We favor well-prepared students wherever they attend school.
—Stanford Admissions Office
The education we describe in Parts I through III is college-preparatory. College isn’t for everyone, but a student who plans on a white-collar or intellectual job should go to college. The possession of a college degree has risen in importance over the last decades as the value of a high-school diploma has dropped.
According to the National Center for Home Education, 93 percent of colleges polled in a recent study were willing to accept course descriptions or portfolios instead of a high-school diploma.1 Some universities will always look at nontraditional work with suspicion; state universities will occasionally take an inflexible stand. But as the home-schooling wave continues to swell, more and more colleges are growing accustomed to home-school applications.
Generally, we favor small private schools over large public universities. Although this isn’t always financially feasible, we’ve noticed that home schoolers do better in a more intimate environment in their first two years away from home. Small schools are also more likely than large schools to extend a welcome to home schoolers, with their nontraditional preparation and nonstandardized transcripts. But more and more universities are admitting home schoolers—Stanford and Swarthmore, among many others, now have an admissions procedure geared specifically for home-educated students.
PLANNING FOR COLLEGE
Many parents and students don’t think about a high-school program until eighth grade. But if college is a goal for your child, you should begin preparation for a college-track program in middle school (grades 5 and 6). Critical-thinking courses, research projects, elementary Latin, and modern foreign language—all of these are college-readiness courses. Ideally, the college-bound student will begin Algebra I no later than eighth grade in preparation for the SAT and ACT. The minimum math requirement for a college-prep program is Algebra I, completed in ninth grade, and a course in geometry, completed before the PSATs given in the fall of the eleventh-grade year (see Chapter 27 for a full explanation). Latin increases vocabulary scores and general reading and grammar skills. Since students who do well on the SATs have read widely for the previous ten years, the middle-grade student should develop the habit of reading, rather than constantly watching TV or playing computer games.
Although the program outlined in Part III should be more than adequate for any set of college admission requirements, you should still get a catalog from prospective colleges before ninth grade in order to find out their requirements and to make sure that your high-school program includes these courses.
Jessie suggests the following timetable for parents and students thinking of college:
CHOOSING A COLLEGE
After sending her own children to college—and after years of counseling other home schoolers—Jessie strongly advises parents to exercise their judgment (and economic leverage) to steer high-school students away from making college decisions that might sabotage their mental, physical, social, or spiritual health. Your shy eleventh grader may think that he wants to live in a freshman dorm at a 20,000-student state university. But if you believe he should spend two years at a smaller school and then transfer, limit the child’s options to those that are acceptable to you. One of the saddest statements we ever heard was from a mother who told Jessie, “I spent forty thousand dollars to ruin my daughter’s life.” She had let her daughter make all the choices about college, despite serious misgivings.
Over the last fifteen years, Jessie has observed that home-schooled students who flourish both academically and personally keep close ties with family, make dear and valuable friends, and adjust well to the demands of college. These students invariably attend small colleges that have a moral and religious climate similar to that found at home. Many large universities have big, unrestricted dormitories, where bedlam reigns and there is no check on adolescent behavior. Your student may be both mature and responsible. But if he’s forced to live on a floor filled with noisy, immature students who stay up until 2:00 A.M. dropping firecrackers down the toilets or having all-night concerts in the hall (as in the freshman dorm that Susan’s brother lived in), he probably won’t flourish.
Don’t let financial need scare you off. Private universities often have better financial-aid packages than large state universities. Small religious schools can dig up funds for worthy students from unexpected places. And the student who cannot complete a desired major at a small school can always transfer after the sophomore year. If you think this might be the way to go, call the college that the student is thinking of transferring to, and find out which courses will transfer.
Start the college search by talking to friends, relatives, and other home schoolers about college experiences, both positive and negative. Consult the most recent guides to colleges (see Resources at the end of the chapter) to narrow your search to the colleges with the academic specialties, geographic location, and campus climate that you’re looking for.
Write to the National Center for Home Education, P.O. Box 3000, Purcellville, VA 20134, or visit their website at http://nche.hslda.org and ask for the following: the list of colleges that have accepted home schoolers (there were 698 on the most recent list, including Ivy League schools) and the brochure Home Students Excel in College by Christopher J. Klicka, which details various admissions procedures and lists colleges that actively recruit home schoolers.
For a full list of colleges that have accepted home-schooled students, along with links to college home pages, visit Karl Bunday’s School Is Dead, Learn in Freedom site at learninfreedom.org. Since Bunday is generally anti-institutional, his site appears to encourage its audience not to go to college at all. But the list and links are invaluable.
THE APPLICATION PROCESS
Some college admissions officers aren’t familiar with home schooling. Others actively recruit home-educated students because of their excellent past performance. So contact the admissions office of each prospective school. Some want transcripts; others ask for a listing of courses, projects, and books read; still others will examine a complete portfolio. Find out whether financial aid requires a diploma or GED (financial-aid forms and admissions applications generally go to two different offices). It’s always good to take at least two subject tests in addition to the SAT, especially if the student tests well.
According to the College Board, a transcript isn’t necessary for college admissions. Nevertheless, many of the college admissions officers we spoke to were overworked and didn’t want to plow through portfolios. “Send us a standard transcript form,” one admissions office told us. So take that transcript seriously. A good transcript plus standardized scores will serve as the foundation of your college application.
An application will give you room to describe your areas of interest, extracurricular activities, and any special research projects you’ve done. Maximize your application by using the lines set aside for interests, activities, and clubs to emphasize your language accomplishments and great-books studies. Make sure you describe the junior and senior thesis projects, which will set you apart from most high-school students. List all community-service projects—anything you’ve volunteered for that benefits others.
Many colleges have an “early decision” process where you agree to enroll in that college if you’re accepted. You would then go ahead and finish your senior year of high school with an assured fall acceptance. If you’re interested in early decision, make sure you ask about the deadline (it differs from the regular deadline).
If you’re interested in college sports, call the Home School Legal Defense Association, and ask for the packet that assists home schoolers in validating their completion of all initial eligibility requirements for the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
THE PORTFOLIO
If the college agrees to look at a portfolio (and many do), this will be your most persuasive tool.
What should you include in your portfolio?
ONE SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION
Home schooler Peggy Ahern’s daughter was admitted to an Ivy League college. As well as the standard application, admissions essay, and SAT scores (including four SAT II subject-area tests), Peggy and her daughter submitted a thirty-two-page portfolio with the following eight sections:
Although Peggy and her daughter were successful in their Ivy League applications, Peggy isn’t sure that a portfolio of this length will continue to be read by admissions officers—particularly if home-school applications continue to rise. We suggest that you follow Peggy’s pattern, but make each section as brief as possible. And always call first to make sure that a portfolio submission is acceptable and what length is preferred.
Peggy adds these words on college preparation:
I realized that outside substantiation of her work was going to be particularly helpful when it came time to put together that transcript, and that good teacher recommendations would be invaluable. So for all four years, I actively sought out teachers for at least one or two subjects each year. I never found any locally, but did find some through correspondence and then later on through the internet, all of whom developed enough of a relationship with her that they could have written recommendations. I think it is very wise for homeschoolers to actively seek out and cultivate relationships with a few teachers. Further, if possible, I would recommend seeking out college-level teachers and courses for the student, even if it is not-for-credit, for several reasons:
1) A teacher who can vouch for the student’s ability to handle college level work and to contribute in a meaningful way to class discussion will go a long way toward allaying certain admissions concerns.
2) A teacher who has been a part of the collegiate community will hopefully have a good idea of what sort of issues are typically addressed in these recommendations, how they’re written and so forth, and therefore will do an effective job of it.
By the end of her four years, my daughter had a number of choices as to from whom she would seek her two recommendations. She and I really strategized at this point. We knew that any of these teachers would highly recommend her. But several of them had stand-out writing skills as well as long-term experience in higher education, and we knew that their high recommendations would likely be far more effective than those of her other options. I think it is a fair conclusion that these two recommendations played a very major role in her acceptance.
TRANSCRIPT HELP
Keeping a transcript is simply a matter of entering the subjects studied each semester, along with a final grade, onto a transcript form. However, since this is an important piece of paper, many parents feel the need for some extra help in preparing the form properly. The cassette tape/booklet set “Creating Transcripts and Issuing Diplomas: What Every Parent Should Know,” by Inge P. Cannon, goes along with the TranscriptPro software recommended in Chapter 39. This set will guide you through the process of transcript creation.
A WORD ABOUT EARLY ADMISSIONS
Many home schoolers finish their high-school studies early. It’s been our experience that students are better off spending the extra time before college by studying and reading while working at an internship, apprenticeship, or other meaningful job. Maturity can’t be forced—students who go to college early are more likely to flounder socially, academically, or spiritually. There’s no rush. So stay at home. Read, work, write, study, enjoy life. And go to college with everyone else your age. You’ll be that much better prepared.
RESOURCES
For publisher and catalog addresses, telephone numbers, and other information, see Sources (Appendix 4). Most books can be obtained from any bookstore or library; where we know of a mail-order option, we have provided it. College guides are listed first, followed by guides to the application procedure itself.
College Guides
Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges. Hauppauge, N.Y.: Barron’s Educational Series.
Book and CD. Colleges organized by geography (Northeast, Southeast, and so forth). Regularly revised.
CollegeConfidential.com.
A web source for finding college rankings, admissions guidelines, reviews of books, information about financial aid, and more.
The College Board College Handbook. New York: College Board.
Includes admission policies, requirements, and deadlines; ACT and SAT test dates; enrollment figures and majors; campus life, including sports and student services; and more. Updated annually.
Fiske, Edward B. The Fiske Guide to Colleges. Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks, Inc.
According to USA Today, it’s “the best college guide you can buy.” Updated annually.
Petersons.com
An online source for test preparation information, financial aid updates, and essay editing; here you can pay tutors to help you revise admissions essays, resumes, and personal statements.
Peterson’s Competitive Colleges. Princeton, N.J.: Peterson’s.
This guide lists colleges that admit high achievers, based largely on SAT scores and grades. Regularly revised.
Peterson’s Two-Year Colleges. Four-Year Colleges. Book and CD-ROM.
Good standard annual guide to colleges. The CD-ROM makes it possible to search the information electronically.
Guides to Application Procedures
Cannon, Inge. TranscriptPro Home School Transcript Generator. Taylors, S.C.: Education+Plus.
$49.00. Order from Education+Plus. Software to produce personalized transcripts.
Creating Your High School Portfolio, 2d ed. Indianapolis, Id.: Jist Works, 2003.
$8.95. Order from any bookstore or from Rainbow Resource. A useful workbook that leads students through many of the steps involved in writing essays, choosing a major, and making up a resume.
Gelb, Alan. Conquering the College Admissions Essay in 10 Steps: Crafting a Winning Personal Statement. Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press, 2008.
Metcalfe, Linda. How to Say It to Get into the College of Your Choice: Application, Essay, and Interview Strategies to Get You the Big Envelope. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2007.
$15.95. Order from any bookstore. The problem with most books about college applications—including this one—is that they cultivate an unnecessary sense of panic; getting into any particular college is partly (sometimes almost entirely) a matter of luck, and it is a huge mistake to spend too much time fretting and planning instead of learning. However, there are good tips in this book. Just don’t get sucked into the panic.