As homeschool becomes a more popular and accepted alternative to public education in the United States, more colleges and secondary education institutions are opening their doors to homeschool students. This phenomenon reflects an increasing awareness of the benefits of homeschool and a new reliance on parents' abilities to educate their children. They educate often more effectively than cash-strapped, resource-limited public school systems. However, some colleges still cling to the “old ways” and refuse to accept applications from homeschool students, even when faced with overwhelming proof that a homeschool student is more than qualified for a degree program.
The good news is that even the nation's most prestigious colleges and universities will accept students from a homeschool environment. Universities such as Harvard, Yale, the Carnegie Mellon Institute, Brown, and Texas A&M include homeschool students on their student rosters, and have for years. In fact, some colleges hold homeschool students in high regard: Stanford University typically accepts 27 percent of homeschool applicants, a rate nearly double that of their usual acceptance rate. The reason behind this shift is that most homeschool students are better prepared to deal with the challenges of a largely self-directed college learning environment.
Historically, colleges and universities have required a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma (GED) in order to consider a student's admittance. Now, with homeschool students who do not possess such documentation, many colleges are considering alternative proof of education. Personal essays, recommendations, transcripts from parents and results from standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT are accepted by many as a basis for consideration for homeschool students. Portfolios generated from a homeschool environment are often more impressive than the typical student's application package, and homeschool students tend to perform better on standardized tests.
Many colleges and universities have renounced the diploma requirement and base their enrollment criteria on a student's level of knowledge rather than their documentation. Homeschool is a legitimate method of education, and homeschool students are actually better candidates for college admission in several aspects.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, author, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of almost 3 decades reside with their 8 children in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. because "our current system of education has broken its promise..." Learning By Grace, Inc. delivers Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children in the United States and throughout the world.
Rothschild has authored a number of books about education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Daily Education News Blog contains feature stories on alternatives in education.