Explaining Your Homeschool to Colleges
By Jeannette Webb
Did you know that you have only 5-15 minutes to tell a college admissions officer everything they will ever know about your child? With more students applying to college, with each of those students applying to larger numbers of college because of the ease of online applications, the quantity of applications at individual universities can be staggering. Hence, the short time frame they have to spend on your child.
Add to that fact that many colleges still have reservations about homeschoolers or at least some strong stereotypes that hover unbidden in their minds. Of course they worry about socialization. They wonder if your student will fit in with others in the dorm. They are concerned that your child might not follow the directives of the professor in a fast-moving class. Homeschoolers are also notorious for long-winded transcripts. They’ve often done things unconventionally and yet few bother to explain what they’ve done or how they’ve done it.
These facts can be disheartening. But, knowledge is power!
Those of us that homeschool high school need to sit up and take notice with what is happening with the application process.
We can address an admissions officer’s fears with the homeschool documents we provide to them. We can speak in a language they understand. We can produce professional documents that rival the best college-prep public and private schools. We can fully show that our child does not fit their stereotypes. Furthermore, we can beat the time crunch by being extremely clear and concise.
These are the things we need to provide to competitive colleges:
- Transcript
- School Profile
- Transcript Legend
- Counselor Letter
If you would like to learn more about these critical documents, check out our class, Explaining Your Homeschool: Learn How to Produce Required College Documents.
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