Helping Colleges Understand Your Education
Feb 5, 2006
Author: Aaron Basko
The young woman followed me from the reception area up the stairs to my office. I could tell she was nervous. She was dressed in interview clothes, pressed and neutral-colored. She sat down in one of the rigid wooden chairs that bore the College’s seal as I thought of how I could help put her at ease.
“Thank you for coming in for an interview today,” I started. “I know that interviews can be intimidating, but I want this to be an information exchange. First, I hope I can answer questions for you about what the College has to offer, but I would also like to learn a little about you. If you apply to the College, I will represent you, and I want to do a great job. So I guess I should say, help me help you.”
She smiled.
I have been an admission officer for two colleges. At both, I served in some capacity as a “homeschool liaison.” This is not a common title, nor is it a common function in the admission field, but with a little nudge both colleges decided that homeschoolers were a group that we should reach out to and embrace. Both started out wary, but warmed up to the idea.
For many years, homeschoolers were considered a risk that many colleges were unwilling to take. But a cohort of strong homeschoolers from the last decade, coupled with a more competitive market, has changed the minds of many admission directors. Jenny, the girl sitting in my office, benefited from those changes.
Jenny and I began the interview talking about what attracted her to this college. Was it similar to other colleges on her list? What kind of experience did she hope it would provide for her? We talked about possible majors. Jenny was unsure, but leaning toward something in the sciences. I gave her an overview of these programs, then we moved on to the heart of the interview – Jenny’s background and preparation for college.
As a homeschool liaison, I represented the College as an interviewer and application evaluator, but I also provided elements of college counseling that many homeschool students do not get in order to level the playing field in our process. In Jenny’s case, that meant advising her that her three goals in pursuing admission to selective colleges were to translate, quantify, and differentiate. Jenny looked like I had just handed her a pop-quiz.
“O.K. Jenny, let’s start with translating. You said you are interested in the sciences. What have you studied in that area?”
“Well,” she began hesitantly, “we sort of covered a lot of topics. We did a couple of units on plant life, then classifications of animals. I did chemical experiments, but we also did some experiential learning with visits to a local greenhouse and ecology studies at a river. My mom also had me design and build model structures.”
“Good,” I said. “It is important to understand that most colleges are not going to know what to make of that kind of work. Admission people get nervous when they don’t understand the learning context. You will need to help translate your experience into something they can understand and use to compare you with other students.”
“How do I do that?”
“Start by designing a transcript. Set it up chronologically, so that someone reading it can tell what you have done each year. Then categorize your learning experiences in a way that reflects classic disciplines. For example, it sounds like in your first year at the high school level you may have covered topics in Biology and Chemistry. Divide them up and record both of those subject areas as classes. List particular areas of study – botany, classifications, etc. – as subtopics. Since your mom was your primary instructor, she may want to list the goals she had for each “class” or area of inquiry, as well as what texts you used. If she is comfortable assigning a grade, that’s great. If not, she should include a brief assessment of how well you achieved the desired goals. Your ‘transcript’ may end up looking more like a resume, but it will be clear to an evaluator what you covered.”
“I think I understand,” Jenny replied. “Since admission counselors are used to a structured format, I should create one?”
“Yes. The goal is to present your experience in an organized, easy to read format. You want a reader to move quickly and easily through your application, without having to dig for information or guess.”
“O.K., so what about quantifying?” She asked
“Well, I’m glad you asked,” I laughed. “The biggest concern that application reviewers have with homeschool applicants is that the work looks subjective. Some parents evaluate their homechooled children very objectively. Others do not. You won’t have a class rank, you may not have a GPA, and your courses are not easy to compare to those of other applicants. The responsibility falls on you to give the reviewer footholds to use in presenting your application.”
“How do I do that?”
“You provide objective information. Start with standardized test scores. They can be a homeschooler’s greatest weapons. Scores give colleges a measure they can use for all students. Since homeschoolers are missing other objective measures, colleges often doubly weight standardized scores, and good scores are a must for scholarship consideration. Fortunately, homeschoolers frequently score well on standardized tests. Homeschooling parents often hold their children to higher standards in vocabulary and basic math skills – the very skills that tests like the SAT and ACT demand. Take a couple of tests. If you don’t have great scores the first time, there are plenty of resources to help you. Buy a book and work it into your lesson plans, then take them again.”
“I did O.K. on my first set of tests this spring, but I think I will plan to take them again this fall to try to raise my score. Are there other ways for me to make my application objective?”
“There are,” I replied. “Just look for opportunities where an outside party can verify your talents and abilities. This could include taking Advanced Placement courses or enrolling in a course at a college. You could also ask a local teacher or professor to supervise a unit, or even a couple of experiments, for you. Shadow someone, work on a research project, or enter a science competition. At the very least, make sure that the people who write your recommendations will be seen as objective sources.”
Jenny was warming up. She sat at the edge of her seat, furiously writing in her notebook. She did not look nervous at all now. She finished writing a sentence and looked up. “But there is still one more thing?”
I nodded, “Differentiating. Want to take a guess at what I mean by that?”
“I guess from the last two points it would mean explaining why my education background is different.”
“Yes, but not just different, better. The admission committees that decide on your application will want to know why your family chose to homeschool, and why you think homeschooling is a good education. Give them the information they need up front. Tell them why your education is better than most traditional school experiences. Give them examples. Once again you have the advantage because homeschooling offers the flexibility to have very unusual experiences as part of a lesson. Do you have any examples you could use to show how homeschooling has been an advantage?”
“I think I do,” she said with another smile, this one with confidence.
Jenny did, indeed, have some unique experiences to differentiate herself. She shared a few of them with me on the day of her interview, but she also saved a few for her application, which she sent a few months later. When she applied, she wrote about performing surgery on a wounded animal using an anatomy textbook. She wrote about a short-term “apprenticeship” she set up with a local artist, and about how she used a combination of pure homeschooling and a resource school for homeschoolers to get the education and leadership experience she wanted. She took several Advanced Placement course, and got her scores a little above the College’s average. Jenny’s mom sent in a very structured transcript, with one of the most thorough reading lists I have ever seen. As her chief instructor, Jenny’s mom submitted a recommendation that was articulate and very objective in describing Jenny’s abilities, motivation, and opportunities for growth.
I was excited to present Jenny’s application to the admission committee. I highlighted her accomplishments, and spoke about our interview and the contact we had had since. The admission committee members responded positively to her application. They could see my enthusiasm for this candidate, and they were stunned by some of the unusual experiences Jenny described. They were comfortable with the objective pieces of her application, and intrigued by the subjective ones. Jenny was admitted.
Now it was my turn to smile.
Aaron Basko heads Educational Advising Ministries, a service that provides college and career planning resources, curriculum, and advising for Christian families (www.edvising.net/eam). Aaron has served as an admission officer and homeschool liaison for two colleges, and has provided college and career prep presentations and articles for a variety of organizations. He lives with his family in Lancaster, PA.
Aaron Basko
323 Powell Drive
Lancaster, PA 17601
717-581-7835
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