Homeschool World Forum

[ChrisB]

Hi everyone. My name's Chris, I'm 18 and I've been homeschooled K-12 in Pennsylvania. I've just "graduated" this year, but I'm taking a year off and don't plan to go to college until next year, which would mean applying in December of this year. But, for most of my homeschooling life, even up till about 2 years ago, I was never planning on going to college, and my parents also did not think I would go to college. Now, I think my mom is so scared and disorganized - even though she is a college-graduate teacher - about the issue that every time I bring it up she tries to push it off... and... I think I'm doing the same thing.

I really have no idea what to do. I don't have my GED yet, and while that looks easy enough to get, I'm extremely worried about the SATs, and I don't know how I'm going to be able to prepare and study enough to get everything in order by the end of the year.

I don't even know where to start. I'm interested in linguistics, and so far the only places I can tell that even have linguistics in my area are Penn State and UPenn. Penn State has to be the option, since I'm not moving away from home - not yet, at least. But, I can't even tell if they offer a full major in linguistics, and if my local campus (Berks) even offers the first two years at all. Who in the world can I talk to about this?

Also, I've been trying to find information on the GED, but I've been unsuccessful. Are there set test dates, and if so, when?

A huge thank-you to anyone who can help me. This past year has really been hard on me, and I've felt depressed and lethargic the entire time. I just really don't know what to do. Every time I talk to my mom, she just tries to shrug it off and wait, and even though we've always had a great relationship, I can't rely on her to be my vehicle to get to college. She doesn't know what to do, and neither do I, really, and we're both worried I screwed up my life by not completing the last couple years at a public school. I'm so upset there's no homeschool guidance counselor in this school district.

[mschickie]

HI Chris

I did a little poking an found this site that might help
http://home.comcast.net/~askpauline/hs/homeschoolhighschool.html

It looks like according to the ed. dept a homeschool diploma should be accepted but then again some schools might not recognize it. One option is going to your local community college for a year. You would then be eligable fo a commonwealth diploma, it would also be cheaper than going to a four year school. If you do it this way then you do not even have to worry about taking the GED which does have a stigma to it.

Hope this helps a little.

[Theodore]

The GED is officially accepted for high school graduation, but not necessarily respected a whole lot. It's better to cover the subject matter required for official graduation in your state through a combination of portfolio, testing (AP, CLEP), and community college courses. And it's also a lot cheaper to do your first two years of college through community college and transfer your credits to a four-year college for the last two years of advance study.
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[HSCollegeGuide]

Chris,

You should contact the Penn State admissions office at http://admissions.psu.edu to find out what documentation they will require. Most likely they'll need a copy of your highschool transcripts (did you guys keep accurate records of these?) and standardized test scores, ACT, SAT, etc. If you haven't taken either of these tests yet, check out http://grockit.com/, as they offer free preparation materials.

I'm a college admissions counselor who specializes in home schooled students, so if you have any questions, please ask!
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