This year has been tougher than every for high school students competing to get into college. Students have to apply to numerous colleges and hope that one of their favorites sends an acceptance letter or at least puts them on the waiting list. According to saycampuslife.com, college rejections are at an all time high this year. Reasons for increased rejections by schools include that the fact that online application processes have made applying easier, and that colleges seek a greater demographic pool of students from which to choose. Harvard, for example, rejected 93 out of 100 applicants and Yale rejected 92 out of 100. These are not good odds.
For college bound homeschoolers however, the tables are turned. Homeschoolers heading off to college this year, and next year two are trying to decide which of several colleges that accepted them to go to. According to a CBS News Article, “colleges (are) coveting home-schooled students”. According to the article, “The courtship can be as subtle as admissions office Web sites geared to home-schooled applicants or, in the case of Columbia College, as direct as purchasing mailing lists and holding special recruiting sessions.”
Homeschoolers may not be sought after by the top colleges like Yale, Harvard, and Columbia University, but getting has become easier. With college officials are finally realizing that recruiting self-motivated and independent homeschool students is in their best interest, homeschoolers now have to field offers and letters from colleges before they have ever applied. The colleges that seek homeschoolers may be smaller, and in many cases private, but the fact that they are actively seeking our kids is a wonderful thing.
My children for example, who are finishing their 6th and 8th grade years, are already being courted by SCAD (Savanna College of Art and Design). This is because a few students who attend the Fine Arts and History Program we use to help educate our children have attended SCAD, and have had great success. For this reason, representatives have come to our little “school” and spoken to the children about the program.
While my 11 year old daughter has already announced that she will be going to SCAD and studying fashion design, my 13 year old son wants to keep his options open.
If your home schooled child is college bound, this does not mean that they do not still have to work to get into college. Homeschooled students are expected to meet all of the same requirements that public schooled students with the exception of the public school transcript. Instead, a homemade transcript and portfolio is in order.
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