Homeschooled mids?

isthisusernametaken

isthisusernametaken

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May 22, 2020
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Hey everyone! I've been lurking around this forum for a while, but this is my first post.
I'm homeschooled (currently in 10th grade) and have had a pretty difficult time finding anything about homeschoolers applying/going to USNA other than this page: https://www.usna.edu/Admissions/Apply/Home-Schooled-Candidates.php
Do any of you have experience with or advice for that process (things to avoid or any ways I could use it to my advantage)?

Thank you!
 
I’m a BGO and had a homeschooled candidate. Although he didn’t get an appointment to USNA, he did get one to USAFA. He graduated from all high school responsibilities after his third year and loaded up on community college credits, particularly STEM classes.
 
I didn't apply to USNA, but I am a appointee to USAFA who was homeschooled my whole life. I also have many friends who have also received appointments to various SAs. I think for the most part, the same advice applies to homeschoolers. Do well on the ACT/SAT, take challenging courses, prepare hard for the CFA, find extracurriculars that you are passionate about and try to earn leadership positions: these are all pretty much the same.

As a homeschooler, one of the best ways to show you are academically competitive is taking duel-enrollment classes at your local community college; this will help prove you can handle a college level workload, and may even give you validation credit for several classes if you get an appointment. The ACT/SAT is also an important way to show you are competitive academically since they are standardized tests.

I know for many homeschoolers, sports can be a little tricky. It's great if you can get on a team sport, but I wasn't and still got an appointment; you just need to be aware you might need to make up for it in other ways. This will come primarily in the form of extracurriculars (to show leadership) and the CFA (to prove your athletic aptitude). JROTCs are typically school-bound but Civil Air Patrol is a great option to get a feel for the military world.

When it comes to the application itself, especially the nomination process, take some time and prepare for the interviews. Try to anticipate the most common questions you may be asked (Why do you want to serve? Why the Navy?) and start practicing your responses. Depending on where you live, you may have some people on your panel who have some homeschooler stereotypes in their minds (anti-social, introvert, etc), so having clear, confident, and well delivered responses can definitely help challenge these.

When you get to 5 posts, feel free to DM me if you have any questions. Good luck!
 
My son was homeschooled all the way through and he has accepted an appointment to the USNA class of '24.
I agree with the above, some local college classes, especially lab sciences or calculus will help show you are ready for the workload.
We also happen to live in an area where he was able to play sports for the local high school. He took full advantage of that and all the travel for games was manageable because of his flexibility. If you can do that, I highly recommend it.
Feel free to DM me when you can.
 
Our DS was also homeschooled; he just graduated and Commissioned Class of 2020 from USNA. Good advice above and in addition work on EC's as well. All the other menu items and drop downs on the USNA website are also relevant; good information even though not specific to homeschoolers, they outline what they are looking for. DM if further questions.
 
The below was info needed for transcript


“Transcript: Home schooled students must provide a transcript and, as a minimum, the transcript must include the following academic information:
Course/Class title
  • Length of course and date completed
  • Grade and Grading scale
  • Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA)
  • Curriculum/Course description***
  • Text/materials used***
*** This means you will need to provide with your transcript a brief synopsis of all courses taken 9th-12th grade and a list of all reference material used including edition numbers.
“
 
My MIDN has been sort of homeschooled since Spring Break. ;)
 
Now imagine having to choose the right curriculum, motivate, discipline and hand out low grades when necessary. Multiply times 12 years, mix in hormones and normal parent stuff and you have quite a journey! We loved it, would not trade it, but whew! 🥴🥰

Glad to see some homeschool kids are at the other end of the journey. The rest of my job is mostly prayer.
 
I have had quite a few home school candidates. Some have been with home school consortiums and others not. I would say those that are 100% home school where you are 1/1 and your parents are writing your teacher evals... outside LORs, BGO interview and standardized tests will play big parts in things. If you have the opportunity for dual enrollment an eval from those profs is huge. Some places let home school students participate in sports and ECAs. If they do and you participate great. Opportunities for outside LORs and other things. If not, your outside LORs and explaining what you participate in, leadership experiences, CFA scores, etc, to your BGO will be very important.
 
My DS is entering with the class of 2024 and has been homeschooled since kindergarten. (My husband and I are also both SA grads, so we had an idea of what would be important to USNA and tried to emphasize those things). I would say the advice above is good. I especially think preparing for the SAT/ACT and earning the best scores that you can is important. That will justify the grades you have. The dual credit courses available to us were subpar in my opinion, so I chose not to send my son to the local community college. (All courses, including calc and chemistry were 7 week courses, and the instructors themselves agreed that the pace was too fast for adequate learning). If that is the case by you, consider taking AP classes from a place like Pennsylvania Homeschoolers and then take the exam. You can also get college board approval to teach an AP class yourself if you have the background to do it. I taught my DS AP Calc AB and BC myself. By the time he applied, he had AP exam scores for chemistry and both calc classes to submit with his transcript.

Sports are definitely important, so I would not overlook that area. Although some kids might get in without them, that is a real risk. My kids are allowed to play for the public high school, so that made it pretty easy. He is also a club soccer player and had his coach send in a letter of rec for him (in addition to the teachers' recs--one of which I had to write myself, which was interesting). If you are at all able, be excellent at your sport. They automatically seem to give more credit to varsity sports, but captain of a club team, participating at high levels, etc. will only help you out.

Please feel free to PM me if you want more help/ideas.
 
mld99 said:
Sports are definitely important, so I would not overlook that area. Although some kids might get in without them, that is a real risk.
Click to expand...
Agree 100%. If you are not allowed to play for a public school, contact private schools and ask if they allow homeschoolers to participate in sports. Many are looking for a good athlete to add to their teams.
 
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