Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Homeschoolers and college admissions w/o tests

SAT subject tests have been abolished. Colleges have downplayed the importance of the SAT and ACT, with the University of California saying it won't even look at the scores. AP exams are given during the school day, and homeschoolers must rely on the good graces of the local public school district to take them. I think changes in college admissions practices will make it more difficult even for strong homeschooled students to get into selective colleges. This is unfortunate.

I think you make some good points, especially for homeschoolers who aren't in a position to make use of quality dual enrollment. We are fortunate to be in a state with better than average access to dual enrollment for homeschooled students (and others), including guaranteed transfer credit into state four-years when DE credits are taken at CCs. (I realize that doesn't translate to transfer credit to privates, but it does at least provide a marker of some kind of standard for those courses.) I suspect DE will become increasingly important for homeschoolers, in the absence of standardized testing. (Actually, it just pushes the standardized testing to the college/universities, where many of them use CB's placement exam suite, Accuplacer.)

Expanding access to AP courses and testing facilities for exams would be another solution, and might allow some homeschool students to integrate more seamlessly into their local school and, later, universities.

as I have found this year, with covid cancellations and trying to get alternative spots for DD, it is hard to get a spot sometimes.