<p>Can some of you who are homeschooled make suggestions as to where you are in the college process? Are you in high school? What year are you in? What colleges are you/have you applied to and were they "homeschool friendly?" I'm still trying to sort things out for 2 of my sons. My oldest is graduating from high school this year. He's still waiting to hear from 1 school. He has done very well and homeschooling was great for him. There are things though that he wishes we had done a little differently to make his application more competitive for scholarships and the reach schools. Also, I'm curious as to what impact your oversight had on your educational process. Ours had advantages and many disadvantages. So I just want to take some time to reassess and figure out what, if any changes I should make for son #2. Thanks!</p>
<p>Your question is addressed to the kids, but I homeschooled my son and this is my perspective. He applied to several schools, all of which seemed homeschool friendly, but he has a lot of community college classes on his transcript so maybe they didn’t have the same concerns about him as they might about other homeschoolers.</p>
<p>We didn’t run into any undue requests except one school (Case, in Ohio) said that an on-campus interview was required. When we spoke to them they said that the interview he had scheduled in our town would do. I think a few of the schools suggested extra SAT IIs, but that seemed reasonable to us for objective measurements. I know that the request doesn’t seem reasonable to others, so it depends on your definition of “homeschool-friendly”.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what “oversight” means as an overseeing body. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I went to a Christian school from kindergarten through tenth grade. Because of financial reasons (among others), I decided to home school for my junior and senior years. I am now in the second semester of my senior year. I do not home school in the traditional sense; I attend classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays with other home school students and am given online assignments on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I have also taken a biology class at my community college. </p>
<p>Early in my senior year, I applied and was accepted to the University of Alabama (tuition scholarship + other merit scholarships), Auburn University (tuition scholarship, $1500 technology allowance, study abroad experience), and Troy University (full ride). My parents allowed me to apply Early Decision to one reach school-- Vanderbilt University. In December, I received my acceptance leader from Vanderbilt (along with much-needed financial aid) and will be a student there in the fall!
As far as the application process went, it was pretty home school friendly. The only additional steps I had to take as a home school student were to fill out a home school supplement (describing how my schooling works, why I chose to home school, any college courses I had taken, etc.) and include a list of my high school courses and textbooks used. For UA, AU, and Troy, I don’t remember there being any additional steps as a home schooler.</p>
<p>Honestly, I have no regrets about my switch to home schooling. I have gotten the chance to engage in fairly rigorous academics without unnecessary busy-work and to participate in numerous extracurricular activities (ironically, I feel like I’m out doing stuff way more than I am at home). I was ranked first in my class of approximately 140 at my old school, and now I am ranked first in a class of 65. Home schooling is obviously not for everyone, but I definitely have thrived in it. Any home schooler can be competitive for top colleges as long as opportunities are made available to them throughout their high school career for extracurricular and social involvement. Let me know if you have any further questions about my experience!</p>