In 9th grade, I attended a school where I was bullied so much that I began suffering from depression and panic attacks. I became homeschooled for 10th grade and spent the year recovering from my depression and panic attacks. In 11th grade I decided to try going to a traditional school again and attended a catholic private school. I moved from here because I felt like homeschooling gave me more free time to focus on my studies and personal interests. Now I’m a senior being homeschooled. How will all these changes effect my college admissions? Will I be less likely to be admitted because of my inability to stay loyal to one school? How should I word my explanation as to why I switched so many times?
I don’t think that they will look down on what you call your “inability to stay loyal to one school,” so long as you have good grades. Colleges love when people overcome obstacles, and that’s what you seem to have done. Also, you have very clear reasons for why you jumped around. The first time was to remove yourself from a traumatic situation and afterwards you decided to return to homeschooling because you wanted to be in control of your education. Both were two very difficult decisions that you made, but neither one of them was because you weren’t “loyal.”
It’s very important that you explain why you jumped around in your personal statement or in the essay that’s like “Please provide an answer below if you wish to provide details of circumstances or qualifications not reflected in the application.” Honestly I think your story could make quite a powerful personal statement. It’s unique and shows you taking charge of your education.
In short, this could actually help you in the admissions process, so long as you’ve achieved some level of success.I think the biggest issue for you will be getting transcripts and stuff from two different schools, so you’ll want to start early on that.
Parent of 2015 homeschool grad here, agreeing with the poster above that your story isn’t a disadvantage and could be a plus if told well.
Have you and your parents started thinking yet about what you’ll submit for the ‘school side’ documents? On the Common App, a parent gets set up as the guidance counselor and you send them a request for a transcript, school report, etc. Though you will have to have official transcripts sent from the 9th grade and 11th grade schools directly to the colleges, I would also compile a summary transcript for all four years showing those courses and grades along with your 10th and 12th homeschool coursework, to put it all on one page and make it easier for the adcoms to see what you’ve done.
Do you belong to a homeschool association or support group where you can compare notes and get advice from others who’ve been through college apps or are doing them this year?