Question: I have been homeschooling and I am about to enter high school. I want to know if a student who was home-schooled throughout high school and took AP courses and had many ECs and volunteer work would be at an equal advantage as someone who attended a private school? Does it matter what high school I attend? Will universities (Yale is the university I am concerned with) judge on that?

There is already a lot of advice for home-schooled students on College Confidential and in "Ask the Dean" as well.

Here are a few links that you might find helpful:

CC's HOME SCHOOLING AND COLLEGE forum: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/home-schooling-college/

ASK THE DEANS:

http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/cyber-schools-and-college-admissions

http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/000131.htm

http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/000065

Admission officials, even at the uber-selective schools like Yale, are always interested in applicants who have taken non-traditional paths, and this can include home-schooling, although it's certainly become more common than it used to be. (For home-schoolers, this is both good news and bad. It's good because there are now some protocols in place for evaluating such students. But it's bad news because home-schoolers aren't unique in applicant pools as they often used to be.)

It is incumbent on home-schooled applicants to provide proof that they have tackled demanding school work and are ready to do it at an even higher level in college. Thus, you should be prepared to furnish detailed information about the courses you took at home, text books you used (if any), books you read, research you did, etc. Test scores will also play a starring in role in most of your admissions verdicts because they will provide an objective way for admission committees to compare you with applicants from more usual academic backgrounds.

Applicants from public and private schools--as well as home-schooled students--are all on equal footing at decision time. There are definitely advantages and disadvantages to each route, but the pros and cons ultimately balance out ... at least more or less. (That's a subject that would require another 900,000 words!)

When you apply to college you will be evaluated in the context of whatever opportunities you have had. But, no matter where you spend your high school years, places like Yale will be looking for evidence of a highly rigorous high school curriculum as well as additional interests, talents, and accomplishments that will make you stand out in the crowd. A couple decades ago, being home-schooled was often enough to make a student stand out, but this is no longer true.

Be sure to follow the links above for additional information, and good luck as you make plans for your future.