<p>I rarely hear from homeschoolers who are currently enrolled in college, or who have graduated. I would love to hear more from them.</p>
<p>Were you able to gain admission to a school of your choice? What did you do along the way that really helped or hindered the admission process? Was the transition to college a smooth one, or did you have trouble? Looking back, would you have prepared yourself differently if you were starting over?</p>
<p>my son is only in week 3 of college, but he has homeschooled friends who are a lot further along. The ones like my son who have gone at the usual age have all had good luck with admissions, and made the transition with about the same degree of bumpiness as the traditionally-schooled kids. Going early (like age 16 or so) seems to be more common among homeschoolers than among school kids we know. Those kids are more likely to have bumps, but it seems related to age rather than homeschooling per se.</p>
<p>My sons were homeschooled, although they did take some classes at the local high school and some at the community college. My older son just graduated from Stanford. My younger is a freshman at Indiana University, studying music. I think the community college classes were a help in adjusting. There is always an adjustment, no matter how you were schooled, but I don't think my sons had any more trouble than anyone else. In fact, because they had goals and knew what they wanted out of college (although my older son's plans did change) they were not sidetracked by the partying and such that many others seem to struggle with.</p>
<p>As far as the admission process, keeping good records was the key, so that making a transcript, resume, activities list, etc. was not so difficult. and researching colleges to find ones compatible with the student's interests, objectives, and personality.</p>
<p>texas137, my daughter is also in her third week at school. What an interesting transition for all of us!</p>
<p>Susantm, I agree that record keeping is important. We certainly could have done better than we did, and saved ourselves a ton of work, but we could have done much worse too.</p>
<p>I knew early on that I wasn't up to keeping careful records, so we went the route of using a lot of standardized test scores (AP, SAT II) for documentation. Fortunately my son tests well and doesn't mind taking those sorts of exams. Saved us a ton of work trying to document self-study.</p>
<p>Standardized test scores certainly are important. My daughter's school required three SAT II's, which I think is common. It seems to me to be a relatively painless way to get the message across, but I know homeschoolers who go to incredible lengths to avoid having to take them. I understand being philosophically opposed to standardized testing, but I don't think that's what's behind a lot of the resistance I see. To a great extent it just seems like fear of the unknown.</p>
<p>I'm a sophomore at Georgia Tech right now and was homeschooled starting in 8th grade. </p>
<p>I applied to Stanford, Princeton, MIT, CalTech, Cornell, Georgia Tech, and Rutgers; I was rejected by the first four schools.</p>
<p>One thing I found helpful was going to college information sessions and talking to the admissions counselors about their views/policies on homeschool admissions. I also used standardized test scores for documentation, and it seemed to work out fine. The only problem I ran into was with UMich-Ann Arbor, which wanted 5 SAT II's in specific subject areas: writing, math, science, social science, and a foreign language. I decided not to apply.</p>
<p>Thanks, dmscramjet. A friend of mine recently graduated from Georgia Tech with some sort of computer engineering major. It sounds like an interesting place.</p>
<p>My daughter didn't have access to college information sessions, but I can believe they could be an important way for a homeschooler to make good connections and get informed.</p>
<p>It doesn't sound like UMich-Ann Arbor is very interested in homeschoolers with requirements like that.</p>
<p>I'm at Kennesaw State right now doing my senior year, I'm applying to other colleges for my degree. I'll let you know how it turns out!!!</p>
<p>Oh, yes, my older sister also started here when she was 16, she's almost graduated with a thriving business at 19. <a href="http://kirations.tripod.com/%5B/url%5D">http://kirations.tripod.com/</a></p>
<p>SweetestSith, it will be interesting to hear how things work out for you!</p>