What Colleges Require from Homeschoolers

by Cindy Bond

Nyack College (less competitive), New York, offers a scholarship specifically for homeschoolers.

Stanford University (most competitive), California, mails a form letter to potential homeschooled applicants. Stanford has no required set of courses applicants must complete prior to applying. It looks for evidence of "intellectual vitality" in all applicants. Standardized test scores are more important for homeschoolers than for other applicants. While not required, SAT II subject test scores are highly recommended.

Wesleyan University (most competitive), Connecticut, admits roughly 1/3 of the homeschoolers who apply each year, the same percentage as the general applicant pool. For the past several years, they have accepted two to three homeschoolers each year. They prefer "as formal a transcript as the homeschooler can provide." They also prefer a transcript to a portfolio, although they have admitted students with just portfolios. Like other colleges, Wesleyan is especially interested in why a student is homeschooling.

Wheaton College (highly competitive), Illinois, has a special packet of information for homeschoolers. They require the same documentation of homeschooled students that they require of other applicants (SAT, application, and letters of recommendation). Their acceptance rate for all students is just under 50 percent; for homeschooled applicants, the rate is 60-65 percent. Currently, they are admitting 12-18 homeschoolers each year. In evaluating homeschoolers, they place considerable emphasis on the interview, recommendations from individuals outside the family, and standardized test scores.

Georgia Institute of Technology (highly competitive+), Georgia, has just published a set of guidelines for homeschoolers. Regular applicants are required to submit scores from the ACT or SAT (no SAT II's required). Homeschoolers must submit a GED score, SAT and ACT scores, and scores from four SAT II tests: English, math I, chemistry, and a foreign language. Also from the guidelines: "Homeschoolers must have credentials comparable to the upper 40% of freshmen at Georgia Tech." This generally means a minimum SAT score of 1360 and a minimum score of 650 on each SAT II achievement test.

Southern Methodist University (very competitive), Texas, requires three SAT II scores from homeschoolers, none for other applicants. Of the three tests, one must be in English, one in math.

University of Notre Dame (most competitive), Indiana, requires an SAT score from all applicants. It requires five SAT II scores from homeschoolers, but no SAT II scores for "regular" applicants. Homeschoolers' SAT II's must be distributed among English, math, social studies, science, and foreign language. They adopted this policy because of a "need for [a] consistent measure of achievement."