Homeschooling is a great educational choice for some students. But with all the potential advantages, here are a few tips to help mitigate some potential college planning challenges:
1. Take occasional outside courses.
A college admissions challenge for many homeschoolers is the need to substantiate your academic strength in ways that colleges can clearly understand. One of the best ways to do that is to take occasional outside courses—at a college, community college, or even high school summer school. Even if you’re following a formal homeschooling curriculum, colleges need to know that you can succeed in a traditional classroom setting, too. Soak up the homeschooling advantages, yes. But put those strengths to work occasionally in the classroom as even more proof that you’re college ready.
2. Take (and prepare for) standardized tests.
Standardized tests have a lot of limitations about what they measure. But you’re not taking the same educational route as most students, and standardized tests are the same for everyone. When you do well and submit a score, it’s easier for colleges to compare your achievement with that of other students someplace else.
Take the SAT or ACT. Consider taking subject tests and even AP tests. And do some focused preparation to give yourself the best score you can.
3. Get involved in group activities.
Colleges are communities of students. They want to know how prospective freshmen will interact with and impact that community. That’s why it’s important for homeschooled students to get involved in formal or informal activities, especially those that include other teenagers. Play club soccer, join a youth group, get a part-time job, volunteer at a soup kitchen. Show that you can participate with and even lead groups of students without necessarily sitting in class with them every day.
4. Walk your (positive) homeschooled talk.
Why did you decide to homeschool? Why was that better for you than attending traditional school? Those are natural questions for a college to ask. Whatever your answer is, make sure you’re actually doing those things. For example, if you tell colleges that you were homeschooled because you didn’t want to be confined to a standard high school curriculum, you need to show that you took full advantage of the opportunity to chart your own academic path. Bonus tip: when asked, move away from negative answers that critique high schools, teachers and counselors. Focus on the positive about why homeschooling was better for you, not why high school somehow wasn’t good enough.
5. Think hard about why—and where—you want to go to college.
Every student preparing for college should consider why they’re going so they can pick the right schools. You’ve chosen a different learning path. Why do you think college is the right choice to continue that learning? What kind of school do you think will be right for you? What are you looking to continue from your homeschooling days, and what are you excited to experience that’s new? The more you think about the questions and find schools that satisfy those answers, the more appealing you become to those schools.