Should current junior who's first in her class (and interested in Yale) homeschool her senior year?

Pre-College Issues Home Schooling and College
1

Hi. I’m currently first in my class at my high school. I already know what I want to study in college and what I want to do for the rest of my life, which is to go into human rights/nonprofit work. My high school makes me hate learning and leaves me with no energy to pursue the things that I really want to do. I get along with my peers and have friends, but I’m much more mature than they are on so many different levels. I really want to have some independence my senior year because I have been ready for it for a long time.

I would take online classes with Coursera, plan my own independent classes (with field work and special projects), and have my parents check in with me at the end of every day to make sure I’m doing work. I want to pursue my own projects, like starting an online database about human rights issues and becoming a political activist. If I stay on for senior year I’ll have 4 APs and basically no time to pursue any of these projects while also applying to colleges.

My first choice schools are Yale and liberal arts colleges (Williams, Amherst, Barnard). My guidance counselor told me that if a kid who’s first in her class starts getting homeschooled senior year, all the good colleges will think there’s something wrong with her. I feel like I have really valid reasons for it and that having more independence my senior year would really bring out all of my best qualities as an applicant (innovation, independence, confidence, drive). I’m not going to get homeschooled because I have problems, but because I’m ready to be an adult and make my own decisions.

Will homeschooling my senior year if I’m first in my class hurt my chances at top schools like Yale?

2

Yes, unless you are training for the Olympics the sudden switch to homeschooling will make it look like you experienced some problem related to health or behavior.
What are you options for dual enrollment or PSEO?

3

If getting into a top college is your goal then homeschooling when you are top in your class is not a good idea

4

I think it will raise questions. I might feel differently if you had (for example) used up your high school’s advanced classes already, but it doesn’t sound like that’s the case.

What about not taking all those APs?

5

Cheddarcheese, I live in Long Island NY so I’m ineligible for any free NYC dual enrollment programs that require 5 borough residence like Bard. The local community college has a dual enrollment program for talented hs juniors but I can’t drive and public transit one way would take ~2 hours.

Hunt, the thing is I need to take the most challenging curriculum available to me if I stay in high school. So that would be it.

6

Why don’t you talk to a the Long Island Yale admissions rep?

7

Two ideas: Go to high school senior year, then plan a gap year to take on projects involving human rights and politically activism. What an impressive application that will be!

Or, soul search what you are really looking for in a college experience. Maybe a school with easier admission policies will allow you the freedom you crave for your senior year?

Good luck & aloha!

8

Homeschooling In NY requires a lot of paperwork. I would carefully consider this before leaving school. There are quite a few homeschool unfriendly districts on the island.

9

Higheredmom, I just emailed most of the admissions offices of the schools I’m interested asking about it.

Palm715, my parents are determined to have me finish high school “on time”- they don’t want me to be delayed a year, even though I’ve asked them many times if they would allow me to have a gap year. My logic is that if I homeschool I’ll have enough independence so that it can serve as a gap year.

Isaelijohjac, I have done research and there is a lot of paperwork. If I’m not mistaken I can help my parents write most of the IHIP (Individualized Home Instruction Plan) and organize my own curriculum as long as it fulfills the attendance/hour requirements. Also I’m under the impression that my parents don’t have to watch me all day, since I’m turning 17 this fall, as long as they record my attendance and submit quarterly reports. Homeschooling parents/teens in NYS, is that true?

10

Does NY or your district allow independent study as an option. If they do you can work on the courses through one of the virtual options. We had an issue with my son’s math class one year and the district used APEX online Learning and allowed my son to take his course online with teacher supervision. APEX and many other virtual programs work directly with school districts to allow students alternatives. Your high school school specific administration may not know about this as an option. We had to bipass the admin and do it at the district level, in our case through the GATE office. In the end my son had the class added to his transcript without any notification it was virtual.

Many of the virtual programs, and there is a large list of companies that have AP level courses, typically cover most courses offered at a typical high school. You can then move your schedule around as needed.

Here in CA we also have public charters that allow independent study. We are starting my son in one next year. You might want to see what other public options there are before withdrawing.

11

Is a study abroad or exchange program possible for your senior year? I have heard of these but have no personal knowledge.

12

LKnomad, my school is very unfriendly to students who do not conform to the curriculum they set by grade. They don’t even let students skip grades if they test out of a course, so I doubt they would let me take a virtual class. I don’t know what the District would say but I really want more freedom than just taking some virtual classes.

Txstella, those options exist (although most of them are very expensive) but my family wants me to be at home another year before I go off to college.

13

@ayyyyy yes, you are correct, they don’t have to watch you. They do have to keep track of hours–or you can do it for them. Also, if you decide to homeschool you need to submit a Letter of Intent to the school district. Then the IHIP, and then quarterly reports and year end assessment/test scores. Of course you can write all of these for your mom/dad and have her/him sign them. If you want to PM me your school district I may have some insight as I had homeschool friends all over the island.

As far as Yale is concerned–I think you can make it work it work, but your parents will have to act as your counselor for the common app. Make sure you have really good recommendations. Also, the common app lets you upload more than one transcript so you could use this to explain the switch and upload a resume if you have a stellar one and describe in detail your courses (course description).

14

What are you doing this summer?

15

I wouldn’t do it.

Homeschoolers often have to jump through more hoops to prove their academic merits relative to regular students. Its not worth it for a single year of home schooling.

You will be throwing away your easily quantifiable stats, recommendations and class ranking and not gaining a whole lot of credibility with just a single year of independent homeschooling. That year by the way will be based on studies that will be largely unverifiable to college admissions, even if they are OK’d by NYS board of education.

Yale is not know to be particularly friendly to homeschoolers anyway. I think its a mistake.

BTW my son has been homeschooled here in NYC since kindergarden and will be a senior this fall.

16

Agree with the above post about Yale not being friendly towards homeschoolers. Not sure why, but each year, lots of homeschoolers apply to top schools, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one get into Yale. Maybe I’ve missed it, but I agree that homeschooling for senior year doesn’t make sense.

OP, can’t you do something in between-maybe try to do some independent learning with the school’s blessing? Or are they just so in the box, they won’t go for it?

17

My daughter was in the same position as you. First in her class, swept the academic awards every year, perfect and numerous test scores, etc. She was really frustrated by the pace of her classes and the busywork. Most of her extracurriculars were outside of school ie two published novels, a blog, a job, etc.

She really wanted to be homeschooled for her last 2 years of high school. At the end of the day, I did not let her and regret it. While she is ending up at a top school ans was offered large merit scholarships to several others, she did not sweep the field like we thought she would. Had I let her leave school, I would have thought that the reason. The college admissions process was painfully long and a lot of work. You really need to stand out beyond your class rank, so do something exceptional with your last year. You have to be OK with the outcome, however.

Good luck to you!

18

My experience was not jumping through hoops. Schools may ask for more of homeschoolers to give credibility to grades (why not?), but that’s not jumping through hoops. OP must already have great test scores.

Consider the possibility that it may be an advantage that she is homeschooled her last year (as long as she can show there was a lot of value with what she was doing with her time). Stellar transcript for three years of high school and one year of homeschooling, excellent resume, and awesome recommendations – I give her a better shot at an ivy admissions than if she was just another smart public school kid applying. They may see a lot of value in her actually wanting to learn than if she just wanted to be top of her class to get into a top college.

OP has done her homeschooling research so I will assume she will market herself well on the common app. It takes strategy if you are a homeschooler. OP sounds up to the challenge. @ayyyyy you will need to have a really good course description of whatever you do this year, as well as a detailed booklist along with how your grades were evaluated.

@ayyyyy reading the last paragraph – you will have to be sure you cover the “core” classes – math, science, language (they probably like four years), humanities, etc. They will all need to be covered. Colleges don’t like to see seniors take a less rigorous course load.

From Yale:

Home-schooled applicants complete the same application as other students and must fulfill the same testing requirements. Because home-schooled students may lack standard measures of academic performance, they must try to provide comparable information in different ways. Here are a few suggestions for home-schoolers as they approach the application process:

Testing
Standardized test scores hold relatively more weight for home-schooled applicants. If you are a home-schooler and you feel confident about your ability to do well on the exams, we advise you to demonstrate your abilities in various areas by taking more than the required two SAT Subject Tests.

Letters of Recommendation
We require letters of recommendation for home-schooled applicants, including two from academic teachers and one from the ‘school counselor.’ Please do not present letters written only by your parents. We need additional objective evaluations from educators who have interacted with you - perhaps a teacher from a course you took at a local college, someone who has mentored you in a tutorial, the local librarian with whom you’ve discussed books over the years, someone in whose lab you have done research, etc. Letters from an online instructor are acceptable but can be difficult to evaluate, as the teacher often has not had direct contact with the student.

Strength of Program
We will look closely at the list of subjects pursued through your high school program, but as with any applicant, we do not specify the number of years you must spend on any particular subject. We look for strength in all the major disciplines across the high school curriculum. Many home-schooled students pursue some course work at a local college or high school and we are happy to consider grades and recommendations from those sources as well.

19

@Zeitgeist11 Thank you for your experience. I will bring that up to my parents to convince them because they hate the idea of me homeschooling as much as most of you do.

@isaelijohjac

Thank you so much for believing in me. I really feel like staying in high school would be very detrimental to me on so many levels, and that homeschooling would give me the opportunity to shine like I know I can. Being 1st in my class, even though it might seem like a giant honor, is both 1. unimportant/unrelated to my character/non-academic accomplishments and 2. painfully common in Ivy League admissions.

I can’t both be first in my class and also achieve my full potential senior year. I just can’t.

Here are my relevant stats:

SAT: 2260 one sitting, 2300 super score

SAT II: Spanish with listening- 770

GPA: Unweighted 3.85, weighted 4.08

APs:
2014 Music Theory, World History, Spanish Lang, Human Geo- all 5’s
2015 Chemistry, US History, English Lang, Spanish Lit, and Psych pending
*self-studied

Awards: GS Gold Award pending for this summer, NY writing contest, National Spanish Exam Level 5 Gold Award- 99th percentile

QUESTION FOR HOMESCHOOLERS- If you went to a high school before getting homeschooled, could you still ask your teachers from your former school for recommendations as long as they taught you in an applicable grade? Could you ask a guidance counselor?

20

@calmom i’m doing a political activism program, finishing my Gold Award, working on STEM initiative for girls, and volunteering at a local women’s shelter.

If I decide to get homeschooled then I will also start studying. (And it would still be less pressure for me.)

@raregroove I mean I think they could still consider my stats from my first three years of HS. And I would carefully document all of my academic studies and projects senior year to “prove” them.

I’m not so sure that Yale is as against homeschoolers as you think. In any case, I emailed them, so soon we’ll all find out. This thread seems to prove some of what I believe.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/874722-homeschool-students-admission-rate-to-yale.html

And here is a very relevant link about what Yale thinks about homeschoolers (albeit not homeschoolers who start senior year. But it proves they are not all against homeschoolers):
http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2004/11/09/for-some-classroom-was-home-sweet-home/

@sbjdorlo Well, homeschoolers do get in (see above links). And my school is extremely in the box. Students have lots of difficulty controlling their class choices, and they threaten/frown upon student activists. For me especially it’s a really bad environment, not just because of the administration but because I’m surrounded by people who do not share my clarity and my ambition.