Preparing for admission to a top college is a daunting task. Letters of recommendation, transcripts, extracurricular activities—the check list is seemingly endless. If you’re a homeschooled student, you may wonder how you can effectively demonstrate these requirements from your particular educational setting. Luckily, there are several things you can do to stand out to top colleges as a homeschooled high school applicant.

Homeschooled students tend to make up a small percentage of incoming classes at Stanford, Princeton, and equivalent universities. But that doesn’t mean being a homeschooled student puts you at a disadvantage; rather, this likely indicates that many homeschooled applicants are not taking the right steps to prepare for T10 admission. But by presenting yourself the right way as a homeschooled applicant, you can be just as competitive as any other applicant—if not more so.

These schools aren’t looking for anything particularly different from homeschooled students. Just like high school students in traditional schooling, these universities still expect the whole package: a list of meaningful extracurricular activities, proof that students are challenging themselves academically, strong letters of recommendation, and a promising outlook on the future of their education. 

So what truly makes homeschooled students different, then?

In short, homeschooled students have a higher burden of proof in demonstrating excellence in the world around them. One of the greatest benefits of homeschooling compared to traditional schooling is that students maintain relatively higher flexibility in their curriculum and activities. Colleges love to see that you are using your unique opportunities as a homeschooled student to pursue your passion outside of your learning environment and actively seek ways to become a pillar of your community. 

So what specifically should you as a homeschooled student do? Consider the following!

‍Academics: Devise a Coherent Purpose for Your Education

You and your family should have a clear idea of why you are pursuing a homeschool education. Is it to travel more? Is it to gain hands-on experience in a particular field? Is it to fit better with your schedule?

In any case, college admissions will want to know why you embraced this path and why it works for you. You should think about your educational path as one that is unique to you and perfectly suited for your needs. Moreover, you want to be able to demonstrate how you’ve made the most of your homeschooling experience as a medium to deepen your academic interests. In other words, there’s no other educational style that could’ve served you better than homeschooling.

Once you’ve identified this reason and how you can maximize homeschool’s flexibility to your advantage—for example, by traveling across the world to learn a language or pursuing a research opportunity at a nearby university—your “story” that you share with university admissions will finally have the foundation it needs for a compelling college application.

Additionally, you’ll need to create a transcript that summarizes your educational experience. Without an external validator, universities might immediately view your transcript with skepticism. However, this can be overcome by keeping track of every source of support you use for your education (textbooks, external programs, etc.) and diligently recording how you are assessing yourself.

‍AP Exams and Dual Enrollment: A Great Idea to Get In-Person College Experience

When colleges review student applications, they must assess whether students have adequately proven themselves to be capable of the academic rigor of higher education. In high school, one of the most effective, time-tested ways to do this is by taking AP exams. As a homeschooled student, you should consider AP exams to be an essential part of your curriculum. On one hand, taking these exams gives colleges a firm data point (your score) they can use to assess the rigor of your homeschooled education. On the other hand, it shows that you are capable of a college-level curriculum.

This means homeschooled students should ideally be taking AP courses every year of high school, starting with even just one (such as Human Geography) in 9th grade and up to 4-6 in 12th grade. In 10th and 11th grade, students should consider 3-6 exams, progressively increasing their workload throughout high school. Aim for 5’s on as many exams as possible: again, you want to erase any potential skepticism about your preparedness for college-level academics, so high AP scores are critical.

To supplement your AP adventures, consider enrolling in a course or two at a nearby college as well. By taking courses at a local college, you’re showing that you are also just as capable of success in a traditional educational environment. You don’t want to leave university admissions with any doubt about your potential for success on their campus. In fact, you want to show that you can thrive at their institution, which is exactly why dual enrollment is so valuable.

You can take courses to try something new (maybe a subject you haven’t considered in your homeschool environment) or build upon your skills in core subjects. Either way, you want to excel and obtain a transcript that proves your aptness for a rigorous college education. Taking a course at a local college tells university admissions that your academic pursuits don’t finish at the end of the homeschool day; you’re pursuing them any chance you get.

‍Extracurriculars Activities as a Homeschooled Student: Do Something Meaningful

You should always aim to do something meaningful with your time, but this is especially true as a homeschooled student. Since universities assess applicants holistically, they expect students to have a well-rounded list of activities you’ve participated in outside of your classroom. As a homeschooled student, you have a unique opportunity to pursue activities fine-tuned to your own personal interests and goals. These may manifest themselves in the form of athletics, a community organization, research, or maybe even an organization you’ve founded. The opportunities are endless!

Your extracurricular strategy should focus on the following elements: what matters to me? How can I pursue these opportunities on a regular basis? Which opportunities truly go well with my academic goals? You want activities that you can meaningfully engage with and produce something of substance for your targeted community (perhaps that’s a team, nonprofit organization, or your city). You must demonstrate to colleges how you’ve made a lasting impact on the people around you with some clear evidence how you’ve done so. Use any flexibility you might have with your homeschool schedule to your advantage here.

The importance of extracurricular activities and summer programs don’t matter any less to homeschooled students than students in a traditional educational environment. The main difference here is that unlike students studying at an institution, homeschooled students don’t have the immediate external validation from a school to attest to your activities. As a result, you should be diligent about the activities you choose and how you record your involvement. There are college summer programs designed just for homeschooled students such as MIT’s HIP-SAT, and you should definitely consider applying to any of those formal programs that are relevant to your interests.

‍Test Scores

Yes, many schools nowadays claim to be test-optional, including Columbia and Princeton (until 2027 in the case of Princeton). But does that mean that’s a good option for homeschooled students? Unfortunately, not exactly. University admissions will apply extra scrutiny for homeschooled students’ academic curriculum, and high standardized test scores are one of the most powerful ways to show that you indeed are capable of the high academic standards these universities expect from their students.

‍Whether you take the SAT or ACT, you want to aim to be at least within the middle 50% of accepted test scores at a given university, if not within the top quartile. Not submitting a test score may raise questions about your academic preparedness for transition to a traditional college environment, so this should be a very important part of your application preparations.

‍Letters of Recommendation

Letters of recommendation carry great importance in homeschooled applicants’ profiles. As a homeschooled student, you should find at least three recommenders—not including anyone from your family—to vouch for your personal qualities and talents. These recommenders can be coaches, community college professors, or internship managers. The requirements for these letters don’t differ from traditionally educated students: you want these letters to truly show how you think, perceive the world, and exercise regular curiosity.

Building a relationship with a recommender is an important step to take throughout homeschooled high school. By the time you apply to college, you want your recommenders to genuinely know who you are and why you would be an excellent asset to your desired university.

Furthermore, you’ll need a counselor recommendation. Some colleges will allow your parents to be this person, but if possible, you should find someone else who can validate the strength of your academic transcript.

‍Engage in Regular Intellectual Exchange

Finally, it’s important to not overlook the importance of active intellectual exchange. College is an environment where academic discussion is everywhere, new ideas are constantly being formulated and critiqued, and peers are cooperating to deepen society’s knowledge across a variety of domains. All universities, especially today, aim to create a student body that knows how to work together for the greater good. They also want students who know how to disagree in a healthy way. Providing that you are precisely this type of person should be of paramount importance for homeschooled students throughout high school.

Homeschooled students can demonstrate this in a variety of ways: Schoolhouse Dialogues, a nearby debate league, or a club where they can exchange ideas with others. This might even be a coffee shop where the student has regular intellectual conversations with other customers. Ultimately, homeschooled applicants must demonstrate that they are ready to advance the marketplace of ideas in college because they already started doing so on a regular basis in high school.

‍Conclusion: The Homeschooler’s Unique Journey

In addition to all of the above recommendations, homeschooled students should also check whether their universities of interest have specific requirements for homeschooled applicants. Most universities have a webpage or blurb dedicated to advising homeschooled students on what they must present in their applications, so you should always refer to that guidance as the first stop in your college application journey. For example, check out Princeton’s, Columbia’s, and Stanford’s pages on homeschooling.

Homeschooling offers a unique, curated educational experience that gives students great potential in making an impact and preparing for university admission. Thinking about how to get started on your homeschooled applicant journey? AtomicMind stands ready to help you embark on it! 

About the Author: Dylan is a Head Advisor at AtomicMind based in Southern California. He graduated from Stanford University with a major in International Relations and a minor in French. His passion for learning and education shaped his current endeavor of helping students design their own unique path to college, which he does in addition to his hobbies of hiking, traveling, and reading.

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