What can we glean from this successful homeschool to college application?
October 26thDear Lee,
I was a member of your Gold Care Club for quite some time, and I wanted to let you know how much your information and advice helped us.My daughter Emily is now a senior and is going full-time at the local community college. She’ll graduate with an AA and she’s been on the President’s List every quarter and is a National Merit Commended student.
For the last 2 years we’ve been researching schools and their requirements for homeschoolers. Finally, the list was pared to 6. We worked extremely this summer to get all of her applications in by mid-September. She was immediately accepted to 2 private Catholic universities and offered their highest merit scholarships. We’re still waiting on the public school, the extreme reach school and 2 more private schools. Also, since she’ll be applying for the Honors Program in whichever school she chooses, we hope there will be even more scholarships attached.
My family keeps thanking me for all my leg-work, but I never could have achieved this without YOUR initial research! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with folks and providing a service for those who are striving to meet all the needs of their children. I don’t think I would ever have considered private schools until I met you and heard how feasible it really is.
The only thing I would disagree with you on is the CLEP tests. Most of the admissions officers I spoke with over the last year (too many…) were not impressed with those as much as AP or IB tests. Emily took them as an indicator of honors standing but she won’t use those for credit. I would urge teens to study for and pass AP instead.
Nevertheless, your information on college search, course descriptions, reading lists, homeschool profiles, testing, grading, extra-curriculars, and documentation really helped us so very much. What also helped was simply your example. You had high expectations of your sons, gave them the tools to meet those goals, then shared your experience with all of us. This allowed me to see the possibilities and give my children the tools to reach their dreams as well. Thanks for holding my hand through the first few years when I had anxiety over the thought of a FAFSA or application essay! It’s no longer a mystery, just a lot of hard work.
Keep it up!
Blessings,
Rebecca
1. My number one, biggest, most important tip is clear as day before she even gives a salutation. She wrote to me on October 26th. In October she already knew the results of her hard work. Right there is my BIGGEST tip for successful college applications! If you want to rest easy, get those applications done EARLY in senior year. I usually suggest that you work on college applications during the first week of senior year, but some colleges actually have even earlier deadlines.
2. If your child is extremely bright, look at the National Merit Scholarship and what it requires. Being a National Merit Scholar, or Commended Student, takes planning and reaps big rewards.
3. Apply to Reach, Fit, and Safety schools, at least 4 to 8 colleges, both private and public schools.
4. Research CLEP, AP, and Community College options carefully, to see what is best for your student.
5. Create great homeschool records, including a transcript, course descriptions, reading list, and activity list. Take this free class on course descriptions to learn more about homeschool records that open doors.
6. Get the help you need and crave. You don’t have to go alone through this challenging time. I’ll be happy to encourage you! Check out the Gold Care Club if you are interested. Make sure to sign up for my FREE newsletter, so you can watch the calendar for important dates.
Now remember, you can do this! Sure, Rebecca’s daughter is both beautiful AND brilliant, but that’s not the whole reason why she was successful. Her applications were successful because she chose perfect colleges that wanted her daughter, and applied in a timely manner will well-prepared homeschool records. You can do that too!
Huddle over! Hut, hut, hike! Go out there and get ’em, team! You can do this too!
Homeschooling is NOT the same as doing schoolwork at home. There is so much freedom in homeschooling! My Gold Care Club will give you all the help you need to succeed!
I’d second the advice to get those applications in early…starting in the summer if at all possible. Since my son’s first choice, Texas A&M recommended (strongly!) getting applications in the first day applications would be accepted we did all the preparation in advance to submit his on AUGUST 1st! He did get accepted and having that application done made it easier to submit aps to his other choices. I’ll write more when we hear more on scholarships but he already was awarded a $64,000 scholarship at one of his choices! We owe SO much to you, Lee! Will be in touch with updates! Thanks a million!
This mom says that her daughter will have an AA degree from a community college, so why are AP tests and any previous homeschooling relevant? I was under the impression that if you are transferring to a 4-yr university from community college, that high school becomes irrelevant and only your college record is looked at. Is this girl applying as a freshman to these colleges, not as a transfer student? Even if so, the same question remains – since she has a college record, why would anything prior to college be relevant? Thank you in advance if you can clarify!
Abby,
Some colleges just want to check off things from their list – and if the list includes AP, that’s what they want. Some universities just don’t think that community college classes are as rigorous as AP classes. Some states will have a direct transfer agreement with community college, and others don’t. Some colleges don’t give freshman scholarships to students with community college. Almost all colleges want to see high school transcripts AND any available college transcripts. Overall, there are so many variables, and each college has their own way of doing things. You just have to decide if you are going to do it their way and get scholarship money, or not do it there way and give up some scholarship money. I usually suggest that unless a college is asking you to do something that is contrary to your family values, then it makes sense to do it their way.
Blessings,
Lee