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Hi everyone! I've only posted on this board a couple of times, but I've been reading it for a while now, and I know there are some knowledgable people here, so I need your advice. I am a female homeschooler, soon to be a senior, whose top choice school is Princeton. It's the only Ivy I'm applying to, but unfortunately I can't apply ED because of my financial situation.

My stats are as follows:

SAT I: 800 V 720 M

SAT II: 800 U.S. History, 800 Writing, 780 French, 770 Literature

AP's: Took AP U.S. History and AP English Language this year, will find out scores later this month. I think I got 5's, but there are no guarantees.

Like I said, I'm homeschooled, so I don't have a class rank (well, I do, but it's 1 out of 1 :-)), but I've taken several classes outside the home and have received A's or A+'s in all of them, so I guess my GPA would be 4.0. (But I know colleges wouldn't put quite as much weight on that as with other applicants, because some of my grades do come from my parents :-/)

Anyway, I'm also taking the Math IIC in the fall, so should I concentrate on doing well on *that* test, thus proving to the adcom that I can indeed do math, or should I still retake the SAT I and try to raise my score on the math section?

I'd much appreciate any advice/feedback. Thanks in advance!

By Spiffybrownboy (Spiffybrownboy) on Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 03:55 pm: Edit

Take the Math IIC. Don't waste time on your SAT I's, which are already excellent.

By Arora00 (Arora00) on Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 05:01 pm: Edit

If i were u. Id go watch some movies. I wouldnt even bother wasting my time on any of these tests. Wanna know why, because i were you id get into any college i wanted to.
Actually go ahead and do take MAth IIC, thats a requirement for Ivy's.

By Crypto86 (Crypto86) on Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 06:30 pm: Edit

I know this is off topic, but what is it like to be homeschooled? Please pardon me for being so ignorant on the subject, but do you have interaction with your peers? How do you do science labs and such? It has always interested me what the perspective of a homeschooler is.

By Arora00 (Arora00) on Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 07:24 pm: Edit

Thats a good question. I am wondering about the same thing now...

By Atticus (Atticus) on Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 08:47 pm: Edit

Hi guys,

Thanks for the responses. That's kind of what I wanted to hear; I really didn't want to take the SAT I again. ;-) Now to study for IIC...*shudder*...ah well, it will all be over soon enough.

Anyway, about being homeschooled...the experience is different for everyone since there are so many different styles of homeschooling--everything from the very strict "classical education" folks to the "unschoolers" who basically don't believe in any structured schooling. My family's style has been somewhere in between--you'd call it "eclectic"--but probably closer to the classical education end of the spectrum, especially as I've gotten older.

I've really enjoyed being homeschooled (I've been homeschooled my whole life, btw) mostly because of the flexibility it allows me. Like I said, as I've gotten older and into high school, I've transitioned to a more traditiional approach to school (Ap classes, the holy trinity of biology/chemistry/physics, etc.) but when I was younger, I was really free to pursue my own interests and projects, and I appreciated and benefited from that. If I was crazy about dinosaurs or astronomy or whatever, my parents let me just study that for a month, or if I was really into a book, they'd just let me read all day. And even though that's changed a little bit now, I still have more flexibility than I'd have in a public school...like I live near my state capitol, and I've become a tour guide there. Since during the school year they have tour groups of school kids at the capitol during school hours, I have the freedom to go give tours at 10:00 and just catch up on my school work later...something I obviously couldn't do if i went to a traditional school.

As for socialization, it is admittedly a little harder to meet ppl just because you aren't in a classroom with 30 other peers every day. But especially when you make a concerted effort to get out and do extracurricular activities--camps, scouts, whatever--it really isn't a problem meeting people. Also, where I live, there's a really vibrant and active homeschool community, which helps you meet other homeschoolers. The support group here puts on a graduation, junior/senior get-togethers, statewide testing, and a bunch of other stuff, so there are a lot of events where I've been able to meet my homeschooled peers.

And...oh yeah, science labs. I did bio at home with a textbook and went once a month to a co-op with several other homeschoolers where we did the dissections. We were led by a homeschool dad who is an assistant in a pathology lab, so he kind of guided us through the dissections, and then, like i said, i just did the reading and homework at home. And then for chem I took a correspondence course through the U of Nebraska, and they send you all the materials including the equipment for the labs. It wasn't as fancy as you'd probably get at a good HS, but it still counted as a lab...and since science really isn't my forte, I didn't care. :-) I know homeschoolers who are more into science that have taken classes w/ labs at the local public school, but I haven't done that.

Hehe...so that's my rather long summary of what homeschooling is like. Probably more than you wanted to know...sorry. ;-) Thanks again for the encouraging responses to my question.!