Planning and communication are key to making sure you present the best picture of your education and college readiness.
High school experiences don’t always look the same. There are ever more options for students to attend schools with unique approaches to learning, including homeschools, microschools and online schools.
The National Home Education Research Institute – an Oregon-based organization focused on researching and sharing homeschool data – estimates that 5.56% of students were homeschooled in 2021-2022. The institute notes that the data is challenging to collect, as homeschool parents may not reliably respond to surveys.
Flexible arrangements associated with homeschooling might also mean that students are still connected to their school districts for certain classes, or attending microschools or other programs some of the time.
Applying to college with a nontraditional high school degree can come with unique challenges. But with planning and communication with their adult educators, students from nontraditional academic backgrounds can boost their chances of gaining admission to college.
What Colleges Look For
Mark Moffitt, executive director of admission at Otterbein University in Ohio, says admissions officers look for academic achievement, personal experience and fit for the institution as they review applications.
“We feel that the students’ academic record is going to give us the best understanding of success in our classrooms,” he says. “Whether they’re homeschooled or at their local high school, we’re looking at the types of classes they’re taking, the experiences that they’re taking away from those classes, their overall grades. … We’re also looking at their progression through those classes.”
Programs that allow students to receive high school and college credit at the same time are a common way for students from nontraditional high schools to demonstrate college readiness. Moffitt says Otterbein sees some homeschool students applying with a year of college credit under their belts.
“That’s really giving us a great understanding of what they’re taking away in their homeschool courses and what kinds of success that they’re having in the college classroom,” he says.
Many nontraditional students enroll in alternative programs because of other commitments, according to Phylicia Littleton, a college and career counseling expert at Connections Academy, a tuition-free, accredited, online K-12 public school.
“We have some students that are running their own businesses,” she says. “We have students that are CEOs.
Student athletes and families that move or travel a lot are also frequent participants in these programs, she says. “The learning platform that we have for students provides them the flexibility to exercise those skills now.”
It’s important for applicants to talk about these experiences in a way that will break through the review process, Littleton says, particularly because admissions professionals are increasingly incorporating artificial intelligence into application reviews. Recent research published in Intelligent.com, a website for students focused on college admissions and planning, indicates that about 80% of higher education institutions anticipate using AI in admissions by 2024.
“They’re looking for certain keywords when they’re reviewing college applications, when they’re reviewing transcripts and they’re reviewing personal essays of students,” she says.
Highlighting unique skills and experiences including soft skills like time management, experience using online learning platforms and initiating discussions with teachers can help nontraditional students stand out.
More Tips for College Applicants from Nontraditional Educational Backgrounds
Many university admissions websites have resources for nontraditional applicants, notes Jill Haskins, a teacher at Streams of Hope Christian Academy, a microschool in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the Indiana field coordinator of the National Microschooling Center.
“If you get on their admissions sites, a lot of them have homeschool requirements now,” she says.
Although many schools, including Otterbein, changed their admissions requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic to eliminate standardized testing requirements, Haskins says these tests can be an important metric to show that students from nontraditional schools are prepared for college-level work.
Haskins also notes the value of college credit plus programs—including the money they can save families— and has supported several dually enrolled students. Micah Gilliom, one of her former students and a sophomore at Huntington University in Indiana, says he was able to double major thanks to his college credit plus experience.
“I probably wouldn’t be able to dual major if I didn’t bring in some credits beforehand,” he says.
Moffitt recommends that college applicants use the admissions essay to “allow admission teams to gain an understanding of who they are, and where they wanna be.” Admission teams consider candidates holistically, looking also at coursework, extracurricular activities and other experiences, he says, adding that some homeschool students have provided detailed portfolios of their work while others have shown more traditional transcripts.
As long as the results are clear, many colleges are open to seeing academic achievements in a variety of formats.
Carefully documenting academic records is crucial, particularly if the program is unaccredited. Although Haskins generally follows the Indiana core curriculum with her students, some universities have wanted more information than a high school transcript in order to understand what students are learning.
In one case, Haskins recalls, “It took a little bit more legwork for me on the back end of things just to make sure I had course descriptions.” She even provided ISBN numbers of the books she had assigned. “I wanted to prove and show them without a doubt that we provided a rigorous curriculum that prepared them for college.”
How to Find the Right College When You’re in a Nontraditional High School
Littleton says high school students learning in nontraditional environments should use all available tools to organize and plan their next steps. Connections Academy offers resources to help students develop resumes, create four-year learning and graduations plans, and track their progress.
Gilliom suggests taking advantage of the flexibility many nontraditional schools offer, noting he used portions of his school day to work on scholarship applications.
This flexibility can support another step that Moffitt recommends: visiting colleges and talking to faculty and students. Campus visits help applicants “gain an understanding of the institutions that they’re interested in and the opportunities that they’re going to have,” he says.
In turn, experts say, this helps prospective college students make the decision that’s right for them, no matter where they went to high school.