Home-School Applicants

Lewis & Clark College welcomes applications from students who have been home-schooled for some or all of their education.  We consider you a home-school student if the majority of your high school career has taken place, or if your high school career will conclude, outside of a traditional academic setting.  

If you are uncertain whether or not you are a home-school applicant, or if you feel the home-school application process does not adequately represent your academic experience, please contact our office to discuss your background with an admissions counselor.  

We fully recognize that home-schooling experiences vary tremendously; therefore, we will work with home-school students on a case-by-case basis, tailoring the admissions process so that you are able to best present yourself and your abilities.  However, as with any applicant, it is your responsibility to demonstrate to the admissions committee that your education to date has prepared you for college-level work in a rigorous academic program and provided you with the ability to succeed in our traditional academic environment.

Preparation

We do not have a list of required courses or a set curriculum all students must follow to apply to Lewis & Clark. However, admission to the college is selective and we do have recommendations for applicants when it comes to academic preparation.  

It will be to your advantage if your home-school curriculum meets or exceeds these recommendations. Primarily, we expect that you will have successfully undertaken a serious, rigorous course of study distributed across the traditional core academic disciplines: English, natural or physical sciences, mathematics, history or social studies, and foreign language.

When evaluating applications for admission to Lewis & Clark College, we seek evidence of academic preparation comparable to:

  • 4 years of English
  • 4 years of mathematics
  • 3 years of lab science
  • 3-4 years of history or social studies
  • 2-3 years of the same foreign language
  • 1 year of creative arts

Supplementing your home-school curriculum with coursework at your local high school and/or community college will give us further evidence of your preparedness for academic success in a traditional college environment.

Application Requirements

Generally, to have a strong application to Lewis & Clark, home-school students should submit the following application materials:

  1. Online Common Application (including essay and supplemental questions)
  2. Secondary School Report form to be filled out by your home-school program coordinator.
  3. Official high school transcript with a detailed description of the home-school curriculum (see below).
  4. Official transcripts for any work completed outside of your home-school program.
  5. Teacher Evaluation form, completed by someone other than your home-school coordinator if possible.

In addition, due to the limited material we have to review, students should consider submitting:

  • Samples of academic coursework. 

Transcripts

An obstacle you may face in the admission process is presenting a conventional high school transcript. If you do not participate in a home-school program that issues a transcript of work completed, you should provide a detailed description of your curriculum to give the admissions committee a full sense of your academic background.

Your curriculum description should include a listing of the subjects you covered each year, a description of each course of study, and the major texts used or literature read.  Grades received should be included, too, but if none are available, a narrative assessment of work and growth in each area is encouraged.

We also strongly encourage home-school students to interview with a member of the admissions committee, so that we can help you to construct an application that will best represent you and your current abilities. A personal interview also gives you the opportunity to develop a relationship with an admissions representative who will serve as your advocate throughout the admissions process.

To be eligible for financial aid, you must have either completed a GED, high school diploma issued by state, equivalency exam, or a secondary school education in a home-school setting that is treated as a home-school under State law and obtained a home-school completion credential; or, if State law does not require you to obtain a home-school credential, you must have completed a secondary school education in a home-school setting that qualifies as an exemption from compulsory school attendance requirements under State law.  You may be asked to provide evidence that you have met one of these qualifications for high school completion.

Transfer applicants who completed high school via home-schooling should contact a transfer counselor to determine how to best represent your home-school experience in the application process. 

More specific information can be found in our policy regarding college credit earned prior to high school graduation