<p>Hi Leal – </p>
<p>the biggest problem with homeschooling in high school is that there is no standard way to do it – there are as many ways to homeschool as there are homeschooling students! that is the great thing about it, but it makes it difficult for admissions people to evaluate these students against what they are used to looking at.</p>
<p>A few things I have learned (my son is not in college yet, but he does take lots of college classes)
– there is usually only one person in the admissions department that is familiar with homeschoolers and that is the only person you can really speak with. The person who answers the phone is generally clueless.
– you do not have to submit the same transcript to every college. You could submit his high school transcript with the CC classes listed as high school classes to the private and a totally different package to UT. As long as you don’t make up stuff, you are fine. there isn’t a national clearing house regarding this
–if you are positive you son wants the UT experience, then it sounds like you are headed in the right direction. But if you think he might benefit from something else, you might start looking around at other options.
– as far as your disappointment in the admissions office at the smaller school, I think you have very unrealistic expectations regarding what flexibility they have in admitting students. They answer to the college president and other departments and have rules regarding admitting students. Although your son sounds great and very accomplished, to be honest – he sounds very much like other competitive homeschoolers. many, many homeschoolers take college classes early and do well, participate in activities and hold down jobs. Many regular high school kids do too. Expecting them to interview him and accept him based on that interview doesn’t make sense to me. If he is interested in applying, why not take the SAT and submit a transcript – it isn’t that difficult. </p>
<p>My son is interested in selective colleges and he wants the four year experience – he will submit his college transcripts, but does not expect any credits to transfer (and he will have a ton). He is hoping to place out of some basic courses, but if he doesn’t, he is ok with that. He knows what he wants and he is planning accordingly.</p>