I spoke to a Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at NYU. There is actually an admissions director who handles only homeschool student applications, but she was not available. The SADA was happy to answer my questions in her stead.
New York University received 35,000 applications for 4,500 freshman places. The national average is 28% acceptance. The SADA believes that approximately 100 applicants this year were homeschooled applicants. Of those 100 applicants, about three or four will matriculate.
The SADA's take on the low matriculation rate: "NYU is probably not a great match for homeschooled students, since most who apply have been taught One-on-One or belong to a [small] association. In this case, we have 18,000 undergraduates [making NYU not the best match]."
Note: NYU is not a centralized campus school, but primarily utilizes already-existing space and architecture in the City for its colleges and classrooms, and the University continues to acquire more property to expand its academics. The University, then, spans the West Village to the East Village, SoHo, and other NYC locations.
The SADA recommends a homeschooled student taking as many SAT II subject tests as is possible before applying. Private and public NYU applicants typically take two SAT IIs. Again, the SADA recommends as many subject tests as the homeschooled student can possibly take to demonstrate academic ability.
Portfolios are accepted only if required into the applicant's undergraduate program or college.
Grades are not necessary, but sending in your curriculum is not enough. A prose evaluation can be provided in lieu of grades. The SADA did mention that several private schools ONLY provide prose evaluations, which are sent to NYU admissions directors, and which the directors use to make their acceptance decisions. The SADA lamented that some students only send their curricula, believing that that is enough. For NYU (and LaMai believes, everywhere else), grade or prose evaluations are necessary.
The SADA also says:
"Just as we would require grades from traditional high school students from grades 9-11, including the list of classes they are taking in their senior year, we would also want to see each year of progress from home schooled students. A significant portion of our evaluation for all students is based on grade trends--for example, is the student improving, declining, or remaining consistent in their performance. Having grades or evaluations just from one year, or overall from the entire 4 years does not allow us to gather that information."
2 comments:
How would a college compare an evaluation from a teacher to an evaluation from a...mother??
The NYU thing is an interesting phenomenon in itself. Until fairly recently NYU was considered a "B" college. Now it's one of the most popular places to apply to. I don't know how that corresponds to its actual academic standing. Its popularity seems (from what I've read, and what seems plausible) to be more a "hey, it would be so cool to go to college in the East Village of New York City!").
On the other hand, as an overprotective mother, I would be thrilled if my son were to go to college five minutes away from our apartment. (and I guess I DO think it's cool to hang out in the East Village, since that's what we've chosen to do).
Typically, universities understand that the parent is the primary teacher for homeschoolers and expect to receive evaluative reports from the parent. However, judging from other colleges and universities who I have surveyed, they do prefer additional evaluations from other teachers/professors.
Additional SAT II scores may prevent any potential parental grading bias.
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