College Admissions: What Really Matters?

[Wildiris]

College Admissions: What Really Matters? Link to an interesting Chart.

[shanvan]

Interesting.....and it makes me feel very silly for all of the agonizing over extracurriculars---though I do see them as leading to skills that cannot be gained through curricula & testing.

 

This is a helpful guide for those of us beginning to navigate the high school years. It just might help me get my priorities in order in the next few weeks.

 

Thanks!

[regentrude]

I guess this is general information and not specific to homeschoolers?

 

I am fairly sure that for a homeschooled student the scores on standardized tests carry considerably more weight than the mommy grades on the transcript, and that SAT2 and AP scores play a bigger role than for a public school student.

Edited August 20, 2012 by regentrude

[OLG]

I'd agree with the chart from our experience! Thanks for posting.

[creekland]

That matches our experience too - with the exception that scores count more for homeschoolers (many admissions folks told me this) and for higher level schools, extra curriculars count far more. For lower level schools they don't.

 

Scores count a ton for scholarships too. ;)

[Tokyomarie]

I guess this is general information and not specific to homeschoolers?

 

I am fairly sure that for a homeschooled student the scores on standardized tests carry considerably more weight than the mommy grades on the transcript, and that SAT2 and AP scores play a bigger role than for a public school student.

 

:iagree:

 

This was our experience 5-6 years ago when we last went through the admissions cycle. At one school, test scores counted double and GPA didn't count at all when calculating eligibility for academic scholarships. At the most competitive university, homeschoolers were required to submit SAT Subject Test scores whereas students from public schools were not required to do so.

[Kathy in Richmond]

It's always interesting to also Google the Common Data Set for any of the colleges that interest your kids. You can find links to lots of them here on College Confidential (scroll down the page to post #434).

 

Look specifically at the chart in the Freshman Admission Section C7 giving the relative importance of various factors in the admission process.

 

For example, here's the CDS for the University of Richmond. You can see that they consider: (just a partial list)

 

"rigor of secondary school record" and "GPA" are very important,

"class rank:" and "standardized test scores" are important,

"geographical residence" is considered

and "level of applicant's interest" is not considered at all.

 

Of course, these lists aren't homeschool specific, but they're still interesting. As others said, standardized test scores and outside evaluations and letters of recommendation are often extra important for us.