<p>GeekMom63, your summary of what worked for your son covers the essential points. I would only add the importance of extracurricular activities for most students. There will be a small number of students whose academic credentials trump everything else. You know, the patent-pending type of applicants.</p>
<p>If your child is not one of those few, then extracurricular involvement and achievement is another significant piece of the application. My son concentrated on a couple of extracurriculars. Serious interest in a few projects is better than shallow interest in numerous activities, I believe. He also did significant community service, some of it related to his extracurricular interests.</p>
<p>IMO, Quill Pen is absolutely right that deep involvement in an area (almost goes without saying, a passion) is the critical dimension where a home schooler can distinguish herself from the pack. Involvement that is just not possible with a school schedule. In my daughter’s case, it was dancing ballet for a few hours six days a week, resulting in small roles as a minor in many Joffrey Ballet productions, appearances with the Civic Opera in Chicago, and acceptance and study at the SAB at Lincoln Center. A home schooled neighbor traveled the country in fencing competitions. A Junior and Freshman respectively at Princeton.
By the way, there is an apparent demand for females who can wield the sabre!
Some bad news. My daughter is a Princeton '11, and from a reporter’s inquiry and from another source, the 2% report that year is Princeton’s rounding error. Four students were enrolled.</p>
<p>danas, the 2% number was a shock, so thanks for the clarification. A month ago, on another thread–Homeschool students’ admission rate to Harvard/Princeton/Yale–I posted a link to the Princeton admissions statistics for the class of 2013. They show 5 freshman homeschoolers in attendance this year.</p>
<p>Agree with danas that the student has to have a flexible schedule to own and invest in some activity that is meaningful to the student. We made the mistake (as we see in retrospect) of investing too much time in an unproven distance learning program rather than letting our oldest develop his own path for his secondary education. Loss of flexibility is loss of the chief advantage of homeschooling. Our oldest still ended up much better prepared (and, through financial aid offers including “merit” aid, much better funded) for college than his parents were before him, but we will let our three younger children do even more design of their own secondary education programs, so that their personal interests shine through in their applications. Personal attention and involvement is simply much better than one-size-fits-all or phone-it-in.</p>
<p>I have never posted on this particular forum before, but I wanted to put out there that the salutatorian at Columbia (in NYC) was home-schooled. His name is Jeffrey Spears, and he is also an All-American fencer. At Columbia, the salutatorian, not the valedictorian, speaks at Class Day. If he says anything about his home schooling experience, I will put it in here later.</p>
<p>My son started taking classes at a local private college at 12. They were “known” in our homeschool community to dislike homeschoolers. At age 14 the same college gave him a full scholarship. Just today, we received a notice from Cornell that they have accepted him as a transfer student for the fall. He is 16 years old. </p>
<p>I think if you follow your child’s passions everything will work out.</p>