Although the modern home schooling movement began two or three decades ago, only recently have significant numbers of home schoolers reached college-age and attracted attention at countless colleges and universities across the nation.
In many prestigious institutions, home schoolers are accepted at higher rates than other students. Dr. Raymond Moore reports that "universities such as Cornell, Harvard, John Hopkins, Yale and Stanford award scholarships out of proportion to home schooling numbers.
"Fifteen home-schooled students applied for admission to Stanford last year; four were admitted and joined the 1999-2000 freshman class. This amounts to a 27 percent acceptance rate for home-schoolers, nearly double the overall acceptance rate. This year Stanford has 36 home-schooled applicants, but because the Admissions Office has not finished the admission process, the acceptance rate is still unknown." (The Stanford Daily, Feb. 22, 2000). Harvard receives approximately 30 applications each year from home schooled students out of 18,000 applications.
Jon Reider, senior associate director of admission at Stanford University, states that because of the lack of quantitative information, test scores play a large role in Stanford's evaluation of these students. It also helps if the students have attended community college courses or have had tutors who can give perspectives different from those of the applicant's. (The Stanford Daily, Feb. 22, 2000).
In regard to home schooler's college entrance test scores, The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 11, 2000, reports that home schoolers for the last three years have scored "an average 22.7 on the ACT compared with 21 for their more traditional peers on a scale of one to 36. Home schoolers scored 23.4 in English, well above the 20.5 national average; and 24.4 in reading, compared with a mean of 21.4. The gap was closer in science (21.9 vs. 21.0) and home-schoolers scored below the national average in math, 20.4 to 20.7.
"On the SAT, which began its tracking last year, home-schoolers scored an average 1,083 (verbal 548, math 535), 67 points above the national average of 1,016. Similarly, on the 10 SAT2 achievement tests most frequently taken by home-schoolers, they surpassed the national average on nine, including writing, physics and French."
While home schooled college freshman have a higher-than-average grade-point average, they also show superior leadership qualities. "At Kennesaw State (Georgia), both the president and the vice president of the student government were educated at home. The president, John M. Fuchko III, whose mother began teaching him after he was labeled hyperactive in kindergarten, says home-schoolers will change college as much as college changes them. He predicts that they will pressure college to individualize instruction and stop insisting on survey courses as prerequisites for more advanced studies. 'In home-schooling, you don't have to sit for half a year studying something you already know', says the 22-year-old senior. 'If you're prepared to go to the next level, you take it to the next level. Home-schooling breeds enterprising people.'" (The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 11, 2000).
Maralee Mayberry, chairwoman of the sociology department at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas points to research showing that the key elements in effective education are small class size, individualized instruction, and a disciplined, nurturing environment—all characteristics of home-schooling.
A survey by the National Center for Home Education found that 68% of colleges now accept transcripts or portfolios prepared by parents in place of an accredited diploma. Arkansas colleges and universities are slowly following that trend. While a few still demand an accredited diploma or GED, many colleges are accepting other documentation. Colleges with little experience with home schoolers tend to be more cautious and unbending, but as they accept more home schoolers and observe their performance, many times they begin soliciting home school students.
Last updated: 05/25/2000
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