Last fall, I applied to eight colleges, three of them in Pennsylvania. If York College had a physics program, I would have considered applying there also - but I wouldn't have looked forward to the application process.
Why?
Because I'm home-schooled.
In the experience of myself and home-school families throughout York County, York College often has a bad attitude toward home-school students.
Home-school student Zachary Unger applied to York College last fall. Unger said he submitted his application along with everything the application said to send but later received a letter from York College listing extra requirements for home-school students.
"They were requiring me to jump through a lot of hoops to get in," Unger said.
One of those requirements was a syllabus: "They wanted a detailed description of every class I took and what happened every week of the class, which I obviously don't have."
Zachary's mom, Andrea Unger, said, "(York College) wasn't willing to budge on the syllabus. We had detailed course descriptions, but we were told that wouldn't be good enough." She sent an e-mail about her situation to families in the York Homeschool Association and said she "got a lot of response from parents who went through the same thing we did."
Danielle Cunningham, who decided to home school her senior year, planned on going to York College this fall.
Her father, Darryl Cunningham, said, "The lady at admissions was put off by home schooling. It was like they assumed home-schoolers weren't doing quality work."
Cunningham said a York College representative asked Danielle, "Why would you give up your senior year of (public) school?"
"Danielle was discouraged enough to apply to Liberty College and was accepted," Cunningham said. "Liberty was friendly."
Most of York College's requirements are reasonable: A transcript, SAT or ACT scores, two letters of recommendation. York College also wants course descriptions from home-schoolers.
Nancy Spataro, director of admissions at York College, said a course description is "a paragraph or so of what was covered in the course - like what you would see in a course catalog."
That is reasonable - colleges should ask home-schoolers the nature of their courses so they know their applicants did quality work. But York College doesn't stick to Spataro's definition of course descriptions - since the Ungers were asked go into extreme detail with theirs.
Home-schoolers have also objected to York College's diploma requirement. Unlike the majority of colleges, York College requires home-schooled applicants to have an accredited high school diploma. To fulfill this requirement, home-school students can participate in a diploma program, obtain a diploma from their school district or take the GED. Unger was not in a diploma program. "I'm not going to pay extra money to have someone tell me I graduated," Unger said.
Donna Botterbusch, home-school mom and one of York Homeschool Association's founding members, has been researching colleges' policies toward home-school students since 2001. Botterbusch served as YHSA coordinator and is the organization's public liaison.
This is what she had to say: "All colleges are very friendly (to home-schoolers) except York College and some technical and trade schools."
Regarding high school diplomas and diploma programs, Botterbusch said, "Pennsylvania law clearly defines the requirements for home-school students to graduate. Act 169 gives the minimum requirements - and diploma programs are not required."
The law says the minimum requirement for home-schoolers to graduate is that they take certain courses.
When asked why York College requires a diploma from home-school applicants, Spataro said, "I don't think that's anything unusual. I think it's standard procedure."
Actually, very few colleges require a diploma from home-school students.
"Even the Ivy League doesn't require (this much)," Botterbusch said.
And that's true: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania - none of these has many requirements for home-schoolers, and none says home-schoolers must have a diploma. Massachusetts Institute of Technology says, among other home-school-friendly statements on their Web site, "We do not require a high school diploma or GED from our applicants."
Aaron Basko, director of admissions services at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, said, "We ask home-schoolers to follow basically the same admission process. We also encourage, but do not require, an interview, a personal statement describing the goals and philosophy of the student's home-schooling experience, and a reading list."
And Basko said, "Students may apply with or without a diploma."
To be fair, several home-schoolers I spoke with said they were satisfied with the way York College treated them. However, those home-schoolers followed all York College's application requirements exactly.
So while other colleges try to accommodate home-schoolers, York College is inflexible. York College didn't even make an exception for Unger: He has A's in all but one of his classes, and his SAT score is nearly 300 points greater than York College's average score. Unger's reading and writing SAT scores are extremely high, both above 750.
Botterbusch said the home-school community is "confused why York College would have these requirements when no one else does. People are willing to walk away and go to a different college because there are too many admissions requirements. Other colleges nationwide are seeking home-school students because they tend to do well in college."
"I don't think the department heads know they're missing out on a great resource of potential students because of the over-requirements of admissions," Botterbusch said.
If the Ivy League and everyone else can do without unreasonable requirements on home-schoolers, why can't York College?
There are over 460 families in the York Homeschool Association. Botterbusch estimates that YHSA has 1,400 home-school students, and 160 to 180 of them are in high school. And many home-school families aren't part of YHSA. As Botterbusch said, these home-schoolers are leaving the county to attend other colleges. Is that what York College wants? Is it beneficial for York County?
Take it from me: Home-schoolers are often good students. All the colleges I applied to have been friendly, and none required me to have a diploma. It is wrong for York College to discriminate against home-school students. A college named after the county it's in ought to be friendly to county students.
So stop the bad attitude, York College. Something in admissions needs to change.
You said:
"Unlike the majority of colleges, York College requires home-schooled applicants to have an accredited high school diploma."
I'm not sure where the terminology came from but the diploma programs offered in Pennsylvania are simply noted as "approved".
The term "accredited" makes them seem as though they go through an accreditation process, the same process colleges go through to have their programs certified.
And one dip program has "accreditation" in its name which would lead some to believe that that program is "official" or "certified" by some state agency when in fact it is not. For a time homeschoolers were even told they would not be accepted to York College UNLESS they had a dip from that one particular dip program.
If homeschoolers can prove their academic abilities through normal means, i.e. SAT, ACT, and course descriptions, whether they receive a parent-issued diplom or dip program diploma, they should not be discriminated against.
I think Princeton's comments regarding homeschoolers say it best:
"Students who have been educated partially or exclusively at home are considered using the same criteria we use for all applicants. Although their academic programs and transcripts of achievement may not be standard, we are accustomed to such variations and are able to give full consideration to home-schooled students."
Colleges should be evaluating students as individuals, based on their unique and individual circumstances. Obviously, York College has been given bad information regarding homeschoolers and college admissions criteria for homeschoolers. Sadly, they're sticking by that bad info.
I'm REALLY sorry you've been going through all this. I agree, that if someone makes GPA scores at least at the minimum requirements and gives a description of the courses, this should be plenty. How much more would they require from someone with a G.E.D., who, honestly, usually has to work harder than a high school graduate to pass the test!
HERE'S an idea, though: If they are willing to stand by their statement, they should be willing to put it in writing1 write a certified letter, asking them to give you the EXACT requirements they expect of you, and ask them to put it in writing! IF they stick with their public statement, send it, certified, so that's proof, also.
Meanwhile, REALLY get out there and make it known. Give them some bad publicity.