<p>Have any current students met homeschoolers attending Rice?</p>
<p>I have met one homeschooled student… don’t know him too well. I don’t think Rice looks down upon you if you are homeschooled though. So I doubt being homeschooled will be a disadvantage in the admissions process.</p>
<p>My home-schooled D was accepted a few days with a trustee scholarship.</p>
<p>My home-schooled son was accepted a few days ago with no scholarship.</p>
Dear GeekMom63 & Ryanone, I have a freshman son who was homeschooled up until this year. We are considering returning to homeschooling and continuing the Classical education he was receiving at Classical Conversations. My husband is very concerned, however, that he may not get into Rice if he is homeschooled. Can you offer some insight into your experiences applying at Rice and what your child’s high school academic and extracurricular experiences were that you believe helped them gain admittance and a scholarship? Thank you in advance.
My homeschooled son has absolutely loved Rice. He took AP exams and SAT subject tests and participated in some strong extra curricular activities. He didn’t receive a scholarship, except for National Merit which is no longer offered. He was admitted ED, and I’ve heard that ED students don’t receive as many scholarships a not sure if this is true. PM me if you want more homeschool type details.
My son had a good friend who was accepted as a homeschooler to Rice last year. She has two older siblings who were also homeschooled and went to Rice. They were legacies, FWIW.
Dear Ellagrace,
I have a sophomore(home school). He wants to attend Rice university. He is academically accelerated. He is a lead Guitarist in band and runs non profit. He did not do any research so far. He wants to major in Engineering. What kind of extra curricular your son did? How much SAT I score rice expects from home schooler?
Because Homeschooled students do not get a class ranking, I think test scores are especially important. A student interested in engineering should definitely take the SAT Math Level 2 exam. Make sure your son takes challenging courses and the corresponding AP/SAT subject tests to go with them. Obviously, interesting extra curricular activities and essays are also important.
Rice has been a fantastic place for my son to be. Good luck!!
thank u very much ellagrace. Did rice look for High school Science research for incoming Engineering applicants?
I only think it is necessary for incoming students to have extra curricular activities they are passionate about and show commitment to.
My daughter was just accepted to Rice for class of 2019. She homeschooled but used the community college for duel credit courses. She will graduate high school with a AS from the community college. She applied as a freshman, but the 4.0 in college courses indicate she can handle the work.
What I have been able to see (she was accepted to 8 colleges including WUISL, Rice University and Dartmouth.) they all like to have outside verification of knowledge. Homeschoolers need to take SAT II subject tests; really work on essays, and have some duel credit courses. They don’t trust mom saying you made an A.
Warning it is a pain playing the school counselor/administrator for the Common Ap ( 
)
I think home schoolers can pretty much get admitted anywhere.
Hi wshsmom
Thanks for your advice. My son is in 10th grade right now. Will u be able to guide me through the process of counselor/admnistrator for the common app please? What kind of extracurricular your daughter did? ( Science fair, Math competitions..etc)
Thanks much,
Thank u Ellagrace.
Hi ellagrace,
R u in any of the homeschool groups? Would u recommend any of those for me to join?
Thanks,
Hi wshsmom,
R u in any of the homeschool groups? Would u recommend any of those for me to join?
We belong to Homewood Christian Association, but to be honest did not interact with them much. We hired one of the local college admission counselors but to be honest again, they did not understand homeschoolers. My daughter obsesses so she handled a great deal of determining what to do. We ended up in homeschooling because she was involved in a theater group where most of the kids homeschooled. She started at the local college duel credit in Biology and English I and II and US history in 9th grade and took most high school courses through the community college.
I was just surprised (because I didn’t look ahead) that I had to write all the school portions of the homeschool. I did call all the schools she was really interested in attending to determine what she needed for admissions to feel comfortable with a homeschooler. If you didn’t do duel credit, they tended to want SAT II or AP tests to prove the grades were equivalent to what someone would get in public or private school. I can understand that.
I was just accepted to Rice as a homeschooler for the class of 2019. I agree with @wshshmom - it is important to have outside validation of “mommy” grades, through AP or SAT subject test scores, grades from online or community college classes, and strong letters of recommendation and unique extracurriculars are also important. You want to break the stereotype of the antisocial, super-nerdy homeschooler in your app, whether it be through sports or a leadership extracurricular or a strong teacher recommendation commenting on the student’s personality.
I homeschooled for a year, some time ago. In finding a homeschool group, it’s important to find one with members sharing your goals. Some of the groups were not at all interested in college admissions, and were not even encouraging their kids to go to college. Their curriculum standards also were so geared. Others were for kids with special problems, some had a strong religious base that conflicted with a strong academic college prep for selective colleges, and some, yes, were focused on it. One thing you miss when you home school are the announcements, reminders and discoveries that a school provides in things, and for the college process, it can hurt. My one friend who homeschooled missed out on the PSAT for one of her kids Had her kid been in the public school college prep courses, he’d have been automatically enrolled. It makes certain things easier—you have to be on the ball for deadlines and opportunities when you home school. So if you are in a group that’s keeping an eye out for these things, it really helps.