I have an incoming junior who has been on home bound almost all of high school. If you’re unfamiliar with that it’s basically when you can’t go to school for a medical reason, but still do all the work that they do in class.
This will not be on the transcripts and with the exception of a B, the grades are looking good. She is very smart, just dealt a bad card and is currently too sick to go. We recently started a new treatment and got her into a clinical trial so I am very hopeful that she’ll be up for going to college soon, but she may have to defer for a year.
Anyway, how can she get into a good school while on home bound? She has good grades, she’s in high caliber classes, but she is obviously unable to play sports or do extracurriculars. She does networking and volunteering for a non profit as much as possible and she is in a teen group locally. The schools she loves (currently Williams is #1) require heavy resumes and I’m not sure how we can get her there.
If you have any suggestions (ie she just needs to milk it in the essay or some online ECs) I’m all ears.
Thank you
I think she should use the Additional Information section to describe her situation. If she has a GC through the high school where she gets her coursework, they could mention it.
Part of your job is to keep her from getting too attached to one school. She needs to genuinely find a list of schools she like (and you can afford) with a range of selectivity.
Test scores will be important, too.
Realistically you should also have her apply to a school or two she could commute to as well, since it doesn’t sound clear what her health situation will be.
Regarding online activities, if she has an interest in science she might look at Zooniverse. Or MOOC classes that provide certificates for completion,
Try as much SAT prep as possible and essay prep
I agree that she should look at schools closer to home as well in case she needs medical support from parents.
@HImom may have ideas for you. Her daughter had serious health issues while in high school.
Think carefully about schools like Williams that are remote and where medical care may be limited.
Your GC should be able to help explain the lack of EC, but also ways to talk about the ECs she does have.
Hi! My kids weren’t quite homebound but both missed 1/4 to 1/2 of most of their HS years due to chronic medical issues. Both went to same competitive U, USoCal.
Neither of them had as many ECs as they would have if they had been 100% healthy but S had BScouts and was an Eagle Scout, plus a slew of other things he joined or started SR year and marching band.
Due to her medical issues, D had very few ECs—paddling an outrigger canoe may have been her single EC in HS. She got her GED after JR year, scoring 4000 out of 4000 and started CC when her private HS said she couldn’t return for SR year.
I believe both kids may have mentioned their health issues somewhere in their applications in passing as something they overcame, but am not sure as they didn’t share their apps with us.
S was admitted to Santa Clara U, USC and AzSU with significant merit as a National Merit Finalist. He chose USC, as they indicated they’d work with him and us with any health issues (SCU said they wouldn’t). USC also accepted D as a transfer after she completed 3 semesters of CC.
USC strongly recommended we get each of our kids to their campus ahead of time and meet with a few of their MDs so our kids could go to them if they had medical needs beyond simple first aid that the student health could easily supply. We did this and it gave us great peace of mind. D is still using one of the MDs we were able to connect her with in 2009 (she still lives in LA) and he’s referred her to several specialists which have been very helpful to her. We also got their medical files transferred to make it easier for the USC MDs to provide continuing care.
We also met the Dean of Disabilities at USC as a family before each student started and gave him the letter from their MD about helpful accommodations. He explained the procedure—take a letter from Disabilities office to each prof in 1st week of school and always keep in touch with prof RE needed accommodations and any issues so no surprises.
It reassuring to us that the U had a free shuttle taking anyone from the main campus to the health sciences campus where the MDs were. Our kids didn’t get a car to drive until SR year of college and driving in LA can be challenging.
@HImom Wow that is so helpful… She has always “thought” that mentioning any issues would be exclusionary and that she doesn’t need to go to the disability office because she’s “sick not disabled” lol but it’s obviously what we need to do.
@twoinanddone I feel badly that I hadn’t even thought about remoteness, that definitely makes sense!
OP, my son’s school was SO helpful when he got accommodations. His advisor even shared that she’d been diagnosed with a mental illness as a teenager, so she understood a little of what he was going through. She went the extra mile in helping him to register for classes. Another professor told us the accommodations were no big deal - he has students every semester who give him a letter requesting help. Tell your daughter that colleges WANT their students to succeed. They would much rather help her than see her struggle and not graduate. Good luck to her!
My kids had both missed a ton of HS. The good news is that both did MUCH better in college, where they had a lot more control of their schedules.
S said he didn’t miss ANY days of college due to health—we take that as a win! S has had a full-time job he got as a SR in college that he’s had since 2011 and is still with same employer. He also has a part time job as well.
I did call each U where they were accepted to talk about how they would work with the student and family. SCU said they would likely ask a student to withdraw from their U if they missed 2 weeks in a quarter for any reason, even with MD note, so S threw their acceptance and merit award in trash. USC and UAz said they’d work with us as they’ve worked with other students.
I had thought smaller Us would be more willing to work with us and their students but the larger Us seemed mor flexible and accepting. YMMV, of course, so you just have to speak with the Us after being accepted.
Just a few additional things
1.) When I mentioned Williams that was totally just an example, her top choice changes every other week. She’s just interested in a small-ish, elite, LAC
2.) We have a couple factors that make location not that big of an issue. As long as it’s a good location for her it will work out.
3.) I’m sure we could get letters saying that she has cause for few ECs, but I’m just worried because with the schools that she likes there will always be someone with more ECs, more HL classes, and a higher SAT score. I know that in the end it’ll all work out but admissions are getting harder every day and I’m not sure how much they’ll be willing to bend for her;)
Thank you everyone for being so helpful
It’s not really about excusing why she has so few ECs. It’s more about pumping up how she’s done so well in her classes, and managed to do what ECs she has, despite significant health issues. There’s no need for excuses, don’t go that route.
Remind her that the disability office is to help level the playing field for all. Also kids may need more support than they think…at home you have a parent who makes food appear 30 feet from your bedroom, who monitors your health, who talks to GCs about medical accommodations, a parent that reminds you of homework and supports as necessary…at home you have a room, town, friends and schools that you are familiar with. You get dropped off at school by car/bus. You don’t have to walk/whatever half a mile across campus on a snowy day.
When you start college, you have none of that. So there is a lot more energy spent on doing everything yourself…plus school work…plus the medical condition.
Tell her to start with the disability office…get whatever accommodations that are applicable…use them at first…then as time goes on…she can decide which ones she needs or not. Or which ones she needs during flareups.