<p>I have 16 and 14 year old sons that have always been homeschooled, mostly by non-traditional, Charlotte Mason-style and self-study means. They are both very bright and have done a lot of extra work (one has studied Spanish, French, Latin, Italian, Indonesian, college-level economics, and has designed his own linguistics study course, the other has studied Swahili, Spanish, Latin) They both test on the ITBS/ITEDS extremely well, we expect they will do well on ACT/SAT as well. They participate and do very well in the National Latin Exam. Neither, however, has any "outside" grades, AP courses, community college courses. Our local high school is extremely homeschool-unfriendly, refuses to even let our son take the PSAT there--we are going to have to drive him a ways to take it in October. (We live in the rural Midwest) They don't want to let us take any AP tests there either. My son wants to self-study and then take the tests, but we just can't figure out how to do it. We have asked questions at the College Board site and not gotten a response. We especially don't know if any schools around here will ever be offering, for example, AP Vergil or something like that. We can't really afford any expensive online AP courses (we have other kids to buy stuff for too) plus then we still would have the problem of where to take the exam. How important are AP tests? Can we show some level of "outside validation" through the NLE, CLEP tests (which we can take at a local community college) or SAT II's? Do they not have quite the same panache as the AP scores? I guess I'm asking, is it worth the hassle and headache to try to locate a school and potentially drive long distances to get the AP score?</p>
<p>I’m not an admissions counselor. I don’t think APs specifically would be that important, as long as you have other outside validation. I think it would be a good idea to take lots of SAT IIs and maybe a few CLEPs. No, they don’t have the same panache as APs, but APs aren’t necessary. When you write the counselor letter, you just say that the local schools wouldn’t allow non-students to take the APs there but the student has all this other outside validation.</p>
<p>And the high schools are definitely not obligated to allow your kids to test there - I was surprised when I found this out too.</p>
<p>APs are important only insofar as people want college credit or placement, and then not so much. Do you want to hurry through college? I guess there could be a financial angle, but I don’t have the idea that that is the way your family is thinking.
You can avoid the local high school foolishness by taking SAT Subject Tests. A superior Latin test result would, IMO, be very impressive. I live in the Midwest and know a young home schooler in my neighborhood who I feel certain did very well on the Latin test, and who I know picked up ancient Greek as well. She attended and I think will soon graduate from the University of Chicago.
An 800 or thereabouts is bound to get admissions folks attention. A young person with that interest and that command is just that rare.
I’ve had two kids so far who went through the college admissions process without trouble with Subject Tests, but no APs. APs were just too long and expensive, unless you want college credit before starting college.</p>
<p>In fact, they can take AP tests at any school. You just need to contact collegeboard to get address of the school nearby which administers tests to external students. I did it that way and had no problem…</p>
<p>Boo on your local school. That makes me mad. It costs them nothing to include homeschoolers and it is flat out mean spirited that they won’t.</p>
<p>Call the College Board on the phone. They will be able to give you a list of schools in your area that offer the tests. You may want to also contact private schools. A couple of the schools in our area were very happy to have homeschoolers join their school for AP tests, even if they were not offering that exact test. We had to pay a nominal proctoring fee - maybe $20. </p>
<p>APs aren’t the only route to go and certainly many kids get admitted to great schools without them. If your child is interested in them, I wouldn’t rule it out due to the testing center problem. We found APs worth it. It was a good way to demonstrate outside evidence of accomplishment. Also, it was worth it in terms of credit college credit. To give an example, one AP bio test netted ten full credits worth several thousand dollars. The point isn’t to get through college in a rush, but instead to have sufficient challenge during high school and to enter college with the flexibility to take classes of greater interest.</p>
<p>Another option is CLEP exams. They are taken at a local college (including community colleges) so there is no problem with being turned away. CLEPs show the ability to handle college work just like an AP exam. The advantage is that you schedule the test at your convenience, unlike AP exams. Both exams offer college credit if a certain score is attained.</p>
<p>Its always difficult to say how much “outside” grades matter…I can tell you that I did take classes at my city’s CC for 3 semesters as a dual credit HS student, and I also took online courses through stanford’s epgy program. Getting outside grades can’t hurt. (unless you get bad grades) I highly recommend taking classes outside of the house through institutions that are believed to be more “credible”. It worked for my brother and I. (MIT and Rice, respectively) </p>
<p>I only took 1 AP: AP biology. Looking back, if I had taken more (and passed them of course) I could have made it easier on myself in college by lightening my course-load or I could have made double majoring easier. And I am quite disappointed in your local high school. If they are homeschool unfriendly it may be in your interest not to even bother with them, but if it were me I would file a complaint to the college board. I don’t think they have the authority to not allow your kids to take the PSAT at their school.</p>