Chance a homeschooler?

Colleges & Universities Cornell University
1

<p>I’m looking to apply to Cornell ILR School for Fall 2014. I plan on applying ED to increase my chances.
Sorry about the randomness, but it’s late and I’m not exactly sure what an Ivy League school might value. Here’s some specs:
-31 ACT
-Eagle Scout. Six hundred hour project.
-I played Herb in Godspell and Conrad Birdie in Bye Bye Birdie (Those are large roles for those who may not be theater savvy.)
-1.5 Years private vocal instruction
-3.5 Years private piano/guitar instruction
-I have won multiple awards for group and solo contemporary music performances at our local festival’s talent competition.
-I was in the 2012-2013 “edition” of the All-Ohio State Fair Youth Choir. This group is very selective and is known to put heavy consideration on personal character and not exclusively vocal talent.
-I’ve been employed as a computer technician at a local technology company for about a month and I plan on holding that job until I go to college. (I work about thirty hours a week)
-I help run retreats for multiple parishes in my diocese. I lead discussions and am a featured speaker.
-I have taken art classes for two years and have had my art work displayed in multiple local art shows and received honorable mention in one such show.
-I ran Cross Country this year. (No impressive times, just shows some well roundedness.)
-I am on our youth group’s leadership council.
-I was an assistant religious education instructor for three years.
-I also have LOADS of volunteer hours. I could endlessly list church/community projects I’ve helped with and multiple that I have led. </p>

<p>“Hey, QLegit! You didn’t list your GPA!”
There’s where it gets tricky. I’m home schooled and not like the online private/charter school homeschooled. I’m the we pick-our-own-books-study-what-we-want variety of homeschooled. I don’t have a GPA. I don’t have an official transcript. I don’t have a diploma. PERIOD. </p>

<p>What does this mean to Cornell? Does this make me unique? Does this make me an unlikely admissions choice?</p>

<p>Any thoughts on my admissibility with or without my education situation taken into account would be uber-appreciated.</p>

<p>EDIT: In all honesty I would compare my education to the following
4 Years English
4 Math (but only through trig)
4 Very advanced science classes (Physical Science, Biology, Chemistry Physics)
2 Italian
1 Spanish
1 Latin
4 History
4 Theology
3 Government
1 Sociology </p>

<p>Weird, but that’s what we homeschoolers do Haha.</p>

2

<p>You really should contact the admissions offices directly for the schools you are interested in. Your math program looks very weak to me. Do you feel you will be ready to study calculus in college? Anything below that would be considered remedial at a top school and I’m not sure whether top schools even offer high school level math classes. Also, your language program is weak. Many top colleges have a language requirement and prefer or require 3-4 years of the same language, plus a competency requirement (if you don’t have an appropriate supporting AP or SAT2 score you have to test out or take classes until you do). I’m assuming from your math program that you wouldn’t be going for an engineering major, so most likely you will have a language requirement. If I were you, I’d consider taking SAT2 and/or AP tests to give the schools a way to evaluate your achievements in specific subject areas since you don’t have grades. And see whether you can strengthen your math and foreign language programs.</p>

<p>One more thing–I wouldn’t consider any physics program that doesn’t use calculus to be “very advanced”.</p>