So your kiddo is ready to go from homeschool to college? Here are 8 things you need to do as you take the next step.

College isn’t the only next step after high school. But by fifth or sixth grade, it seemed pretty certain that our oldest would go that direction. As high school approached & she initiated college searching, it was quickly apparent that college was far, far different than it was when I went.

Add in the homeschool element and the entire college application process was a bit of a shock to me. It was definitely a case of ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’.

The CommonApp is your BFF.

Put down the blue or black pen and your pack of stamps. College applications are all online. And gone are the days of writing your name, address, and other vitals on multiple applications. The CommonApp is now the preferred way of applying for about 900 schools.

But what is it? It’s one site that your student uses to submit applications to many colleges. All those basic details are only entered once, the other details & questions may vary by school. But once they are filled out, your teen can use the answers again & again & again.

Even college essays can be used over & over.

A few things to know about the Common Application

1. As a homeschool, you are the college counselor. And that means you get to do all of the counselor stuff. In addition to transcripts & course descriptions, you’ll also need to write a school profile, a counselor’s letter of recommendation, and fill out the rest of the application.
2. Once your kiddo sets up a profile, they invite you to join their profile as a Counselor. The request will come through your e-mail & your account will become a counselor account.
3. Every August 1, the Common App puts on it’s new school clothes & readies itself for another school year. Some information your teen has already entered will stay put, but not everything. Before August 1, skip entering anything in the writing tab, the My Colleges tab, and anything involving the Recommenders (that’s you, Mom).

(Fearless Homeschoolers is a fantastic resource for guiding you through filling out the CommonApp.)

Some schools have special requirements for homeschoolers.

ACT/SAT may be required. Your student may have to write an essay or include a book log from high school. While it’s not as common as it was in the past, some colleges still set requirements that differ from those students coming from a traditional school.

When you go to a college’s freshman/entrance requirements page, you should see a section for homeschoolers. If you don’t see anything, contact the admissions office. No one wants a SURPRISE! during the application process. Every school we worked with even had a college admissions counselor just for homeschool families.

Your child can create a Common App account as a freshman.

And I’d suggest it, sophomore year at the latest.

This gives both of you plenty of time to get familiar with it — see the writing prompts, learn to navigate it, and explore all the resources — without the time pressure hanging over your head.

In your teen’s account, they can also explore colleges, practice for the SAT, & search for scholarships.

Junior year, use college essay writing as an English assignment.

Common app prompts don’t change. And many schools cycle through the same prompts every few years.

Use that to your advantage & incorporate those prompts into their junior year English course. If your kiddo works on them throughout their junior year, they can end the year with a few essays that are edited & ready for last-minute tweaking.

(Warning: Some schools use essay prompts other than the CommonApp ones. So, even with an essay already written, they may still need to write another one.)

Even if the prompt does change, your student will already have extensive practice writing a strong college essay.

(During my kiddo’s sophomore year, we used old scholarship essay prompts to “get the wheels turning.” One piece a month improved her speed & ability to get creative in her writing.)

Pace the college search.

It’s exciting to look at the next step. The college world is different & it’s fun to daydream.

For homeschool families, college searching has an added level of awe to it since it’s probably the first or second school they’ll ever attend.

It’s also exhausting. College websites begin to look the same & their names all sound the same.

As decision time looms, it’s a lot less fun. What is already a big decision now becomes a big decision amongst schools that all look like shades of navy blue.

Is SAT/ACT something your student wants to do?

One upside of COVID is that it sped up many colleges’ rejection of SAT/ACT.

(Nearly 2000 committed to it for 2022-23 admissions!)

And that’s a massive relief for many teens — those who don’t want to invest the time in learning to test & those who don’t test well.

Following the norm, my daughter started preparing her sophomore year. She worked diligently until she tested over the winter of her junior year. And her scores were not at all where she hoped.

So she had a decision to make — commit to choosing a college that went test-optional or commit to a class/tutor & try to raise her score. She ultimately decided to choose a test-optional school & wishes she had made the decision sooner.

So starting in 9th grade, begin the discussion with your teen.

Make the most of summertime.

The summer before her senior year, we looked at colleges — in-person & online — but we didn’t know that we should be doing anything else. I won’t make that mistake with Kiddo #2.

Working ahead during the summer is especially important if your teen plans to apply using Early Decision or Early Action. (The deadlines for these can be as early as November 1.)

So what should you do?

• Open up a FAFSA account & become familiar with it.
• Make a list of what info you’ll need to complete your FAFSA when it opens on October 1. (Hint: If you haven’t filed your taxes yet, get that done ASAP.)

• Mama, all of the counselor paperwork you need to do– with the exception of course descriptions & transcripts — can be completed during their last summer. (But don’t forget — the app resets on August 1. Get it all ready, but wait until then to upload it.)
• Still have course descriptions left to write? Get them done. And make sure your teen’s transcripts are updated. The more you do now, the better off you’ll be when it’s crunch time.