It really is a big mess. We've managed to find somewhere close the past three years, but this year two of the three schools we've used in the past have turned us down and one more hasn't decided yet if they'll allow homeschoolers. The college board is pretty much a cartoon villain, as far as I'm concerned. You might hear back from them, but it won't be with any actual help, I'm willing to bet. All I've ever gotten from them is outdated, incomplete, and/or just flat out wrong lists of schools to call.

Thanks so much for all this, Angie! WRT to this point....we're likely visiting Oberlin and/or St. Olaf over spring break with my older son (who wants to be math or physics major, but happens to have applied to those two schools with conservatories)....you think it's not too early to schedule sample lessons for him? I mean, the schools are hundreds of miles away, so it seems like we might as well if we'll be there anyway, assuming the professors are open to it....also I'm thinking the more he sees right now about what a music major would involve, the better--so he can decide sooner rather than later if it's not really for him.

Thanks so much everyone! He doesn't have a private clarinet teacher right now; I imagine getting that going is probably where we need to start, with the hope that s/he will be able to give us some direction about what else he could be doing.

That's a good question--he has no idea. I know he doesn't want to give up either instrument right now, but he may have to do some prioritizing soon if he really wants to pursue this.

My 9th grader has expressed interest in majoring in music in college, and I'm hoping to get some guidance about what he/we should be doing now to prepare for that. He's been taking private piano lessons for 4 years (with local competitions and recitals, nothing major) and just started playing clarinet last year (couple of years of guitar lessons before piano, but he doesn't play regularly anymore). He started clarinet on his own over the summer and auditioned into advanced band with the local homeschool band. He's also playing keyboards in jazz band at the same place. He's planning to add in marching band next year, and he'll likely start dual enrollment at a local university in 11th grade and can audition for assorted ensembles and marching band there. What else should we be looking at? This is all totally new to me, so any advice is appreciated!

I was thinking of it more in terms of what "looks good" to selective colleges than what they'll grant credit for. It seems like, generally speaking, most kids who have a good shot of getting into highly selective colleges are going to come in with more credit from AP classes and or DE than they'll actually be allowed to use.

So these are dual credit classes offered at his high school in coordination with a college? What I've gathered from the reading I've done is that selective colleges usually place more value on AP classes than on dual enrollment classes like that. Vassar's website, for example, has a section where they talk specifically about dual credit classes offered at high schools and how they "should be approached with caution." The thinking, as far as I can tell, is that there's no standardization with these classes and no way for the college to tell whether they're genuinely equivalent to a class taught at a college with other college students. So I would think that having AP scores to back up the grades he has from those classes and show that he's done college level work would be very helpful when applying to selective colleges.

yeah, I'd say just #1, too. DS put down a deposit on his only big university but won't on any others I don't think.

Nice--we can fret together come March 🙂 . We visited Hamilton and Vassar last summer, and he really liked them (especially Hamilton, but I think a lot of that is because he happened to have a tour guide with a ton of overlapping interests. Also because it was so pretty). Wesleyan was a late add because it doesn't have supplemental essays--but I do think he would probably have liked it if we'd made it there. It seems like a good fit on paper anyway.

I mentioned this in the other thread already, but DS added Emory at the last minute and finished the app on NYE. I think he wanted another close to home option. He only has 2 subject tests, though, and they want 3 from homeschoolers, so we don't know if they'll even consider his application. Sounds like adding a couple more schools with higher acceptance rates is a wise move! FWIW, we went through the list of schools with no supplemental essays awhile back and added a couple more that seemed like good fits that way. It seems totally random which schools put a lot of emphasis on supplements and which don't.....some of his more selective schools don't have any (Colby, Wesleyan, Grinnell) and some of his less selective ones have several.

Sure. Some of them got on the list specifically because they don't have supplementals 🙂 (and/or application fees): UGA, Hendrix, Knox, Williams, Hamilton, Colby, Vassar, Wesleyan, Grinnell, Carleton, St. Olaf, Macalester, Emory, Oberlin, Kenyon, Harvard

We've got a lot of the same stuff going on here. He's in at his 3 safeties EA (and I think all of them are great options), but he's super nervous about all his RD schools. And I've never done this before, so I honestly have no idea how it's going to go down. I think he has a good shot just about everywhere (okay, maybe not Harvard) and will almost certainly get into a few of them, but who knows? He decided to add Emory to the list at the last second and finished that app up last night. I think he was feeling nervous about not having anywhere except UGA close to home. We'd cut it off the list awhile back because they "request" three subject tests from homeschoolers, and he only has two. But it very specifically says request and not require (it uses the word require on the same page about letters of recommendation from non-family, so....we figure the worst that happens is he doesn't get in and we'll never know if it's because of the missing subject test or not. Plus I'm cranky about the subject test thing anyway; he has a ton of DE, AP scores, and other test scores to prove that his homeschool transcript is legit. And Emory is the ONLY school he's applied to with that "request"; they're thinking a little too much of themselves, IMO. That said, I'm going to have my 9th grader take every subject test that makes sense so he has plenty to submit if he runs into something similar. Anyway, that makes SIXTEEN schools total, which is probably completely ridiculous, but he couldn't seem to stop once he started. He still has at least 4 more alumni or phone interviews, and he has to do a presentation at a scholarship weekend in February and fill out at least one more scholarship app that he was invited to apply for. It never ends!

It's an actual W....he withdrew the day after drop/add ended 😞

Another question: DS enrolled in a biology class at a community college this past semester (different college from the one where he's done his other DE classes), stayed in it for 2 classes, and then withdrew mostly for scheduling reasons (we're doing bio at home instead). That's the only class he ever enrolled in there, but now he has a transcript from them with the one "W" on it. Does he need to submit that transcript to the places he's applying? Should I stick that one in my pdf of assorted transcripts for the mid-year report and explain what it is in a cover letter? I've heard that there's some way colleges know if there's a transcript out there; I don't want them to think he's hiding anything.

If you used the common app, the counselor section will tell you which schools require a mid-year report.

I have similar questions! DS's DE university charges $5/transcript to send them out, and he's applied to 15 schools. He's had them sent to every school, but for the midyear report I was planning to just make a copy of it and upload along with his combined transcript (the one I made)....is that good enough, or will I be out another $75?!

Last of the early action decisions is in: DS accepted to Knox College with $30,000/year in scholarships (again, still waiting on any need based aid). So now he has three good options (also Hendrix and UGA), which I hope will make the wait until March for the rest a little easier for him!

DS has been waiting not so patiently for his early action decision from Knox (supposed to be here by today at the latest. They don't update the portal until a few days after they mail out letters for some reason). A few days ago I read about informed delivery from the USPS on College Confidential--where they send you pictures every morning of all the mail that's coming that day--and I signed up for it. So yesterday morning it showed an envelope from the Knox admission office. But just that: a plain white envelope that did not look at all like an acceptance package. Our mail has been coming SUPER late lately, so DS spent the entire day fretting that it had to be a rejection letter and had to go off to perform in a play yesterday evening before it came. He got home at 10 and finally opened it......it's a holiday card. Uhh, very thoughtful, Knox, but maybe not the right time of year to be sending out small white envelopes!

Wow--that's awesome! Congrats to her! And to both of you on being ALL FINISHED with applications and waiting for decisions--that must feel great 🙂

But it will catch up with them if they lie (you still have to submit the official scores if you're admitted and decide to attend) and they can have their admissions offers rescinded if they lie on the application.

It does seem to be a growing trend! DS did have a couple of schools that normally allow self reporting, but require official scores for homeschoolers, though, so be on the lookout for that.

the other thread reminded me....DS took the math 2 subject test in November and did really well on it, so he'd like for any colleges he's applying to that consider subject tests to have the score. But we've already paid to send score reports everywhere and almost all of his applications are already submitted. Is there a good way to get the score to the colleges without paying for another score report? I glanced quickly at the mid year report that I'll fill out on the common app and I didn't see anywhere to put test scores (but maybe I missed it?) Should he e-mail admissions offices and ask to have it added to his file or is that overkill? (to be clear, I'm not talking about colleges that require subject tests, but the ones where the common data set says they're "considered")

nope--she doesn't have to report them!

DS accepted at Hendrix College with nice merit aid (still waiting on full financial aid package) and invited to their scholarship weekend in February. One more EA app is still out there and then he has a long wait until spring for the rest of them!

DS has 3 early action apps in, and he's already heard back from 2. These 3 are all safeties for him (I feel very superstitious saying that, but I guess since he's been accepted to the first two I can't jinx things too badly). He didn't do ED anywhere because we need to compare financial aid offers (and he doesn't have a clear frontrunner anyway). So it's not super stressful around here right now (aside from how he's still finishing up other applications and has some alumni interviews coming up); glad he has some good news to carry him through the long winter of waiting on other decisions!