Admissions to a Competitive Liberal Arts School

[NewIma]

I went to a prestigious liberal arts school as one of their first homeschooled students 20 years ago. I had a transcript with some duel enrollment classes, my Gold Award, and had been an exchange student. I had not done APs or honor classes. My test scores were decent. 

What is it like now? Does my child need to have AP's or honors classes from outside sources to go to a selective liberal arts college? Are some duel enrollment classes at our community college and high test scores enough? Or not? What are liberal arts schools looking for from homeschoolers now?

 

 

 

[8filltheheart]

Define selective.  Admissions to tippy top selective schools in general is different than it was 20 yrs ago.  Depending on the school, the admissions rate may be as low as 5 or 6%.  Often, what leads to acceptance is "the other" aspect of their application (extracurricular activities and awards).  Top test scores and academic achievement are givens.  They are simply the first threshold.

Have you ever heard the term "Common Data Set"?  You can google a school's name and CDS and find out quite a bit about the school's admission stats.  For example, here is some of the info from Smith https://www.smith.edu/sites/default/files/media/Smith College_Common Data Set 2019-2020_Complete_0.pdf  When applying, aiming to be at minimum in the mid-50th% should be the objective (when my kids apply, they are looking for scholarship $$ (not an option at most top schools since they are need-based aid only), so we aim to be above the 75%)

 

FWIW, in answer to your question, I had a dd accepted to less selective schools (she didn't apply to tippy top schools), Fordham and Rochester, with no APs and a single dual enrollment course 2nd semester sr yr (obviously not factored in admissions since she was admitted prior to the course being completed.)  She was awarded major scholarships from both.  Her application package included competitive test scores, strong academic background (her classes were taken at home without an outside teacher except for Russian, but they were advanced academics and demonstrated strong internal motivation to learn), Latin golds and several regional and international awards in Russian. 

If discussing less selective than that, solid academics and good test scores are enough.  It is all relative and dependent on the individual school.  Search their CDS and admitted student profiles to get a better understanding of the school. 

Edited August 6, 2020 by 8FillTheHeart

[NewIma]

Thank you 8FilltheHeart! 

I guess we would be looking at less selective schools then. In my mind (my child will have an opinion eventually lol) we are considering schools with around a 25-40 % acceptance rate like Oberlin, Grinnell,  Kenyon, William and Mary, pr the University of Richmond.  A state school's honors college is also a possible goal. 

Edited August 6, 2020 by NewIma

[8filltheheart]

3 minutes ago, NewIma said:

Thank you 8FilltheHeart! 

I guess we would be looking at less selective schools then. In my mind (my child will have an opinion eventually lol) we are considering schools with around a 25-40 % acceptance rate like Oberlin, Grinnell,  Kenyon, William and Mary, the University of Richmond, or a state school's honors college. 

You will need to look at each school's admission's requirements.  UR, for example, my dd opted not to apply bc they require (or at least did when she was applying in 2017)  5 subject test scores or APs or dual enrollment grades (1 for each main subject area). (a quick check shows that they have reduced some of the requirements: https://admissions.richmond.edu/process/homeschool.html)

  Every school will have its own requirements.  

William and Mary requires at least 4 yrs of the same language but unofficially prefers 5 (read that on an admission counselor site back then).  Their admissions info is more opaque. https://www.wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/how-to-apply/freshmanapplicants/homeschooled/index.php Fwiw, I write my kids' counselor letters and definitely spend time putting together course descriptions.  I also write a school profile that describes the types of coursework my kids complete.

[NewIma]

So I talked to Kenyon's admission office today and got some interesting information.  He said they put a lot of weight on course descriptions for homeschoolers. For outside verification they value ACT/SAT scores first, SAT Subject Tests or AP Tests next, and dual enrollment is a very distant third.  I have to admit that surprised me a little! 

[fourisenough]

10 hours ago, NewIma said:

So I talked to Kenyon's admission office today and got some interesting information.  He said they put a lot of weight on course descriptions for homeschoolers. For outside verification they value ACT/SAT scores first, SAT Subject Tests or AP Tests next, and dual enrollment is a very distant third.  I have to admit that surprised me a little! 

Oooo, thanks for calling and sharing. How interesting! Off to sharpen up my course descriptions...

[UmmIbrahim]

12 hours ago, NewIma said:

So I talked to Kenyon's admission office today and got some interesting information.  He said they put a lot of weight on course descriptions for homeschoolers. For outside verification they value ACT/SAT scores first, SAT Subject Tests or AP Tests next, and dual enrollment is a very distant third.  I have to admit that surprised me a little! 

Interesting about the course descriptions. I created that massive document last year and always wondered whether anyone was reading it when we submitted it!

I'm not surprised about their testing hierarchy, though. I made my son take AP exams for all DE classes that had corresponding AP exams. Early in the process, I had thought that AP and DE would be viewed similarly and was just planning on going the DE route. The more I read the more I realized that plenty of places really do give more status/value to AP classes and exams over DE. Maybe some admissions officers think that there is wide variability in the quality/content of different community college systems (probably somewhat true)? They definitely know how to consider AP, so we made sure to cover all of our bases since my son applied to competitive schools.

[8filltheheart]

Also, check to see if dual enrollment is limited to CCs.  My kids have dual enrolled at state universities bc our local CCs have not been ones I have wanted my kids to attend.

 

[GoodGrief]

On 8/6/2020 at 6:57 AM, NewIma said:

Thank you 8FilltheHeart! 

I guess we would be looking at less selective schools then. In my mind (my child will have an opinion eventually lol) we are considering schools with around a 25-40 % acceptance rate like Oberlin, Grinnell,  Kenyon, William and Mary, pr the University of Richmond.  A state school's honors college is also a possible goal. 

Well, things have probably changed a good bit since 2013, but I can tell you that my daughter got into Grinnell that year with a special package that paid for her visit there and provided a significant scholarship. No APs or honors, but she had been an exchange student to Turkey and is from a geographically distant state. Her grades were okay but not stellar. She had a perfect verbal SAT score but math brought the total down to just okay range.

[NewIma]

9 hours ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

Also, check to see if dual enrollment is limited to CCs.  My kids have dual enrolled at state universities bc our local CCs have not been ones I have wanted my kids to attend.

 

This is a good point. I think he was referring to CCs.  We don't have a state school near by so have been planning on dd doing several CC classes for DE. Now we may rethink that... Maybe just do 1 or 2 to give her some classroom experiences, but mostly focus on at home or online classes?

[NewIma]

4 hours ago, GoodGrief1 said:

Well, things have probably changed a good bit since 2013, but I can tell you that my daughter got into Grinnell that year with a special package that paid for her visit there and provided a significant scholarship. No APs or honors, but she had been an exchange student to Turkey and is from a geographically distant state. Her grades were okay but not stellar. She had a perfect verbal SAT score but math brought the total down to just okay range.

Your daughter and I sound very much alike! LOL I was also an exchange student, no APs or honors, had an almost perfect verbal SAT, and crappy math score. Apparently admissions at my college had a couple of meetings about me because my scores were so inconsistent, and homeschooling was so new then. What organization did your dd do her exchange through? 

[Frances]

On 8/7/2020 at 6:57 AM, 8FillTheHeart said:

Also, check to see if dual enrollment is limited to CCs.  My kids have dual enrolled at state universities bc our local CCs have not been ones I have wanted my kids to attend.

 

Nm

Edited August 9, 2020 by Frances