<p>Please use this thread to post information that you wish you'd known earlier or that you wish other homeschoolers knew. For more detailed discussion of each topic, please start a new thread so this can become a resource and not get too caught up in any one topic.</p>
<p>Homeschoolers can participate in the Duke TIP program. The program can lead to other opportunities and prove that the student can do well on a college campus, live with other students, succeed in projects and courses more challenging than public school, and yield recommendations and ratings. </p>
<p>tip.duke.edu</p>
<p>Homeschoolers can self-study for AP tests and take them at local schools, both public and private. They can also get fee waivers for the tests. Even public school students can take tests for courses they have not taken in public school to cover the material and prove to colleges the initiative and independent learning abilities they have. This is a great opportunity for homeschooled students since their time is usually flexible. It may mean more than a grade mom assigns because it’s a standardized test and the scores can be sent to the colleges directly from the College Board.</p>
<p>Homeschoolers can make up their own individual or group extracurricular activities rather than having to have a sanctioned and adult-organized activity just for homeschoolers. They can include other students from public and private schools. This shows initiative, leadership, and community involvement. </p>
<p>Because some admissions officers from smaller colleges who don’t yet have a lot of experience with homeschoolers might still think homeschoolers are passive and sheltered, starting positive activity that crosses school boundaries and improves the community or adds academic or other opportunities for students will counteract myths that may hinder your acceptance to some colleges.</p>
<p>Completing a prepackaged homeschool program may not prepare you for going to college. Rather than going by the grade levels given for each course, look at the material and compare it to the courses kids in school take when they want to go to college.</p>
<p>If you have a very specific and critical question that will affect decisions you and your child make about his or her preparation for college and you cannot find the answer here or elsewhere, you can call college admissions offices with specific, clear questions. Don’t take a lot of their time. </p>
<p>Don’t ask them for a formula, a guarantee of admission if you follow certain steps, or your child’s chances of getting in. </p>
<p>Some colleges have a designated admissions officer who is more familiar with homeschool issues. You might ask if there is one and ask to speak to that person if you need to ask a question. Just don’t ask them things you can get elsewhere.</p>
<p>Great tips, Journier! </p>
<p>I’ll add that with the freedom that homeschooling provides comes the responsibility to do something with it. To echo post #4, you aren’t constrained by the usual school schedule and cookie cutter extracurriculars, so pursue your passions in the community and make a difference.</p>
<p>Be super organized and give schools as much info as possible. An admissions officer at one of my son’s schools said I should write a book because I made it really easy for them to understand exactly what my son did. It took many, many hours of work but I love what I do as a homeschool mom, facilitator, and counselor! It was gratifying to know the hours spent were well worth it.</p>
<p>Also, making contact with admissions offices in August is a great way for you, the student, to introduce yourself to each particular college. Emails and phone calls are a great way to let a college know you’re interested.</p>
<p>Remember that colleges like to see outside verification of “mommy” grades. So use dual credit classes, ACT, SAT, SAT II and AP exams to do that. You need to do some of that 9th-11th grade. The colleges won’t see and/or you won’t have scores in time to apply if you wait until 12th grade.</p>
<p>I disagree with #8–Don’t give as much info. as possible. Give only the info. the college asks for. (This could vary greatly by college. Bigger colleges usually want less info.)
Most high schools send colleges a one page transcript with course titles, grades, credit hours, gpa. That’s it. If colleges want additional info. (reading lists, portfolio, etc.) they will ask for it.</p>
<p>It is very important for homeschoolers to have excellent standardized test scores. This is the main way colleges compare homeschoolers to other students.</p>
<p>Interesting point, atomom. My son didn’t apply to any big state schools. The largest school he applied to had about 3,500 freshman. All the schools appreciated having lots of info and it didn’t seem to hurt him as he was accepted into 10/10 of the schools he applied to. Seven out of the 10 were highly selective schools but even his safeties appreciated the extra info such as a 17 page course description to supplement the one page transcript, a three page counselor letter, a detailed school profile, and so on.</p>
<p>So, I guess it depends on the school but our experience indicated it was good to include all the info we did.</p>
<p>I’m guessing your son’s acceptances were based on his test scores, not on the 17-page (!) supplement. ;)</p>
<p>Truly, in speaking with a particular admissions officer at Harvey Mudd, he commented on the whole application and all the documentation. He and another officer said that they always sort of expect to be working late when they come to applicants who are either internationals or who are homeschooled because it is hard to figure out and compare them with other applicants. However, because of the totality of the information, the way it was organized, and the detail to which we went into, he told me it made it very easy for them to see what we did, why we did it, and how we did it. So, I would say it was definitely more than test scores. Yes, my son had very good scores but certainly not perfect. I really think being able to communicate to schools successfully is one key to successful admissions.</p>
<p>I have heard people use a lot of info and minimal, and both say that have been complemented by adcoms. I was talking to the adcom of a top school that had accepted my kid. I asked him about our 8 page transcript, and he said it was fine, and he really only looked at the two pages that looked like a traditional transcript and only glanced at the rest. Then I asked about someone else I knew who had sent in a very long trasncript and he laughed and said it was pretty much the same thing - just glanced at all the extraneous stuff.</p>
<p>I was also talking to an adcom of a top liberals arts college that my daugher interviewed with, and asked him what he wanted to see from homeschoolers. He told me, and then with a slight panic in his voice say “but you don’t need to send us a lot”</p>
<p>Honestly, if a school accepts your kid, they are going to say nice things about the stuff you sent them.</p>
<p>So, I asked myself “If my kids were in school, what would go in the transcript, or supporting documents” They do have information about each class, so I gave them a small blurb, plus texts. For my first child, I probably gave more info than needed. The second time around, I realized I really did not need to explain what she might have learned in a class entitled “AP US History” so I just listed the text.</p>
<p>I do think, that as homeschoolers, we do tend to take too much of our students info onto ourselves and a lot of it would be better on the student’s application. Let them shine.</p>
<p>My kids did well in the applicaion process because they had excellent test scores and a rigorous curriculum, but primarily because they had some very impressive extra curricular to report and those go on the students application, not the teacher/parent part. They can get a brief mention by the parents, especially in the counselor letter, but beyond that let the student application shine.</p>
<p>I vote with the “less is more” crowd. My son had a 2-page transcript from us, a one or two page counselor letter from me, and the transcripts from his CC classes. We sent no supplement at all, and he did very well in admissions. </p>
<p>On the original topic, make a standard-looking transcript, get outside verification, and work work work on those essays.</p>
<p>I wrote a whole post and then forgot to send it. My internet timed out and I lost the whole thing, so I’m going to make this short. </p>
<p>Get college textbooks in your highschool years. Look for older versions on amazon to lower your cost substantially. I did A Beka school books and while they were fine, college textbooks will work just as well. For example, I didn’t care for my Chemistry textbook, but my book for Chem 101 was fantastic. Most teachers spend a lot of time deciding which book to use and get a lot of feed back from their students about what textbooks worked and which one didn’t, so these books are often better vetted than homeschooling texts. They also prepare you for college level work. (The only exception to this would be Math books, for which Saxon is your best bet. Again, amazon has some great deals.) </p>
<p>Second, consider taking some classes at community college in your Junior and Senior year. These classes can show Universities you are a serious student and can back up great ACT/SAT scores and a mother written transcript (whether it’s one page or a three volume set). Plus they’ll put you ahead when you do go to college as part of them will transfer with you. Not only do you eliminate some required classes but you’ll have more credits, and the more credits you have the better registration time you get, something highly coveted once you do get into college. I really regretted not doing this. To be honest, I could have done a couple of years at CC instead of four years of “highschool” and learned a lot more.</p>
<p>I have read on Duke Univ.'s website that they are looking for a rigorous course load. My son is starting 9th grade, so I want to heap on the rigor. (haha) However, I’m not sure how to proceed. I’ve had difficulty in searching for “honors curriculum” for my homeschooled student. There is a great private school locally that has a homeschool partnership. He could take honors English and honors Geometry, but then we’d be locked into their schedule. ??? My first choice would be to continue at home, but I’m not sure how to proceed. What did you all do?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance. :)</p>