<p>My daughter was homeschooled for eight year prior to starting high school. She will be applying to colleges in the fall and it never occurred to me that it might be advantageous to highlight this in her college app until an Ivy League coach suggested it. I thought that since she will have been in school for three years when applying, her prior homeschooling would be irrelevant. I guess I was wrong. My question is, besides the essays, how else would she be able to incorporate this into her app. Also, we were pretty much unschoolers through elementary years, with an ecclectic approach to learning, so no "transcripts" and such. Thanks!</p>
<p>They ask for transcripts for all four years of HS, so you will probably have to come up with one for ninth grade. And other than an essay or a transcript, there isn’t much way to incorporate anything into the common app.</p>
<p>My mistake, she started school in ninth grade, so it is on her transcript from her high school. I wonder if there is a way for her guidance counselor to mention it in her recommendation. She always talks about my daughter’s smooth transition into school, apparently they have had several homeschoolers come in who have not adapted well. If not, I guess she will have to use homeschooling as an essay topic. Any other suggestions?</p>
<p>My only suggestion is not to use it if it isn’t a good topic - obviously I’m not an IL coach, but if she didn’t do or learn something different because of it, it doesn’t seem like it would be much of a topic. Good luck!</p>
<p>Of course what is most important is that a person writes about a topic where they feel strongly and can write something that is interesting to read. So, it is hard to really make up rules without seeing the actual essay. That said, I think there is always some element of risk about writing about something that happened much earlier in life because it can make the student seem like they are living in the past or like they don’t have recent interesting things to talk about.</p>
<p>The advantage to me is if your daughter was able to pursue opportunities in depth that she couldn’t with a regular school schedule. The problem might be if she were unable to pursue this in the same way once she attended school.
If she were a self-directed learner prior to high school, and that drove her home schooling, that would be a positive.
But I’m guessing that with a conventional high school path, they will focus on the high school record.</p>
<p>I spoke with my daughter’s GC and she plans to mention her transition from homeschooling to high school in her recommendation. She also suggested my daughter write an essay about the variety of educational opportunities she has persued; homeschooling, co-op classes, virtual school, traditional high school and college classes. Thanks for the suggestions!</p>
<p>Sounds very good, fishymom.
Some kudos to the guidance counselor as well for seeing home schooling as a positive. Don’t need any convincing here, of course!</p>