I’m trying to help my son narrow down his list of colleges and to try to figure out what’s a safety school, what’s a reach, etc., but he seems like his situation is a little different, so the forums aren’t helping as much as I’d hoped.
It’s hard to tell whether homeschoolers have an advantage or disadvantage at some colleges, and I don’t know even know if he’ll be looked as a homeschooler or not.
Here’s the stats:
3.88 GPA, 4.3 weighted: But almost all classes for 11th and 12th grade are at the community college through the Running Start/Dual Enrollment program. So he’ll graduate with a high school diploma from the State of Washington AND an AA degree at the same time, but will be entering as a freshman, not a transfer student (that’s the way this dual enrollment program works.)
Terrible ACT/SAT scores. No idea why – he’s a great student. ACT was 18M/24S/24/30R, for a composite of 24. He takes the SAT this coming Saturday, but can’t get a practice test above a 700 Verbal/540 Math, and that’s on a good day. So 1200, maybe 1250 SAT.
Eagle Scout, tons of volunteer hours, works 30 hours a week on our family farm, helped start a great program that helps recycle food waste, started a teen book club, all of that stuff.
What he wants:
Liberal Arts College. Small classes. Hippie, cool classes. Reed, but without the pressure. He has ADD and does well with support and time, but doesn’t do well with competition. Closer to the west coast is better, though he’s thinking about Hampshire.
Ideas so far:
He loves the idea of Colorado College and one class at a time.
Pitzer is test-optional, so he might have a shot, maybe.
Hampshire? It’s really far from where we live in Western Washington.
Lewis and Clark
Whitman (it’s really in the middle of nowhere, though.)
He’s applied to Questbridge but is a longshot as a finalist because of the ACT score.
Would love to hear about how other applications went for homeschoolers, and what liberal arts colleges have been a good fit.
For Colorado College his stats are low. Do you know how to research schools by common data sets? That is where I would start. COlorado College, for example, is listed as most selective. If you Google the school name and common data set, you’ll be able to find links to their current data. Here is CC’s: https://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/ipe/documents/CDS_2016-2017%20(Updated%203-1-17).pdf Section C9 will give you the test score breakdowns. I would say based on this data that CC is a reach bc his ACT composite is below their 25th percentile (their middle 50% is 28-32). (Any time test scores are not solidly in the the middle 50% or above range, I would put the school in the reach category.). Their 25% for SAT math is 620.
With his earning his AA, his weak test scores might become less of an issue, but it is really going to depend on what classes he has taken and his grades in those classes. Applying to Pitzer as test-optional with a 3.88 GPA might be less of a reach. https://www.pitzer.edu/institutional-research/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2017/02/Pitzer-College-Common-Data-Sets-2016-2017.pdf Bc he is earning his AA and a state diploma, I would probably avoid applying as a homeschooler to Pitzer. Most schools are not going to be test optional for homeschoolers.
In terms of the rest, you need to look at the CDSs and determine if he is solidly in their middle 50%+ stat-wise AND that you can afford them if he is accepted. A 24 ACT is unlikely to be competitive for large merit aid at schools like L&C bc 40% of students that are accepted have a composite ACT score 30+. Typically large merit awards go to students in the top 25% of admission stats. https://www.lclark.edu/live/files/23420-2016-2017-cds–section-cpdf Run the NPC and make sure it is affordable.
In terms of homeschooling and applications, homeschooling has never negatively impacted my kids’ applications. I do make a concerted effort to match my kids appropriately with schools in terms of admissions and merit. We are not low income but we cannot afford our expected contribution for all of our kids, so scholarships have been the primary filter. My kids cannot narrow their list by many preferences beyond cost and major.
I have an uncle that will step in to cover the gap for funding. Whatever is leftover for “parents” to cover after financial aid, he will help with. We haven’t solidified what the help will be yet, and whether that will cover books, travel, etc., or just tuition and board, but he’s on board, as long as it’s a school with a decent reputation and a place that’s accredited, with a decent chance of graduating in four years.
I was hoping for merit scholarships based on his GPA, but once the ACT score came in, that went out the window. The links for data sets help, but I was wondering if the dual enrollment or homeschooling made a difference in the applications (in other words, is an honors program/4.0 at a community college enough to counter his test scores?)
I will go look at some of the links now.
Oh, and Pitzer did say he could apply test-optional because of his AA degree. Whitman, however, said that he still counts as a homeschooler so needs test scores. It’s going to be school by school, calling to see what they think.
In terms of your general questions, it is rare that anything really counters low test scores. Unfortunately, that is a reality. If he can apply test-optional, it will most likely improve his chances at schools where his scores are not solidly within the upper 50 %.
Keep in mind that his test scores aren’t bad in general. They are solid scores for avg, non-competitive admissions. But when you start looking at “most selective” type categories, his scores might hurt him. The only way I see homeschooling mattering is bc he can’t apply test-optional to all test-optional schools. Homeschooling itself shouldn’t be a negative factor as along as you have well-documented records (transcript, course descriptions, school profile). However, homeschooling isn’t going to be a positive factor in terms of compensating for low test scores.
Thanks. That helps. I know the scores aren’t terrible, but he was disappointed because he was hoping for “a good school,” as he puts it. And I know that there are literally hundreds of schools that would be a good fit for him. Maybe the test-optional schools will be a good option!
You should always start by finding in state publics to apply to. They’re lower in price so you don’t need the huge scholarship as much, and his Running Start credits will give him a head start as well. So our hippy schools with in state tuition are Evergreen and the Fairhaven program at Western. You can also look at hippy schools in WUE: Humboldt State would be an obvious one.
WUE is a program that gives a discount on out of state tuition at certain western schools. More info at http://WUE.wich.edu
Once you’ve built a foundation of low price tag schools, then look at the privates and try to figure out which ones will fund him for need or merit aid.
Hampshire loves homeschoolers, but likely doesn’t have enough financial aid funds for you.
No major in mind. He’d like to play Dungeons and Dragons and discuss literature and sci-fi novels for a living, if that were an option. He’s thinking history/humanities. He’s done an overnight at Evergreen but is afraid the academics are too lax. He also has ADD, so the completely open structure of Evergreen scares him off, thinking he’ll never get anything done. That’s one of the reasons the block plan is appealing – three weeks and you’re done with a class! No time to get bored. Humboldt State is a good idea. I’d forgotten there were any hippy schools in WUE. I’ll go take a look at the list again and ask him if any of them might be a good fit.
I also think Western Washington might be a good fit if your son is looking for a hippie/outdoorsy/environmental vibe. The town is really nice and a good size (about 90K) and outdoor recreation opportunities are close at hand.
Northern Arizona University might be worth a look also. I think they are on WUE. Pleasant location in Flagstaff, which due to altitude is less hot than much of the state.
Willamette in Salem, OR might be a good fit for his stats. It has just gone test optional:
We live in Bellingham, and I’d love for him to go to Western Washington! Sadly, he thinks it’s too close to home and hasn’t even toured it. There’s a great “college within a college” called Fairhaven College, I think, that would be a good fit there. I haven’t heard of Northern Arizona. I’ll have him take a look.
I haven’t thought about Jesuit, but it’s a good idea. He has dysgraphia, but no documented math disability beyond sucking at the tests. He’s going to try Prepscholar and Khan Academy for a month straight and see if he can get his math score up enough to give him a shot.
And he loves Bard College from one of the suggestions in this thread. It’s test-optional, and looks like a good fit.
Having just launched my oldest child into college, I have to agree with the advice you are getting on this thread that test scores are more important than grades. The problem is a lot of kids applying to selective colleges have GPA’s near, at, or above 4.0. So GPA isn’t very useful to colleges trying to differentiate one applicant from another. My DD had a 29 ACT and if I could do it over again, I would have put her in a test prep course and had her take it again. 30+ seems like the magic ACT score for both admission and the best merit aid.