<p>I've been at a rigorous college-preparatory girls' school since ninth grade. It is now the summer before my senior year, and after looking at the current costs of my education and what educational opportunities will be available to me next year if I continue to attend, I'm wondering if it's worth it. Would homeschooling decrease my admissions chances for the top-tier LACs and Ivy Leagues I want to attend? I'm an extremely motivated student with a 4.0 unweighted GPA, a 2350 on the SAT and a 35 on the ACT. (I get my subject test results tomorrow.) I've only taken two APs, United States History and European History, but that's because my school offers very few. My recommendations, at this point, would be glowing. (That's another question - would leaving school affect recommendations?)</p>
<p>My courseload for next year would be my most rigorous yet, but if I homeschooled I would still take at least four APs, possibly more. (Calculus, Spanish, English, Chemistry.) I am also going to be taking a course each semester at a local private college, probably in Philosophy.</p>
<p>How about my National Merit Scholarship chances? Or my membership in the National Honor Society? Or my extracurriculars? I'm only just starting to consider homeschooling, so I barely even know what to ask.</p>
<p>I know of homeschoolers at Yale, Brown, Stanford, Harvard, Dartmouth, Cal Tech, U-T Austin and many other excellent schools. You should homeschool if you want-- it won’t hurt you in admissions.</p>
<p>"My recommendations, at this point, would be glowing. "
1]Contact teachers and ask if they would write your recommendation letters now. Most colleges want to hear from teachers from your Jr year, so homeschooling shoule have no effect. You should also contact the college counselor at your HS and have her write her letter of recommendation now as well. Get copies so you can be send them in at the appropriate time.
2]How and by whom are you going to evaluated/ graded next year if you do homeschool?
If you have not already looked into it, I highly recommend you consider taking classes through Stanford’s EPGY High school program. It it self paced, but is ideal for gifted HS students who learn best on their own and want to be challenged. If you are lucky enough to be accepted at Stanford as a freshman, you will receive college credit for classes taken through EPGY.
[Stanford</a> University EPGY Online High School](<a href=“http://epgy.stanford.edu/ohs/index.html]Stanford”>http://epgy.stanford.edu/ohs/index.html)</p>
<p>Colleges are very open to admitting home-schooled applicants which has already been mentioned. So I would like to point out that different people learn differently, I learn very well in a classroom, I know people who learn best just by picking up a book and reading. How about you? If you’re someone who will learn well by teaching yourself then I think it would be fine to be home schooled next year.</p>
<p>Most colleges are open to homeschoolers. Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and UPenn seem a little hostile, but the others are great. (I’m going to Princeton as a homeschooler.)</p>
<p>However, it might look odd if you homeschool only your senior year. It might raise a lot of questions.</p>