<p>"There are a large number of colleges which actively recruit homeschooled students because they embody the characteristics the school desires."</p>
<p>What qualities would these be?</p>
<p>Paulus89, judging by your past comments in this forum, it looks you're trolling. </p>
<p>I think your last post was "hello....send your daughter to real high school!" Before that you said "Why</a> don't you spend a day in high school like most normal people?"</p>
<p>that was a while ago. i'm just asking a question now</p>
<p>These qualities include:</p>
<p>motivation, intellectual curiosity, ability to learn independently, original thoughts, thinking-outside-the-box, high expectations, high skill level.</p>
<p>There are others.</p>
<p>Before you jump down my throat, traditionally schooled kids can also possess these traits.</p>
<p>oh, thank you for answering my question then. it's not that i was trying to be rude, i was genuinely interested in how colleges viewed homeschooled students</p>
<p>Cool, then I'll give it a go. Homeschoolers tend to be self motivated and self directed students with diverse interests. They know how to sit down with books and teach themselves. Many have had time to pursue things they are passionate about and are extremely accomplished those areas. </p>
<p>They are likely to be innovative thinkers, being used to thinking outside the box. They tend to be intently curious,while demanding and making good use of academic freedom. They tend to know their minds and not be afraid to express themselves.</p>
<p>Many develop very direct and comfortable relationships with adults, instead of having the "us and them" approach some traditionally schooled students develop. Thus they are not afraid to challenge and make strong connections with their instructors.</p>
<p>It's hard to put a finger on exactly what all is involved, but a homeschooled student can be a real asset in the college classroom. One of my daughter's professors recently asked her where she had gone to high school. When told she was homeschooled, the professor said something like "Oh, I knew there was something very different about you. I'm very glad to have you in my class!"</p>
<p>Of course traditionally schooled students can develop these traits, and often do. It's just that college admissions people are learning to keep and open mind toward homeschoolers, knowing they might discover the occasional gem. </p>
<p>Just like any other applicant, a homeschooler must honestly and convincingly convey these strengths when applying. However, more than for traditionally schooled students, the burden of proof is on the homeschooler.</p>
<p>I didn't refresh before replying, so didn't see homeskulmom's reply. She said it so much more succinctly!</p>
<p>Absolute carbon copy with our experience with a homeschooled student applying to Davidson: National Merit Scholar (top 2500 award), Congressional Gold Medal winner, 2340 SATs, 3 SAT Subject tests all in mid-to-upper 700s, award-winning Web designer, top merit award offers at all other LACs applied to--and waitlisted at Davidson. Ditto also with our phone experience with snotty and impatient senior adcom. Quite a statement on their willingness to embrace creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. What a waste of time. </p>
<p>Don't want to sound like a CC braggy parent here--just want to alert others not to waste their time, have their student get really excited about Davidson (as ours did), only to get slapped in the face. Forewarned is forearmed: hope Davidson either gets with the program, or else people vote with their feet.</p>
<p>Just curious, anyone know or heard of home-schoolers who were accepted to the Ivys/MIT?</p>
<p>What kind of stats did they have?</p>
<p>quote: "oh, thank you for answering my question then. it's not that i was trying to be rude, i was genuinely interested in how colleges viewed homeschooled students"</p>
<p>That depends on the college and the person doing the interview/admission process. Some view homeschoolers as sheltered, social misfits with a questionable academic background. Others view homeschoolers as independent, highly motivated, passionate, free thinkers who are more capable than the average college student. It just depends on how much the exposure the college has had to homeschooled students and how well the understand the homeschooling process. </p>
<p>As a homeschool parent, I've seen the best and worse of homeschooling. Just like with public school, some kids will excell and some will slip through the cracks. The idea is that colleges should be open minded when it comes to admissions. Fortunately, many of the top ones are.</p>
<p>How about Dartmouth? Is it receptive to homeschoolers?</p>
<p>mo24,</p>
<p>Sorry I didn't see your question until now. My daughter is at Brown and the only real stat she had was a 30 on the ACT. She had a couple courses for grades at the Brown summer program, too. Beyond this, everything was qualitative -- the courses she took and what she used, her recommendations, her essays, some work samples, etc.</p>
<p>I have heard of homeschoolers accepted at every Ivy and at MIT, etc. I don't know their particular stats. It is perhaps a little harder to get into Columbia with its requirement of additional SAT IIs, but I remember on another board someone telling us her son got in (and actually had one less SAT II than it says it "requires" of homeschoolers).</p>
<p>Struggle, I haven't heard anyone's first hand experience with Dartmouth specifically.</p>
<p>My situation sounds very much like that of DianeR's daughter, and I was accepted to the University of Chicago. I have run into other homeschoolers at the U. of C., as well, and, while I do not know their stats, they all are brilliant students and hard workers. One, actually, now is a grad student at MIT.</p>
<p>My son was home schooled from 7th grade on and graduated from Dartmouth in June. He had a great experience and found the school receptive to home schoolers. He met several other Dartmouth students who were home schooled, and one played with him in their band.
I think home schooling is considered to be "okay" in upper New England, with a tradition of "aging hippies", etc., and tolerance for people making lifestyle choices.
His admissions interviewer was enthusiastic, and one prof. questioned him at length because she was interested in home schooling her children.</p>
<p>I know this thread is old, but I saw the Davidson homeschooler-friendly comments and wanted to revive the discussion. The same thing happened to me: 2400 SAT, spent my senior year of high school taking eight classes at Emory University, 6 APs before senior year, excellent work experience, etc., etc. I also went to a summer camp at Davidson the summer after my junior year and took classes with two Davidson professors. I did well in their classes and their letters of recommendation were a part of my application file. </p>
<p>Result: Waitlisted. </p>
<p>It's all okay, though, I'm headed off to Brown University TOMORROW!</p>
<p>Washington & Lee doesn't seem especially friendly to homeschoolers- they require 5 SAT IIs.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd also requests 5 SAT IIs. Since it was my son's 3rd choice, I emailed them and gave them a bit of my son's background (very strong), and asked if the 5 SAT IIs were a hard and fast rule, because, if so, we were going to cross them off the list. They assured me they only wanted the 5 SAT IIs as confirmation, if there was nothing else. Since he had a lot of AP scores, as well as a lot of math honors, it would not be a problem.</p>
<p>Still, I thought HMC was pretty hostile to HSers. They have a 10K scholarship that about 1/2 the student body gets. All you need is 750+ on the math portion of the SAT I (and I think the math SAT II Math 2), 700+ on the two verbal sections, and be in the top 10% of your class. If there is no rank, the counselor has to write a letter saying you would be in the top 10%, if they had ranks. I asked how to do that as a HSer. They said "oh, we don tgive that to HSers". I was flabbergasted. I asked them to name a school on the planet where my son would not be top 10%. She suggested another scholarship (which is actually full ride), which they give to kids with great leadership potential and to encourage minorities. Well, my son is not a minority and he has the leadership potential of a tea kettle. </p>
<p>He got in EA to his two top choices (Caltech and MIT) and never ended up applying to HMC. If he had been accepted, I was going to see how firm they stood on the decision to not offer that scholarship to HSers.</p>
<p>I found the admissions officer who did our info session at Pomona to have a little attitude about homeschoolers, but don't have reason to believe it was a general position there rather than just his own personal snootiness. They also want additional SAT IIs from homeschoolers (it's 4, I believe, but can be a combination of SAT IIs and APs.)</p>
<p>My son didn't end up applying there anyway, but I found the attitude annoying. He is starting his freshman year at Amherst now. They have a few things they recommend homeschoolers submit (such as a writing sample like a research paper), but those aren't exactly requirements, just suggestions. Overall, I think they actually like seeing some non-traditional applications come in.</p>
<p>All the colleges we had contact with were very welcoming of homeschooled applicants except for the one guy at Pomona. There was also a coach at Emory that made a dismissive remark about homeschoolers... but the admissions office itself was totally open to applications, although if I recall they also wanted one additional SATII score. I don't actually have a problem with that as long as it's not an excessive number like 5 of them or more.</p>
<p>@ another parent: If Mudd began making exceptions for the 10k Mudd scholarship than almost everybody at the school would have it. I know someone who couldnt get it because their school had only 7 people so he couldnt be the top 10%. Anyways, congratulations to your son for getting in where he wanted to go.</p>
<p>Seiken: Actually, I suspect very few people do not get it because they dont have a large enough class. I am guessing the people who do not get it do not have the necessary SAT scores and/or GPA. They do say they will work with you if your school does not rank, but obviously not enough. They offer that 10K scholarship to get more of the top students who might otherwise choose other schools. Why eliminate some students?</p>