Episode Summary

Is it really challenging for homeschooled students to get admitted to college? Regardless of whether the student attended a public, private, or homeschool, as long as they have strong communication skills, the student will be fine. In this episode, Rebecca Stuart-Orlowski shares how to positively present homeschooled students through the college application process.

Highlights

• Strong communication skills by both the parent and student are essential for homeschooled families
• How to overcome barriers for homeschooled students applying to college
• Special considerations in the college application process for homeschool families 
• Advice for college-bound homeschools families around test-optional policies
• What families with 10th and 11th graders can do to make the future application process easier

Meet Our Guest

Rebecca Stuart-Orlowski has a Specialized Certificate in College Counseling from UCSD, a BA in Communicative Disorders from SDSU, and two active teaching credentials: Multiple Subjects w/ a Multicultural Emphasis and Communicatively Handicapped. She taught deaf, deaf/blind, LD, and twice-exceptional students for four years in Chula Vista and San Diego, and was an educational consultant for a small private Catholic PSP (Private Satellite Program) for three years. She has been an IEC since August 2012. 

Long before Rebecca moved into her career as an IEC, she was honing her communication skills that currently serve her so well. Rebecca performed professionally as a jazz dancer for over 20 years for the likes of The Beach Boys, Bill Gates and Microsoft, and Visionary Dance Theatre, where she was a choreographer, teacher, and soloist. Her final choreographic piece can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ85xnwK0as  Performing and interacting with professionals from all backgrounds lends itself well to her job as an IEC. 

Rebecca is a professional member of IECA, co-chair of the IECA Homeschool Affinity Group, and a member of NACAC and WACAC. She is the parent of two Davidson Young Scholar Alums and presented at a Davidson Young Scholar Summit on 2E children in 2021. Each fall, she speaks to homeschoolers and their parents on the topic of homeschooling and college admissions for her local homeschool co-op. She has been independently homeschooling for 25 years and will graduate with her third and last child in June 2023.  She specializes in gifted/2E, STEM, creative, homeschooled, and transfer students.

Links Mentioned in This Episode

Launch College & Career Clarity Course

Launch College and Career Clarity Facebook Community

Rebecca on LinkedIn

Access the episode transcript here.