umm I'm homeschooled...can someone tell me my chances?

Pre-College Issues Home Schooling and College
1

<p>well this isn't really telling my chances, since I'm only a sophomore, but I'd like to know if I'm headed in the right direction and what I should work on.</p>

<p>First, about me, I'm 14 yr old sophomore (I skipped a grade), I'm black, female, my mom is Haitian, from an upper-middle class family. The main reason I'm doing this is because I'm homeschooled and so I'm not quite sure how well I'm doing. I definitely want to go to an Ivy...am I on the right track?</p>

<p>COURSES:
*note: I've been homeschooled for most of my life, but my school district is awesome and allows homeschoolers to take classes at the local public schools. So here's what my high school transcript shows: (I know it starts in 5th grade, that's when I started taking high school classes so it's on my transcript)</p>

<p>5th Grade:
--Adv. Geometry
6th Grade:
--Adv. Algebra II
--Adv. Chemistry I</p>

<p>7th Grade:
--Adv. Honors Precalc
--AP Physics B
--French II
--2 electives</p>

<p>8th Grade:
--AP Govt and Politics
--AP Calc BC
--AP Phyhsics C
--Adv. Honors World History I
--French III
--2 electives</p>

<p>9th Grade:
--AP English Language
--AP Music Theory
--Adv. French IV
--Adv. Topics Math (vector calc)
--Adv. Bio I
--2 electives</p>

<p>10th Grade:
--Adv. Molecular Biology/Genetics (essentially AP Bio)
--AP English Literature
--AP French
--AP Statistics
--2 electives</p>

<p>11th Grade (predicted):
--Spend a year abroad in France through Rotary Club</p>

<p>12th Grade (predicted):
--Work-Experience at Penn State research lab
--AP European History or AP US History
--AP Computer Science
--electives</p>

<p>Rank/GPA/School Awards not applicable because I'm officially homeschooled. I will be fully enrolled at my local public school for senior year though.</p>

<p>SAT/ACT/APs:
SAT: (taken in 6th grade for CTY) Math - 710, CR - 710, Writing - 740
ACT: (taken in 8th grade) 34/36
APs: currently an AP Scholar with Distinction, I plan to be a National AP Scholar
So far, I've gotten 3 5s, 2 4s, and 2 3s. Will be taking at least 4 (probs 6) more APs before I graduate.</p>

<p>ECs:
-Swimming (since I was 4, now I put in 18 hrs a week; as a freshman I won districts in my event and made varsity)
-Model UN
-Debate Club (9th grade)
-Youth and Government
-Piano (casually since I was 5)
-Violin (since I was 6, 9th grade orchestra, advanced strings and orchestra)
-Soccer (club team)
-4H Club
-Volunteer at Special Olympics each year, 2 days a year, 10 hrs each day</p>

<p>Other Accomplishments:
-Member of Mensa
-Summer camp at Phillips Exeter Academy
-Summer camp at Penn State Young Writers' Workshop (2 wks, 30 hrs of classes per week)
-Summer job teaching swim lessons at 14 (24 hrs per week)
-Part time job teaching swim lessons during the school year (4 hrs per week)
-Nominated for and commencement speaker at NYLC (National Young Leaders' Conference)
-Invited to first annual Math Prize for Girls contest at NYU (in November)</p>

<p>Possible Essay Topics/Passions
-swimming
-public speaking/leadership
-working with children with disabilities (one of my brothers has mild asperger's syndrome, another most likely has ADHD, and I've taught swim lessons to children with autism or ADHD)
-something about spending a year abroad</p>

<p>Any thoughts/comments/help/advice would be much appreciated!! </p>

<p>[Sorry this is such a long post!]</p>

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<p>You say you’re homeschooled, but all these classes are on your high school transcript. I’m not sure how you classify yourself as a homeschooler if you took seven classes at the high school last year, and you’re taking six classes at there this year. What’s up with that?</p>

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<p>The local public school here is awesome. There’s this program called “Dual Enrollment.” Basically, it means that homeschoolers can come into any local public school and take classes and receive high school credit for them, so long as they can handle the workload. Once the teacher (in this case, my mom) says they’ve had the prerequisites, homeschooled students fill out a bunch of paperwork and can take basically any class they want, and can participate in clubs and sports, even though they’re not technically a part of the school.</p>

<p>The only catch is that there has to be something being homeschooled. I homeschool my history, gym, music, and art classes, and then take everything else (math, english, science, French, and electives) at school.</p>

4

<p>Homeschoolers can take classes at the local high school here too (and in many other places), but at a certain point I don’t know why a college would look at you as a homeschooled student if you’re doing the vast majority of your academic work at a traditional school. Aside from history, the other things you describe yourself as “homeschooling” are areas many traditionally schooled kids do outside of school anyway.</p>

<p>In any case, homeschooler or not, you have great course rigor, although you didn’t mention your grades. Just because you took it so young, you might want to retake the SAT, although those are of course excellent scores. If you don’t want to take it again, I’d submit the ACT instead, which is relatively higher.</p>

<p>If your GPA is as high as you ACT scores would suggest, I would be surprised if you didn’t have excellent results on your college applications.</p>

1 Like
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<p>I would also check your record/file at College Board and the ACT - I have heard they don’t keep records of scores before 9th grade.</p>

6

<p>As a rule, homeschooled kids who do well on standardized tests are in pretty good shape. They are at an advantage over similar kids at school who have mediocre grades, are not liked by teachers, have some personality, behavioral issues, since it is unlikely that any of those issues will come up in the application package when you are home schooled. You can cherry pick your references better.</p>

<p>However, I know some home schooled kids who were at true disadvantage because they did not test well on the standardized tests. They would have been excellent students, and were the type of kids most everyone prizes. This is lost in the home schooling environment. </p>

<p>So depending on where you are in that spectrum, it can vary. It seems to me that you have taken some high level courses that have standardized tests attached to them. High scores on those tests will really make you a desirable student especially with your unusual background. If you have been spending your time doing some interesting things that are out of the norm for most school bound kids, that would enhance your app even more.</p>

<p>Colleges generally request records only from 9th grade on up. Any SAT/ACT tests taken earlier don’t generally count. You need to retake them. Don’t know how AP or SAT2 results are taken, but I would think they would be taken into consideration even if taken at a young age. </p>

<p>The rigor of the curriculum you have undertaken will be a strong factor in your favor. Don’t know why you are going into an official high school now. One warning, the last thing you do is often scrutinized the most carefully, so you have to do well in highschool or it would show that you have problems in group learning which could be an issue at the most selective schools.</p>

<p>Your test scores and course selection show that you have a great chance of acceptance at all but the most selective schools.</p>

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<p>Cptofthehouse, as a homeschool mom with 2 in college now, I’m not sure I agree with some of your comments about homeschoolers’ potential advantages in the application process, but in any case, for swimgeek194 it’s not an issue since she is effectively a full-time student at her local high school. Her classes, involvement with campus clubs, letters of rec, etc. are going to reflect her grades, the impression she makes on teachers, her “personality, behavioral issues” just like any other traditional applicant.</p>

<p>My only concern is that it might look a little odd to identifiy herself a homeschooler at all. Colleges don’t really care if you were homeschooled for your pre-high school level studies.</p>

<p>Still, I think she’ll be a very successful applicant.</p>

8

<p>Wow. Is this for real? If your grades are A’s and your scores are as good as (or better than) they were in 6th-8th grade, I predict you’ll be accepted everywhere you apply.</p>

9

<p>I think you being homeschooled is actually a GOOD thing!</p>

<p>I worked during school, doing an internship at a magazine, therefore I left early every day. My school counselor told me it would be in my best interest to actually enroll in an accredited homeschooling program and work from home. I had so many absences that I wasn’t going to graduate in time!</p>

<p>My school counselor also told me homeschooled kids are placed in the “prep school” pile when applications arrive, so you have a BETTER chance of getting in school! Of course you have to have great grades and do well on standardized tests.</p>

<p>As soon as my parents agreed, I enrolled myself in a homeschooling program and am SO happy I did! I not only was able to do all of my work online with real teachers and correspond with them like I would in class, but I was able to finish EARLY! I applied for college shortly after and got in my DREAM SCHOOL!</p>

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<p>Whether you are considered to be home schooled or not, my crystal ball says your future is very bright. The way you have gone about things says that education is important to you and your family, and you have the numbers to back it up.
Best of luck.</p>