Homeschoolers A Small But Growing Minority- Harvard "Homeschool Anonymous" takes flight

by Rachel Pollack
The Harvard Crimson online edition

Crystal E. Winston ’06-’07 never had a prom. She never rode a school bus, went to gym class, or received a report card. Like a growing number of students around the country, Winston, went to school by staying at home—from kindergarten through senior year.

Winston, a history of art and architecture concentrator in Mather House, says her mother taught her at home because the St. Louis school district where she grew up was “way terrible.”

“There weren’t many options for us,” Winston says. “My mom wanted us to have a certain set of values growing up, and she wanted to make sure that we got those if we were homeschooled.”

The Department of Education reported in 2003 that 2.2 percent of the American school-age population was homeschooled. And experts at the Graduate School of Education say that a majority of those families choose to homeschool their children for religious reasons.

But even as the homeschooling trend takes root nationwide, a disproportionately tiny number of these students ever win entry to Harvard.

‘A GROWTH INDUSTRY’

In 1989, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said that around five to 10 homeschooled students applied to Harvard yearly.

Following the rise in the number of homeschoolers nationwide, between 100 and 200 homeschooled students applied to Harvard this year, says Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis ’70-’73. Lewis adds that many other applicants were homeschooled for part of their education.

“It’s a growth industry. We’ve probably had an increase in numbers over the past 10 years,” she says.

Lewis says she cannot give exact figures because the admissions office does not place homeschooled students’ applications into separate categories.

Despite this increase in the number of applicants, Lewis says Harvard usually only accepts between three and eight homeschooled students each year, a number significantly lower than this year’s overall acceptance rate of 9.3 percent.

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