<p>Hello,
I'm going to be applying to colleges this fall, and my top choices at the time seem to be UCSD, Maybe UCB, and possibly some eastern school, like Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>At the moment, I'm not really interested in "ivy league" schools; I just want to go to a nice university in CA. I've been homeschooled all my life, but I'm wondering if that's relevent to the admissions board. I lived on a boat for the majority of my life, and travelled over about 1/4 of the world in it, but I'm also not sure if that would impress anyone in the admissions board. I'm in a local CC at the moment, with a 4.0 GPA and about 21 credits built up, but there's a chance that none of them will transfer over. Up until last semester, my whole life was basically an extracuricular activity, and I volunteered at the Smithsonian, worked on several computer programming projects, and other interesting things. I'm basically just wondering if anyone is going to care that I've done all these things. My college of choice at the moment is UCSD, but I'm a Maryland resident, so it may be harder for me to get in. I've got recomendations from most of my professors at my CC, but again, I'm not sure if anyone will care.</p>
<p>If anyone wants to know, I contribute code to the iPodLinux project, and wrote several programs (Including ipodmame; google it) for it. These are hazy things that I don't know if the admissions board will care about.</p>
<p>I took the SAT a couple years back, when I was 15, and scored a 1280, which is probably somewhat low for UCSD's admission board, so I may take it again this semester. Basically, I'm just wondering what you guys think and if I have a decent chance of getting into my school of choice.</p>
<p>I am not really sure how the admissions process goes for homeschoolers applying to the UCs, but I am willing to bet you would have a good chance.</p>
<p>I would strongly suggest taking the SAT again, I have a feeling you will score a lot higher this time. </p>
<p>I also think you may have to take SAT IIs if you are Homeschooled, but you should double check.</p>
<p>Sorry to say, the U Cal system is very difficult for homeschoolers. You can find it all spelled out on their web site (I don't have the link but I've read what it says on another list). Unless things have recently changed, you need either very high SAT I and II scores (and they spell all this out precisely) or you go in with a portfolio. I have not heard of anyone being successful, much less anyone from out of state. (OOS is difficult for anyone, because the U Cal system is required by law to find a place for all Cal residents meeting certain criteria.)</p>
<p>The U Cal system, last I checked, will not even look at recommendations generally. Perhaps they will make an exception for portfolio applications; perhaps not.</p>
<p>The homeschoolers in California who intend to get in (that I know of) enroll in CC there and then transfer. But there is a special relationship between the Cal CC's and the U Cal system; the same thing wouldn't work with another state's CC.</p>
<p>The only hopeful sign I've heard of is that U Cal Riverside has a pilot program of evaluating homeschoolers more in line with what other colleges require.</p>
<p>Interesting, I've never heard anything about homeschoolers having a hard time in the UC system..if anything, I would think they would love homeschoolers. At least one brilliant young student, who was homeschooled, attended one of the UCs and got famous for some mathematics challenge...I would think they would realize that people from eclectic backgrounds generally are more ambitious, and usually have higher test scores, etc. than other students.</p>
<p>Also consider private schools if you want to go to California. There are some really great ones like Stanford (obviously), Pomona College (and the other Claremont Consortium schools), and Occidental College. Private schools will be more likely to look beyond test scores and grades, and they want interesting people with different perspectives like you.</p>
<p>Ah, that's a good idea..I sort of forgot about private colleges in the hustle and bustle of looking at the UCs...Stanford looks...-really- competitive. Heh... I wonder if they would put me in the "no" pile just becuase of my SAT score..</p>
<p>I am pretty sure that you will need to take a few more SAT II's than the regular applicants. High SAT II's are also a good way to validate your grades. Being homeschool (and with all those amazing life expereinces) will really help you in private schools. I was homeschooled until ninth grade and that is what I wrote all my admission essay's about. I think it helped me gain a few acceptances. Pepperdine is a really good CA university as well. And Chapman is supposed to be decent as well. And if you were interested in other West Coast schools Lewis and Clark excellent (it is in Portland, OR)</p>
<p>There is what should be and there is what is. The University of California system is about the worst there now is in terms of homeschoolers getting in. Most other schools don't put up the type of barriers they do. </p>
<p>Most places don't have special requirements and just have you submit whatever you have that can validate your academic achievement and potential. Look at college web sites -- if they don't have a FAQ about homeschooling, you can always call or email the admissions department and ask.</p>
<p>You can always come to the homeschooling forum and ask about how people have fashioned successful applications. There are no cut-and-dried rules. My daughter was accepted at Brown, Chicago, and UNC-CH (OOS), and didn't submit SAT IIs at all. We did submit course descriptions, a reading list, work samples, and extra recommendations, though. The exception was for her safety school, which just required a transcript and a minimum ACT score.</p>