Lucouno,
This is an article about it. The Home School Legal Defense Association has the full report.
Homeschool College Success
by Tammy Drennan
A new study, reports Home School Legal Defense Association � Exploring Academic Outcomes of Homeschooled Students,* by Michael F. Cogan shows that homeschoolers are not just succeeding in college, they�re continuing their above-average tradition.
Consider this:
o Homeschoolers scored higher on the ACT (26.5) compared with the overall student body (25).
o Homeschoolers earned more college credit (14.7) prior to their freshman year compared to the student body (6).
o Homeschooled students earned a higher fall semester GPA (3.37) when compared to other freshman students (3.08).
o Homeschooled students earned a higher first-year GPA (3.41) when compared to other freshman students (3.12).
o Homeschooled students earned a higher fourth-year GPA (3.46) when compared to other freshman students who completed their fourth year (3.16).
The evidence for independent education just keeps mounting. The evidence damning education by the state also keeps mounting.
As the state gasps and grasps, we must all help to keep the option of freedom before parents. If they don�t know it can work, if they don�t know how many others are doing it, they can�t make the choice.
* http://i.bnet.com/blogs/homeschool.pdf?tag=content%3Bcol1
Thank you very much. While I'm not pooh-poohing the study, I think it's important to think carefully about what these statistics show-- they are only for the
University of St. Thomas, and obviously only for college admittees. The four-year completion rate for homeschoolers in the study is only 66%, for example, wherease for a top-tier university I'd expect to see it much higher. I also think it's likely that a lot of the study sample will have chosen that particular college for religious reasons, and it's possible that a particular religious viewpoint might boost one in the college admissions process (I am a complete know-nothing about such criteria for admission at religous institutions, though).
How much of this extrapolates to information about barriers facing homeschooled PG kids applying to top universities? It's hard to know. It's obvious that a properly motivated, properly prepared PG student shouldn't be lumped in with the ordinary students in considering these sorts of questions (so one may assume, for example, that a properly motivated PG student applying to St. Thomas would do quite well and do better even than those aggregate stats), and it's also true that some get into top universities. I'd also guess that homeschooling of PG kids is on the rise.
I would think that it's especially important to focus on resume building sorts of activities for a homeschooled child, especially one who is homeschooled to the end of high school. I'd also guess that some top universities are more open to homeschooled applicants than others. ETA: I noticed that the homeschooled kids had many more transfer credits than average.
