Thank you for all of the feedback here. It’s true that he doesn’t necessarily need to go to college from a professional point of view, but he is strongly considering ultimately pursuing research / a PhD in CS and entering academia. He loves high level math and CS (it’s literally what he does for fun), and he absolutely thrived during 6 weeks he spent at a residential pre-college summer program taking college courses (he took a CS course but especially loved the philosophy and logic course he took alongside it). He also really enjoyed the social/collaborative aspects of the experience and referenced that in his essays (since, as we know, sociability is something that people worry / make assumptions about with homeschoolers). He is very excited about the idea of attending college in general, though perhaps a little deflated at the moment. He knows he still has great choices though, and I know he’ll do great wherever he chooses to go. 
In my experience, he’s the type who will do well wherever he goes. Once he gets undergrad under his belt, he could easily have a lot of options for his PhD - and those will lead into academia.
Another thought would be for him to start somewhere, and if he doesn’t feel it’s what he wants, try for a transfer with his first semester grades, etc, supporting him.
Quick note on RPI-- I think they do an EXCEPTIONAL job of admitting the kids who will thrive and soar there. It is most definitely a “fit” school- works for some, not for others. But I think they know what they are doing in assembling a class.
I knew four home schooled Ivy kids. Three were home schooled due to exceptional careers at a very young age that made normal 5-day-a-week-9-3 schooling impractical or impossible:
Acting
Olympic Athlete
Ballerina
The fourth was truly exceptional academically with home schooled “grades” validated by multiple A grades from in person classes at T20 colleges, exceptional recommendations from highly respected professors at top schools, and perfect standardized test scores.
I think the schools are more likely to accept kids who “had” to be home schooled rather than those whose parents - for whatever reason - wanted them to be home schooled.
Total agree with @blossom about RPI. I have worked with some truly brilliant folks who were exceptionally well supported there.
Not to sound flippant, but that is a pretty good definition of bias.
I’ve homeschooled in six states (Northern plains, Deep South, New York City, Mountain West, Great Lakes, Middle Mid-West) and have taught in K-12 public, private, religious, left-leaning secular, etc. in those states.
There are strange/isolated/bizarre kids everywhere in all school settings. I’ve known weird homeschoolers and homeschooling families, as well as ones (like mine) where people who didn’t know we (mostly) homeschooled would not have guessed and everything in between. S23 played on homeschool teams that played regular Catholic high school teams in one city with a lot of Catholic privates. In a different state, his best friend from elementary school was the public school Drum Major while homeschooled because in that state, homeschool students can participate in public school activities and do so regularly. You have to be voted Drum Major. He is now at Notre Dame, and I have no doubts he could have gone Ivy, but he only applied to ND and one other niche private (he also got into) because he is actually a STEM genius as well as really personable.
Like any other large group of students and families, so much depends on the child, family, region, etc. It isn’t helpful to make sweeping generalizations. If you wouldn’t make it about other groups, please reconsider.
For what it is worth, I do think many AOs follow the same bias you articulated here. This is a shame since they would be trained to attempt not to do so about other groups and to judge by the individual instead.
To be honest, I was kind of surprised by this post, but it is helpful in representing attitudes with which I am not that familiar. There are many schools that value “outliers” of all kinds. And many homeschooling parents put a huge amount of effort into “integrating” their kids with peers, courses, organizations, sports , the community and so on. The post by @KKCollege344 (and the OP) concerns extremely selective schools and I would not conclude anything regarding homeschoolers’ chances from these situations. It is likely the same result would have happened if this kid had attended school.
Agree 100%. A local homeschool family in my town was grousing last year about how prejudiced Adcom’s are against homeschoolers.
They barely followed the state mandated curriculum- kid loved math and programming. Which is great, and one of the reasons why they took him out of his middle school (not the only but one). But which of the uber selective colleges is accepting kids with no foreign language (parents argued that programming was a foreign language, which works for some colleges, not for all). Kid had no social studies since 7th grade-- parents argued “but he loves to read historical fiction” which is not the same, especially since (I know the kid) The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, etc. isn’t exactly a substitute for a HS level class in European History.
MIT took a pass- not a surprise to anyone but the parents. I encouraged them to look at both MIT’s core (which is a significant chunk of the required courses) AND the GIR (General Institute Requirements which is heavy on humanities, writing, social sciences). They ignored me, which is totally their prerogative, but my kid who had a very rigorous HS program in writing, history, literature, etc. found the GIR’s extremely challenging. Contrary to popular opinion, even though MIT is a tech institute, it does NOT teach humanities at a 9th grade level.
So to the OP- your kid is going to blow the cover off the ball in college, I’m sure. But I don’t think his results reflect concerns about homeschooling. You know, however, that the quality of a homeschooling experience reflects how much energy a family can put into crafting a well rounded curriculum even for a “pointy” kid who might not be interested in everything.
Best of luck to OP’s kid!
I think, the common thought, right or wrong and again and I acknowledged that I don’t have knowledge nor that I’m an AO - but if I was thrust into the role and was not given a corporate/school driven method of how to handle a homeschool applicant - i.e. it was left up to me, I would eliminate homeschoolers.
I think the prevailing thought in the community is that it’s ultra - religious / anti public school people vs. those taking advantage of the public system. I live in Williamson County TN and it’s a highly rated district. I put that out there not to have hatred sent my way - it’s again, as a person not involved in admission decisions, but the bias I have.
Where I live Moms For Liberty is trying and somewhat successfully taken over the school board but hasn’t acted yet. 7 or 8 years ago we had crazies take over the school board and they were quickly run off - because it’s my belief that even politically conservative folks think some of the actions people want to take - like making Winter Break a “Christmas” Break or eliminating books or bringing religion/prayer into school are crossing the line. Yet, we just went to partisan elections in our state for school board - and all the long time members who had a D or I were run off - only Rs one because that’s how my homogenous wealthy county is.
Hence the Moms for LIberty people have taken their board positions - and I do think most people do think they are way outside the realm. Fortunately, thus far they’ve been held in check.
I, like many, think if you are home schooled that -
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you do not know how to be around other kids? Now I’ve been educated on here, reading how some play on public school sports teams or there are associations/groups where they learn together, etc. If I were a school superintendent, btw, unless mandated by law, no homeschooler would be on a public school sports team. You attend the school - of you don’t. That just seems crazy to me.
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that parents grading you is the ultimate in grade inflation - I mean, a parent grading you is the easiest A. Yes, I’m sure it’s not this easy and there’s a curriculum they must follow and documentation they must provide. But most really don’t know how it works and will just assume.
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that parents aren’t teachers so who is to say the education is good
And I can go on and on. Again, I admit - not having a true sense. The only homeschoolers I know are people who are anti-public school, who want state money to be used for church school, and are very very religious. And we have a lot of them here!!
But I live in a top school district so while I’m not sure how great the schools really are, no one would say they homeschool for lack of quality in schools…if all that makes sense. I’m sure some parents do homeschool due to a lack of quality in their publics vs. having an alternative agenda. I’m just not exposed to them.
Also, most of these homeschool kids end up at schools like Lipscomb, Belmont, Lee University, Liberty and even a Hillsdale…but I wouldn’t say what I’d consider mainstream schools. And that adds to my bias.
That’s just my observation - and I assume, but don’t know, the observation of many that are not a part of or exposed to a home school movement.
Interesting chat - and best of luck to all - homeschooled, private or public.
Simone Biles was homeschooled. Like most of her teammates on any US Olympic team, or professional ballet dancers, actors, or others with demanding extracurriculars, like Taylor Swift. Also those whose parents move often, unless they decide on boarding school instead.
They are the exception, not the rule.
Again, I’m just sharing my thought from what I’ve seen. And yes, I have bias - but that’s in part because it’s not my job to decide whether or not to accept a home schooler.
I forget how this chat came up but I think a homeschooler was shocked at all the rejections.
Was it bias or their record just didn’t fulfill the necessary requirements of the schools they applied to? I’ll never know.
I know what i see and what I believe - and it may be wrong - or it may be wrong in a general sense but not for my community.
As I have no skin in the game, it’s not really relevant. But when we meet neighbors who home school, it turns out they are all very very religious and very very much against public school - and a lot of the stuff you read about in the media, etc.
Anyway - good chat - but I think we killed it.
I’m glad that @sursumcorda was able to take the bias I have (we all have bias btw) and note that I’m likely not alone in my thinking - right or wrong - and that even AOs will think similarly. I would think though - that AOs make decisions based on a defined methodology from their bosses - so that the determinant as to yes or no on a homeschooler would come from above.
Can we please return to the OP. The general topic of homeschooling can certainly be discussed in its own thread if desired
I cannot be more clear. College Confidential is not a debate society. If your post is arguing an earlier post from a user other than the OP, it’s being deleted
I@KKCollege344 were the AP classes your son did on an online school and graded by that school, or self-study? Were the DE classes at an extension school at the Ivies? Where did he do the grad level CS work and what does “lead developer” mean? Is that job online? Was he a National Merit Scholar or Commended/Semi-Finalist/Finalist? To be considered for Presidential Scholar, you need a diploma: who granted the diploma for him? I am trying to understand his experience and qualifications given the nature of this thread.
My son was also gifted in CS but we resisted acceleration at school in favor or him doing extracurriculars that challenged him. There are many possible choices that are beneficial for kids with these gifts.
The schools that rejected your son are so hard to get into that, as I wrote before, it is hard to tie rejection to any particular factor.
I homeschooled each of my 3 kids at separate times, for a few months at a time because of 1) medical problems/surgery 2) professional dance performance and 3) bullying of my gifted son who benefited from the various out-of-school activities I found for him while he continued his studies at home. All returned to school, feeling stronger. Two got into Ivies despite long absences from school, which were explained by guidance and family.
ps I don’t want to continue the tangent, but the homeschoolers I know are not religious, the kids do sports and school plays and take CC classes. @tsbna44 If you pay taxes in a town, you have a right to participate in public school in any way you choose, as long as homeschooling itself was approved.
People used to interrupt my homeschoolers at events to ask them if they ever socialized. We never quite understood the logic of interrupting kids hanging out with their friends to ask if they had friends.
One of mine homeschooled through HS and earned an AA at a local university before her HS diploma. She attends a well-regarded liberal arts college. The other attended our local HS and is at an Ivy League institution.
Both insist that homeschooling prepared them well. Homeschooling is a valid educational path, and homeschool graduates can do everything brick-and-mortar school graduates do.
Closing thread since OP is no longer participating. If anyone else wants to share their own homeschool experiences, please start a new thread