECs were nothing special. So. We'll see.</p>
<p>Aaaah it sounds like we were on the same boat. I did a long summary of my activities, classes, books/textbooks, and travel/volunteer abroad things and organized it all by year and then sent off official transcripts for all the schools I've studied at and the teacher recs and such.</p>
<p>I would love to attend Brown. Have you homeschooled your whole life?</p>
<p>It took me forever to write that thing. I was wishing I had it as easy as public schooled kids, haha.</p>
<p>No, I've homeschooled since 7th grade. So I've had a nice mix of both. What about you?</p>
<p>I was only homeschooled since tenth grade, I did one year of high school.
And holy crap, YES! Hopefully colleges will take careful consideration to the fact that we had to spend hoooooooooooours creating our transcripts and figure out absolutely everything without the aid of a guidance counselor. Eyach.</p>
<p>It's been worth it, though. It would be very nice to receive validation from good schools.</p>
<p>They really said that?</p>
<p>My daughter is in that class and was homeschooled. Oh, she'll get quite a kick to hear about this one.</p>
<p>No wonder she hasn't found any other homeschooled freshman.</p>
<p>Of course, maybe the person who said this didn't know the statistics and just happened to deal with one homeschooler application.</p>
<p>It could be, too, that they just happen to remember ours cuz it was so different (and long).</p>
<p>hi, i'm home schooled (my whole life) and have been accepted ed for class '10. i'm from MA area, and there's a large homeschooling community here, so i had a bunch of semi-organized classes to describe from that. my situation might be a little different because i've also taken 108 credits (about 25 classes) at harvard extension shcool, and so that transcript was pretty extensive. if i have any advice it'd be too emphasize the 'self-motivation / making your own choices' side of home schooling as that seems to be very much part of the brown credo. </p>
<p>that being said, with such a small number of home schooling applicants / acceptances, i've got no clue what your chances would be. i had very high sat scores and amazing recs, as well as that transcript, so i may have not had quite as hard time filling out the application as some might. </p>
<p>anyway, good luck.</p>
<p>Congrats clomas! My daughter has found that people at Brown are usually just curious about homeschooling. There has just been the one clod who, at a party, asked her if she had ever gone to a party before. It threw her for such a loop she didn't have a good answer for him. But if it happens again, she says she is more than prepared [grin]</p>
<p>To pick up on something else, yes, Brown doesn't require additional documentation. We provided it, though, lacking the extensive outside transcript of clomas, for instance. I'm not talking about test scores, since dd only submitted the ACT. What I did was a rather extensive description of the home study program together with a couple work samples evaluated by a professional in the field dd is going into. It probably helped to have participated in the "Summer at Brown" program twice as well. </p>
<p>Beyond that, I think it helped to have a killer personal essay and a transcript that listed a number of nontraditional courses.</p>
<p>I think being a homeschooler actually helps at Brown because you will stand out from the crowd. About everyone else applying will be someone with high test scores and grades in the same sorts of classes and the same sorts of extracurriculars. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone applying or thinking of doing so! It is a great school and my daughter loves it dearly.</p>
<p>i wouldnt call that young man a clod. that isnt very nice.</p>
<p>im sure he was honestly curious and did not know. i know a homeschooled girl from around here, and i dont think she's ever been to a party before.</p>
<p>sorry... i had to post again... thank god they let in your daughter and not you.</p>
<p>homeschooling is often the ultimate form of elitism, which in education can be both good and bad, but doing it to "stand out" is a stupid, worthless idea.</p>
<p>brown takes kids who naturally stand out. if you dont, then maybe think about applying somewhere else for undergraduate. the BEST brown kids IMO are the ones who have "perfect" sat scores and grades but are still the most interesting, mature, articulate people i know.</p>
<p>this type of "reverse snobbery" about homeschooling making you stand out is rude.</p>
<p>to gavroche, since you asked the question:</p>
<p>write your apps about who you are and include as much information as you think you need to give the admissions officers a taste.</p>
<p>and preferably leave them wanting.</p>
<p>Dear Brunonianetc,</p>
<p>First, congratulations on your admission.</p>
<p>Second, whoa -- Obviously I expressed myself poorly because I offended you. For that I am sorry. I was trying to comfort the homeschooled that, yes, they might get in -- not saying (or meaning to say) they are necessarily better than anybody else. Students obviously can prove themselves admission-worthy in many ways. </p>
<p>The guy I mentioned WAS a clod. What he said wasn't just uninformed, he said it in a very nasty tone of voice. My daughter has dealt with many "honestly curious" folks over the years and had no problems. But this guy was ridiculing her, as she tells the story. I'm her mom and I believe her. I don't see how you can be so "sure" she misinterpreted the exchange. </p>
<p>You know, if you don't like people criticizing others, perhaps you shouldn't criticize others yourself. Not very nice? Glad they admitted my daughter and not me? Reverse snobbery? Rude? Ouch ... Why do you assume the best of someone not on this forum and assume the worst about me? </p>
<p>You are misinterpreting me. I never said we homeschooled to stand out. Nor did I say that homeschooling is necessarily better. My son wasn't homeschooled at all and my daughter wasn't homeschooled until 7th grade. There is no "one size fits all" in education. Some will do well in institutional secondary schools; some will not. My daughter was miserable and so I took her out. Believe me, college applications were the furthest thing from our minds at that point.</p>
<p>I only made the point, or was trying to make the point (since I apparently failed), that homeschooled applications look different. Do you like this terminology better? It would be a "stupid, worthless idea" to do it for college admission purposes, I agree. I NEVER said anyone should do so. </p>
<p>And if that homeschooled girl you know really hasn't been to a party (this doesn't fit anyone we know BTW) -- why don't you invite her to one?</p>
<p>Truce?</p>
<p>sure.</p>
<p>i guess i came off too strong as well.</p>
<p>and on jackie (my home-schooled friend)... she doesnt get invited because we dont want to invite people we dont hang out with... some1 was raped at a party last year and so we're selective now about who we choose to drink with (which is a VERY good thing) so i couldnt get her in if i wanted to.</p>
<p>for those of us that spend all (or most) of our lives in and around school (whether in class or in the pool or at a football game cheering the knights) it's hard to understand how some people could develop the same kind of relationships we do outside of school.</p>
<p>but i know it has to be done, because homeschooled people dont live in a bubble.</p>
<p>well, most of them.</p>
<p>and what kinda mom says BTW?</p>
<p>"for those of us that spend all (or most) of our lives in and around school (whether in class or in the pool or at a football game cheering the knights) it's hard to understand how some people could develop the same kind of relationships we do outside of school.</p>
<p>but i know it has to be done, because homeschooled people dont live in a bubble."</p>
<p>I will try to explain. Homeschooled people don't stay at home. There was a poll showing that around 95% (I believe that is the figure) of homeschooled students have at least two regular outside activities each week. What studies that have been done show that homeschooled students have no social infirmities. (The fact that some people think they do and keep doing such studies, which inevitably conclude "Surprisingly they aren't freaks," can explain why homeschoolers and their parents can get sensitive whenever the "socialization" question comes up, or the big S as we refer to it.)</p>
<p>Speaking to our own experience, my daughter fenced three nights a week and competed in many local, regional, and national competitions each year. She had youth orchestra for four hours each Saturday. For several years she had a regular book club. She went to parties. There were several homeschool dances a year. She was in a film club. Etc. Actually, she could have spent much more time around others if she wanted (coop or community college classes, a homeschool bowling club, field trips to museums or plays, volunteer work, regular work), but her schedule was full.</p>
<p>There are a world of opportunities out there for being around others that don't involve one's school and homeschooled students take advantage of them. It is hard to think of things they can't do if they want beyond, perhaps, some team sports. They do participate in other types of team competitions, theater, you name it. The internet is a great way of finding out what is available and, if what you want isn't, you can create it.</p>
<p>Now she is at Brown and loving it. Yes, she probably socializes more than she did at home. But this was true for me also when I went off to college and I went to public school. </p>
<p>Yes, there may be a few homeschooled people who live in a bubble. (They probably won't apply to Brown, however.) There are kids in parochial or elite, expensive private schools that live in bubbles as well in terms of the people they regularly have contact with. And actually, kids in a large public school can be isolated as well, even if they are surrounded by other people.</p>
<p>"and what kinda mom says BTW?" -- uh, a few snarky answers occur to me ("me" or "a cool one" or "a lazy one"). A more realistic one is "the kinda mom that has spent years talking to people on the internet"... It really isn't that infrequent in the circles I hang around LMAO :)</p>