<p>Hi! I'm a homeschooled junior (i'm 15 and skipped a year).
I have never gotten anything below an A- and take some online, some summer (science- through CTY), and some homeschool classes. (not sure how to do my GPA if I'm homeschooled.) By the time I graduate I'm taking chem, AP english, western civ, and spanish 3 this year, and Physics and precalc over the summer. I'll be taking spanish 4, calculus, AP history (possible AP world as well), and probably AP bio next year. And I have a 700 SAT reading, 800 writing, and (i know it's terrible) a 570 math. (I'm going to be tutored for the June SAT to get that up to at least a 650, cause I know it's kind of eliminating my chances at a good school... i also plan on getting my reading score up to 800, which i think is possible cause i've never really studied for the reading section.) I do drama and chorus. I'm active in my church and have been on a missions trip. I am leading a fundraising project to raise money for Haiti and to build wells in Malawi (just had a benefit concert last Saturday). I live on an organic farm and am the oldest of 5.
I'm hoping to get into a good school that will give me pretty much a full ride- aiming for Yale, Williams, Cornell, Amherst... a top-notch school with a big endowment and a great English program.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate this...</p>
<p>It’s unlikely you’ll get a full ride (you mean scholarship by this) to a school such as Yale, but probably still have a shot at making it in with hopefulyl some sort of financial aid. Get that math SAT up for sure, the entire math section is all about reading comprehension not math, once you understand how the questions work you can get a 700+ from my experience at least. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your help!! that’s so reassuring (about the math sat). So you think I have a shot at getting into an ivy?</p>
<p><em>bump</em> please, please help me out!!</p>
<p>The Ivies are really hard to get into. (Forgive me if you already know this). Yes, you have a shot but so do most of the other people applying and they only accept 1 in 10. Willams and Amherst aren’t Ivies but they are almost as hard to get into also. It won’t hurt you to have been homeschooled, it will hurt you to have such a low math score on your SAT.</p>
<p>I think your should expand your list of schools to include some that are easier to get into.</p>
<p>Hunny, reality check: I don’t know about the rest of your “stats” but the ones that you gave us so far are not at all impressive and don’t really show a well rounded student…I know that you may be a good student and all, but ivy leagues are pummeled with applications far better than yours that get rejected, so if i were you, i would really get going on some legitally good extracurriculars… its great that you do stuff with your church but so does every other kid in america who works at wendy’s… There are people who got A+ in every class since they were freshmen, and they have soo many good extracurriculars, and they still don’t get in… Sorry but i don’t think you have a chance, unless you pull something really good out your last year. Time to actually think about a REALISTIC college option for you…</p>
<p>Yaskut, your “I’m gonna give you the daily dosage of ‘Wake Up’ medicine” blurb and its validity was COMPLETELY destroyed by your use of the non-existent word “legitally.” Unless English is your second language and you have yet to pick up on the difference between established words and colloquial words, I am astonished and highly amused. (: Thank you for making my day brighter.</p>
<p>Regardless, yaskut does have a point. However, they’re going a bit too far. You have a chance. Are they likely? Maybe, maybe not. You have to take into account that you do need more extra curricular activities, even though you’re not a part of a school. You do need a killer essay, and also need to factor in where your location (farther west, the better – unless you’re in California.)</p>
<p>My son is homeschooled / taking classes at the local community college. He didn’t apply to any of the ivies but he did get accepted to Caltech EA one year young. I can’t chance you for the ivies - nobody really can. The average is maybe 10%? so you can start with that. They turn away kids with 2400 SATs. They turn away valedictorians.</p>
<p>No ivy (I think) is going to give merit scholarships - the “very best” schools are all about meeting financial need. If you need lots of merit money, find a school where you are in the TOP of the pool and they’ll probably beg you to come and pay handsomely.</p>
<p>BUT everyone says “I wanna go to an Ivy”. Why? What do you want to study? Do you want a big school or a small school? Do you want research opportunities, small classes, the excitement of football games, the opportunity to hide in a giant classroom and learn without being pressured, the ability to ski / surf / live sustainably, to major in X and minor in Y, to go to grad school, to graduate debt-free, to work on a movie set, to incorporate service learning or internships in your education plan?</p>
<p>The ivies are great schools, and I’m not saying they aren’t. But they aren’t the only great schools, and they aren’t necessarily great for you. My son didn’t apply because he wanted a smaller school. There are 4,000 colleges in the US, and probably 2000 of them would be wonderful places for you. All you need to do is figure out what **you **want and then pick one that meets your needs where you meet its standards.</p>