Homeschoolers and Applying to College: Our First Student

When people hear you homeschool they often ask similar questions. The number two question, after "Aren't you worried about socialization?", is a tie between "Do you think you can teach them in high school?" and "Can homeschoolers get into college?" People started asking this when our oldest child was just four or five years old. We knew it was a risk investing the last 17 years of our lives into this 'experiment' of homeschooling our children. We have another 17 years ahead of us with our large family. Some of the answers to those questions would take years to reach. At the same time we have seen good fruits appear along the way, and found confidence that, in the end, those weren't the important questions to be asking in the first place. That is a topic for another day. Today I'm going to share a bit of what we have learned with our first homeschooled student reaching the college application stage of life.

Makayla was homeschooled from the very beginning. She did the occasional online class during high school (mythology, veterinary medicine). She ran on the local public school track team for two years on a whim. She did not take any college classes in high school (concurrent enrollment). Academically she's a solid student with a 3.98 GPA. Her academic strengths are language arts related and her weakness is math.

What I heard years before reaching high school

• Make transcripts and update them each year. This is a list of classes and overall grades.
• Write detailed course descriptions of what they did and what materials they used in each class.
• Keep a portfolio of their high school work.

What we did

1. Each year of high school I recorded her classes (transcripts) and tried to remember to write course descriptions. I was a bit lax on this in years where I blogged regularly because I could go look back at what we used on the blog if needed. We kept some portfolio samples each year.

2. In July after Makayla finished 11th grade she took the ACT cold (no test prep). She then studied areas she was weak in based on the ACT results and retook the ACT in October. Her section scores went up overall, sometimes significantly (6 points in one section), but also went down in one section.

3. By this point she was already filling out the Common Application online, which is a single college application accepted by hundreds of schools. Makayla was also working on applications for colleges that do not use the Common App. A lot of essays were written, edited, and submitted. Some schools have early action deadlines as early as November 1st. Other schools have final deadlines in December, January, or February. She really did not have time to spare for retaking the ACT more than once before deadlines.

4. Fill out the FAFSA paperwork online any time after October 1st. This is financial aid paperwork and it took both of us to complete.

Things Makayla had to do personally

• Take the ACT.
• Fill out the FAFSA (parents also have a part in this).
• Fill out college applications, including writing essays, asking for letters of recommendation from non-related adults, and in the case of a couple schools - having ecclesiastical interviews as part of her commitment to live a school Code of Honor.
• Make a lot of decisions.

My role as guidance counselor

Beyond making her transcripts, I had to register as a recommender on the Common App website, fill out information related to Makayla's application submission there, submit transcripts to schools (which sometimes involved phone calls to find out what email address to submit these to), and speak with colleges when they called with questions.

What was the result?

Makayla applied to 6 colleges. She chose a safety school that she was almost guaranteed to be accepted at based on residence, GPA, and ACT score. Then she chose schools she was interested in, including two 'reach schools' that she did not have high enough ACT scores for but wanted to try to get into anyway. If you look online nearly all colleges have scores available showing the average ACT or SAT scores of students accepted in the last several years. You can also look at things like the school's acceptance rate. One school may only accept 45% of students who apply, while others accept more or less of their applicants.

Then she waited. And waited. And waited.

Some colleges reached out by email or phone with questions to her or to me as her guidance counselor. One school asked for a portfolio of work samples to be submitted. Just one school. None asked for course descriptions.

Her first acceptance came on January 14th. We were both ecstatic. She was relieved to be accepted by any college. I was relieved that this homeschool experiment had kept open the door for my daughter to go to college if she wanted to.

In the end Makayla was accepted at 5 of the 6 schools she applied to, including one of the reach schools we really didn't expect her to get into. Her acceptances came from:

• Ohio State University's satellite campus in our area.
• Cleveland State University.
• Brigham Young University - Idaho
• Brigham Young University - Provo (Utah)
• Southern Virginia University

At this point Makayla was faced with a big decision. Where did she want to go to college? She looked at programs, compared college sizes (she had options for small, medium, and large campuses), looked at the experiences available, and so on. She narrowed down her list. She prayed about where to go.

Makayla formally accepted admission to Southern Virginia University in February. She will be an SVU Knight this fall!

What we would do differently next time

Take ACT/SAT earlier! Makayla took the ACT after her 11th grade year. We know now that this was way too late for a first attempt because as soon as senior year begins the college applications need filled out. You want your student to be able to take the test multiple times over the high school years. The first time make it a total 'just for the experience' event. Don't stress out over test preparation. Borrow an official ACT test prep book to try at home, one test section per day, over a week. Why? To see what format the questions are in. For a student who has little standardized testing experience this will be very important, but even if your student has done some testing, the ACT questions often look different. Makayla had taken the CAT 5 test for various grade levels over the years, depending on our homeschool reporting choices for the year. The ACT was still formatted differently.

After their first time taking the ACT/SAT, they will receive scores and have a better idea of their strengths, weak subjects, and what they want to study or practice for a few months before retaking the test. This is the time to consider actually using a test prep book to take practice tests, study the things you got wrong (the good books will explain why each answer is right or wrong), and guide your homeschool studies to focus on subjects your student found on the test. For example, if your student first takes the ACT at the end of 9th grade they will still have several math courses they haven't even tried whose content will be on the ACT.

Use past essay questions beginning in 9th grade for some writing assignments. There are a couple reasons for this. First, your student will get used to writing essays. We did essay writing throughout high school, but for some reason I never thought to pull college application essays to try. It will also make apparent to your teen early on that one thing they should be considering is how they can make a difference in the world. This is often asked in some form or another on college applications. Many times colleges ask about ways your student has been a leader, helped in a cause, made a difference, done hard things, failed, succeeded, or grew over time. It would have been helpful for Makayla to already be thinking of her life with some of these big ideas in mind.

Worry less! Makayla had some traditional subjects on her transcripts (biology, Algebra 1, English 9), and some less traditional ones (herpetology, veterinary medicine, and mythology). None of the colleges she applied to asked about what curriculum she used in a class. None cared if she had read a specific set of books. Mainly they looked at her ACT scores. Makayla is a solid student, but math is her weakness, and it showed on her ACT math score. Both of us worried about that, but in the end, it wasn't a big deal. She will take a math placement test at the college that will guide her into the course she is ready to tackle.

Do some research at the beginning of high school for possible career directions. Remember that the process can be very different at different colleges and for different majors, so your student may have a very different set of needs. I was talking the other day with a friend whose homeschooled son applied to a Bachelor of Fine Arts Lighting Design program at a host of schools. He had two applications to fill out, personal interviews, and a portfolio submission at every college. It was a lot more involved.

Enjoy every minute with your teen. The high school years seem like they will last forever, but the time flies.