<p>Katharos,
Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I'm gathering information for a son who is currently in 8th grade. We're trying to figure out what he'll need during the upcoming high school years, and I found your post very helpful. Your time is appreciated.</p>
<p>LSC, my homeschooled daughter is in her first year at NU. I'd be happy to share any info you need. You're smart to start thinking about these things early on. Be sure to visit both campuses and do official tours. Continue to show interest over the next few years, because schools keep track. I'm not sure how concerned UC is about interest, but I know it's a factor for NU.</p>
<p>Whether your son ultimately decides to attend a school close to home or not, focusing on a few particular schools over the next few years will help put things in shape for any college applications.</p>
<p>Thanks, nan. I was wondering if it was too early to be thinking about college in 8th grade. Glad to hear it's a reasonable idea. I think you are exactly right, even if he ends up wanting to go further away for college, knowing what the requirements for Northwestern and U of C are, will help him focus on what he needs to do over the next 4 years. Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome to this forum. What a great resource!</p>
<p>You're welcome, LSC. Choosing a college is a very personal decision, and it's hard enough to help students with it when they have all the resources of a school guidance department. For homeschooling parents it's even more tricky. You don't want to snooze and miss opportunities, yet you don't want to shove anything down your child's throat. </p>
<p>I believe early and frequent campus visits are one of the best things you can offer your child. Starting when my daughter was quite young, we visited college campuses whenever we traveled. It was a natural thing to do because college campuses tend to be interesting places.</p>
<p>My daughter was just starting to think seriously about where she might like to attend, when she first visited NU along with several other area schools during a trip to stay with her aunt. Having seen a lot of campuses, she knew the minute she arrived that NU had something special for her. </p>
<p>Of course, that was just the start of her research about the school, but without her prior campus visits for comparison, I don't know if she would have recognized NU as the place for her.</p>
<p>Visiting those two campuses and others, would help lay the ground work and make the decision much easier when the time comes. If you get lucky, he'll fall in love with a school, and suddenly the work at hand will have new meaning.</p>
<p>I very much second what nan wrote. It really is crucial to visit college campuses. My personal experience: From what I read about St. Olaf College, it sounded like a perfect fit for me and where I would most definately like to attend if I was not accepted to Chicago. My mom and I made the drive to Northfield, and I was very dissapointed. I am not at all saying that St. Olaf is a bad school (in fact, it has one of the best music depts. in the country, and is nationally-known for their classics dept.). I just didn't feel comfortable at the school. I couldn't connect with the students, and the general ambience of the school didn't feel alive and intellectually stimulating. </p>
<p>A school might have a great name and reputation and may be written about excellently, but the college visit is what really matters. Different people feel differently about different schools. The visits are crucial.</p>
<p>For what it's worth, last year it seemed like U Chicago needed more in the way of an explanation of our homeschool program than anywhere else. We had submitted a fairly thorough explanation of the home study program (with extra rec's and work samples to boot), but my daughter was deferred EA. When she called to see if they needed any additional information to help make up their minds, the regional adcomm said he would like to see a weekly email from her saying what she had done. He said he was unfamiliar with homeschooling and wanted to know how it worked.</p>
<p>I like to think she paved the way for other homeschoolers. The whole process was rather burdensome on her. She did this for quite a long time before he finally said he had seen enough. It wasn't as if she only had to do one or two weeks of this. She ended up being admitted by U Chicago, but decided to go to Brown instead.</p>
<p>DianeR-
When I applied to the U of C, I sent in much, much more than I think was expected. Besides a list of the courses I have taken over the past years, I also sent in close to fifty pages of course descriptions, Xeroxed examples of schoolwork and awards, a CD of a few of my music compositions, ten recommendations, and an extra essay. (This is in addition to what is notmally required.) I was not asked to do anything more, as what I had sent in was far more than they would ever need. My file must have been huge.</p>
<p>When I applied, the University seemed quite familiar with homeschoolers (possibly because of your daughter). In fact, they told me that they are quite "homeschool friendly," which is contrary to what they had been a few years ago. But perhaps because I sent in a grossly large amount of stuff, I had proven that I very, very interested in the school. I spent about two months on and off working on my UChicago application.</p>
<p>By the way, I actually know a girl who attended the U. of C. and was homeschooled through high school. She helped me out with calculus for two years. Of course, being a math major, she is brilliant, so I can easily see why she was accepted. She is now at MIT working on her PhD.</p>
<p>I know two other students at the UChicago who were homeschooled through 8th grade. This is quite amazing to me, as I only know about twenty UC students. So there are a few homeschoolers around, but you just have to know where to look for them.</p>
<p>We had 20 pages of description of the home study program, some sample work product, and a couple extra recommendations. Here, I thought we were going overboard ... After the deferral, there were the long weekly emails, another recommendation, and some more work sent in. </p>
<p>Where do you look for homeschoolers :)? Someone reported that Brown told him that it had "at least one" homeschooler in this year's freshman class. Sounds like my daughter ...</p>
<p>DianeR-
I hang out in the Classics department and the Intermediate Greek class. Homeschoolers tend to be interested in the classics, philosophy, and the UC Fundamentals program, and Greek classes are full of these types of people.</p>
<p>Nan and Katharos, you've altered my thinking. I had the vague idea of campus visits junior year, but after reading your posts, I've realized how helpful it would be for him to see many campuses over a period of years in order to recognize "home" when he's ready. </p>
<p>Come to think of it ds has already visited Northwestern a lot because he's interested in film, and they have had some great lectures and films open to the public at the Block gallery and theater. He also took part in an undergrad's research on homeschooled kids learning computer modeling which took place at the campus over a couple of months. He's definitely most comfortable there, simply because he's spent time there. We've visited the University of Chicago campus less, though we were there recently to see the DuSable museum. I did have to chucle as we drove through campus, because the kids looked like ds. I think it would be a great idea to visit there more. He has spent limited time on the campuses of UofI, Champaign (science fair) and UofI, Chicago (history fair) and University of Maryland (history fair) and Shimer College (homeschool science lab.) So without even trying, I guess he has already had a start looking at campuses. :-) He's very involved in history research, so I think that can easily carry him to a number of campuses in the future. Thank-you for the wonderful guidance. What a great gift to a kid to have seen enough campuses to be able to make a decision based on experience when the time comes.</p>
<p>LSC-</p>
<p>That is quite a coincidence that your son went to Shimer for science. It is a small world. I was seriously considering that for last year, but the drive would have been to much of a hassle. </p>
<p>Your son is ahead of me; I only visited other colleges during the beginning of my senior year (except, of course, for the U of C). Chicago just clicks for me. Many of the kids are like me in terms of their intellectual persuits, and the enviornment is intensely stimulating. And my friends are here. I know the fact that my parents will be within a few blocks of me during the next four years might be more of curse than a boon, but college for me is more for academics than getting away from my parents.</p>
<p>I believe UChicago has a decent film studies dept. You maight want to look into it, but I know nothing about film. I know someone whose husband is in their PhD program for film. But Northwestern is most likely better, as the school has better programs in things of that nature. Amazingly enough, I have never visited Northwestern. It would be nice for me to make the drive up there sometime. I did not apply to the school because I had never visited, which could have been a mistake (and which you are avoiding!). </p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>Katharos,
I don't think ds has a clue yet what he'll want to major in. He's interested in film, but also history, advertising, and economics. Time will tell. You definitely picked the right school if your interest is classics.</p>
<p>Katharos,
By the way, did you know that Shimer is relocating? They will still be an independent college, but they will be located on Illinois Institute of Technology campus. Which is around 35th street. So if you know other homeschoolers in your area who have an interest in that school and its programs, it will defintely be much closer to your area now. I am just grinning thinking about the Shimer student body, in their creative liberal arts glory, mingling amongst the engineering students at IIT. :-)</p>
<p>LSC-</p>
<p>Yes, my mom told me about Shimer moving. My younger siblings might take science there next year. It sounded like the perfect thing for homeschoolers when colleges are breathing down our throats asking about labs!</p>
<p>It should be quite interesting with Shimer and IIT, polar opposites, right next to each other. I heard that Shimer was going to be connected with IIT in some way or another. Is it the case that IIT bought Shimer? Or will they work as partners? In any case, things should be interesting.</p>
<p>
[quote]
They require transcript, 3 SAT II's, and SAT or ACT, correct? Did you get a feel for what they prefer to see from homeschoolers to make them comfortable with selecting them?
[/quote]
LSC, I just re-read this thread and noticed I somehow missed your post specifically requesting more info about NU and homeschooling. So, I'll throw all my warnings to the wind about how your son might choose something else for himself, and give you the whole story.</p>
<p>We visited the school for a tour and info session during the summer when my daughter was in about tenth grade. We dropped in at the admissions office and were able to speak with an admissions counselor. He told us they didn't want to see a portfolio, but would like a transcript with good course descriptions for her home based courses, including names of books and other resources. He said they would need three SAT IIs, and it would also be important to see some grades from an outside source. He was very pleased when she told him she was taking courses from University of Nebraska Independent Study High School (ISHS). He said they get very few homeschool applications, but was generally encouraging and welcoming. In fact, we have yet to encounter another homeschooler at NU.</p>
<p>When my daughter applied for NSHI (NU summer program) before her senior they required a transcript, which forced us to get an early start on things. We put together a transcript that included her ISHS courses, community based courses (she was able to get grades for these), and home based courses (undraded). We eventually refined that transcript for her ED application, showing her work by semester. She also took two classes at the local high school (no community colleges within commuting distance - one course was an AP), and we included that information. She also requested official transcripts be sent from both the local HS and ISHS.</p>
<p>I filled out the counselor portion of the application and wrote a description of our homeschool process for the high school description. My daughter applied as a theater major, so she included her theater bio and a list of performances she had attended. She had a total of four or five great recommendations from various mentors and teachers.</p>
<p>If we had it to do over, maybe she'd get an earlier start on SAT's, or look into self teaching for some more AP tests, but it turned out fine as it was. She was accepted early decision. She had a stack of other applications to send out, but didn't need them. Maybe we'll always wonder a little about where all else she would have been admitted, but NU was clearly the perfect choice for her.</p>
<p>Your son's early contact with NU would be an asset. Be sure to keep track of dates and details. Also, do go for an official tour soon, and be sure to fill out the info card so they can start tracking him.</p>
<p>You might find threads like this, <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=149388%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=149388</a> entertaining in the mean time. I'm sure there are counterparts on the UC forum.</p>
<p>Yikes... this is a long post... but let me know if you have any more questions.</p>
<p>LSC-</p>
<p>You might want to check out the UChicago and Northwestern threads under "CC Top Universities." They may be of some help to you. I second the thread Nan mentioned. I have put in my two cents about the U. of C., and good things are said about Northwestern as well. The schools are very different but both excellent.</p>
<p>Katharos,
My understanding is that Shimer will be purchasing campus space from IIT but the schools will be governed independently. I've got to guess that they will have some kind of agreement where students of one school can take classes at the other. Really a wonderful benefit to both student bodies. IIT will be able to offer hard math and science courses to Shimer students who have that interest, and Shimer will be able to offer their wonderful socratic courses to IIT students.</p>
<p>Nan, I'm glad you threw your previous warnings to the wind and gave the whole story. I'm printing out the posts by both you and Katharos and giving them to my son to read. You've both been extremely helpful. Thanks.</p>
<p>LSC-</p>
<p>Thank you for the information about Shimer. Those science classes would be very ideal for my younger siblings, and I am sure both Shimer and IIT will benefit each other well. It looks like a good idea for both schools.</p>
<p>Glad to have been of some help to you. Please let me know if you have any more questions about homeschooling or college. I would be happy to tell you what I know as a veteran homeschooler in my 9th year. My mom says she should write a book about homeschooling and how to get one's child into college. We have made mistakes over the years, but my mom now knows what she must do for my younger siblings (and what she must do so they won't make the mistakes I did). It is great being the guinea pig. :)</p>