I love meeting homeschool alumni and picking their brains.  You can find such great nuggets of help and encouragement in their stories.

I recently had the pleasure of catching up with Chelsea Link, the talented Chicago-area homeschooler in my earlier post who had been accepted to several top, even Ivy League, universities.  If you read that post and are like me, you probably had plenty of questions you wished you could ask Chelsea and her mom Cindi, about their homeschooling, their college application journey, how Chelsea finally chose Harvard…

Well, wonder no more!  Enjoy my interview with Chelsea.  May it bless your own homeschooling, and leave you inspired:

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Chelsea Link:  I feel like I came into college at least as prepared as my classmates (and maybe even more so) for college life – in terms of managing the workload, living semi-independently, staying healthy, etc. Being pretty independent in high school made the transition to being slightly more independent in college kind of a non-event. My high school experience probably resembled college life more closely than that of public high school students – spending a few hours a week in class and many more hours doing your own work at home. There were two things I was worried I might be disadvantaged in: writing and lab experience. Fortunately, I’ve had no problems keeping up with my classmates on writing assignments, and it turns out everybody’s lab experience has been widely varied, so that wasn’t a problem either. Basically my Mom did an awesome job of figuring out what I needed to prepare for college, and then providing it for me! And socially, I’ve fit right in, too, which I’m thrilled about. The one situation in which I think it might have been a disadvantage was when I applied for a peer counseling position. I made it to the final round of interviews, and then didn’t get the job. Based on my last interview and my conversations with other peer counselors, it sounds like they might have thought freshmen wouldn’t relate as well to me since I didn’t share the high school experience they’d just finished. I don’t think it would have been a problem on my end, but I certainly understand that freshmen want to be able to identify with their counselors, and it might have been a psychological impediment for some, so I’m okay with that. But overall, being home schooled hasn’t had much influence on my social life – it’s not something I think about much, and I don’t think most of my friends even know, because it just doesn’t come up. Which is exactly how I want it. I’m not a home schooler at Harvard; I’m a Harvard student who happens to have been home schooled.

CL:  It’s wonderful. I absolutely love it here. Although to be honest, I think there are probably dozens of colleges where I would also be very happy and fulfilled – but I really do love Harvard. Academically, it’s been a perfect fit. I’ve enjoyed pretty much all my classes, and several have completely rocked my world – and I’m only halfway through. With only a couple of exceptions, they’ve all been challenging and engaging without causing undue stress, which is perfect. I’m also extremely happy with my life outside of classes. I participate in a pretty diverse mix of extracurricular activities. I’m the treasurer of my house committee (houses are the residential communities for upperclassmen), and I’m also treasurer of the Crossword Society (which is as silly as it sounds). I act in a casual show with the Hyperion Shakespeare Company each semester – a couple weeks ago I played Viola in a Twelfth Night scene. I teach weekly Shakespeare classes for Boston-area high school students, and I volunteer with a campus wellness group. So my biggest challenge has definitely been finding time for everything I want to do! I’m generally pretty well-organized, though, so I usually manage all right. I like to be involved without being over-committed, so I still have free time for spontaneous things like lectures or workshops. (I just got back from a vegetarian cooking class, and tomorrow afternoon I’m hoping to go to a seminar on octopus consciousness after class!) And, most importantly, I spend plenty of time hanging around with my awesome friends and roommates – the other students here are definitely one of the best parts of Harvard.

“I really believe that everybody has what it takes to do what they want to do – it’s just a matter of getting up and doing it. . .  Just be unstoppable.”  – Chelsea Link

CL:  I’m an only child, and I was lucky enough to grow up living with both of my super-supportive and open-minded parents. People always used to ask me what a day of home schooling was like, and I never really knew what to say! I mean, I didn’t sleep till noon or anything – I’d get up around the time my friends would be starting school, and I’d grab some breakfast and get to work, I guess. It was all pretty flexible though. I’d generally talk with my Mom over breakfast about what needed to get done that day, and what was generally on the agenda for the rest of the week, and I’d pretty much just go do it. It wasn’t math 8-9, English 9-10, history 10-11, and so on. It was work until my work was done. That’s not to say I didn’t procrastinate, obviously! I was actually just talking about this with one of my house tutors at lunch today, and I said I’m pretty sure I frittered away about the same amount of my time as my school friends spent frittering away theirs. I’m really a pretty regular kid, I swear.

But anyway, my Mom and I really jammed out with my studies. We didn’t use any set curriculum or anything. She did a lot of research on what resources people had found helpful, and we’d talk things over and figure out what sounded best – it was really a collaborative effort the whole way through. We had the same goals for my education: getting a solid background in all the liberal arts subjects (at least equivalent to the level of a good high school), making extra time for subjects that interested me more, and getting into a good college. For most subjects, I would read a textbook and/or a prep book, and then go take the AP Exam in that subject. It sounds sort of sketchy, but it’s actually a great way to cover all the bases efficiently. I also did a lot of distance learning programs – math and physics with EPGY at Stanford, and Latin and vocabulary through similar programs at Northwestern. You can’t learn to speak a language from a book, though; I had a fantastic French tutor for eight or ten years. Probably my best academic experience in high school was taking college classes at Northwestern through the School of Continuing Studies. I used it both to cover basic topics (like history) and to explore my interests (like neuroscience). That’s the thing I’d recommend most to any ambitious home schooler: take classes at a local college. It doesn’t have to be Northwestern; it can even be a community college. Whatever is nearby, go there. It’s a completely different experience from college-level courses online or by mail. Not only will it look great on a college application, but it will also give you great practice for when you actually get to college, and most importantly, it will probably be the most enriching and fulfilling part of your high school education.

CL:  Besides the activities I mentioned above, I like to spend my free time cooking and baking, doing crossword puzzles, going to see plays and concerts (on campus and in Boston), jamming with my Irish music friends, occasionally swing dancing if I can find a partner (which would be much easier if my boyfriend went here), playing intramural sports (mostly badminton this season, which has an added element of complexity in that I don’t, strictly speaking, know how to play badminton), and going to social events around my house. I really make it a priority to hang out with students, tutors, and faculty, because that’s one of the few things I can do here that I can’t really replicate elsewhere. At home, I also spend a lot of my free time reading and watching movies, but I don’t do much of that here because I’d rather use my time to talk with all the amazing people I get to live with for four short years.

I really don’t have a clear idea yet of what I’m going to do after graduation. I think I’ll probably get some sort of advanced degree, but I’m not sure whether I’ll go for a Ph.D. I have so many ideas! I’ve recently started considering bioengineering, while last year I was flirting with the idea of law school (not high on my list right now but we’ll see). Maybe neuroscience research, maybe something involving bioethics, maybe teaching high school English! I’m totally comfortable with having a lot of possibilities and no definite path right now, though, because I really feel like this is my time to explore. If I do go to grad school, I’ll probably take a year or two off to travel and do community service or something before hitting the books again. Although really, if I had my way, I’d just be an undergrad for about ten years. I can’t imagine being happier than I am right now.

CL:  I plan to graduate in 2012, with a B.A. in Human Evolutionary Biology (and a certificate for the honors Mind/Brain/Behavior track), and a minor in History of Science.

CL:  Yeah, I never spent a whole summer or anything abroad, but I’ve done a couple of international programs. For many years, I went to an annual week-long traditional music camp in Ireland, and I once did a master class in Amsterdam. I still play for my own amusement and occasionally jam with my friends, but I’m not taking lessons or in an orchestra or anything. I think I’ll probably go back to playing more frequently after I graduate, actually. There are just so many interesting organizations and events here that I know I won’t have access to later on, so I want to take advantage of those while I still can. But I definitely intend to keep my harps around my whole life and play for fun, and I hope music will be a big part of my [hypothetical] children’s lives, too.

CL:  I actually wasn’t offered scholarships anywhere I applied – most of them don’t give merit-based awards. I’m incredibly fortunate in that I didn’t really need to take financial considerations into account when choosing a college. It came down to a really tough choice between Harvard and Yale, which was so difficult mostly because they are both very similar overall. In the end I decided to focus on the few differences between them, and that helped a lot. I ended up choosing Harvard primarily based on location – I knew I’d be much happier living in Cambridge than in New Haven. I was also really excited about the interdisciplinary Mind/Brain/Behavior program at Harvard, and the biology departments here (and particularly the neuroscience research going on) are marginally stronger than comparable departments at Yale – but honestly looking for academic differences between the two is basically splitting hairs.

CL:  I guess the main thing I’d say is that anybody can really go anywhere in life if they work at it, as far as I can tell. That’s definitely true of college, at any rate. You decide where you want to go, and then you go there. Seriously. It’s all about being self-motivated. Find something (or a few things) you are truly passionate about, and take them as far as you can. Take outside courses. Find cool jobs and internships. Even better, find ways to share your passion with others – teach, or perform, or publish. As far as the nuts and bolts of admissions, Google is your friend – you can find almost anything through strategic Googling. Join local and online communities to learn about what’s worked for other people. If tests freak you out, the main thing you need to do is take a lot of tests - and take them early on, before they matter, so you can work out the kinks before the real deal. You don’t need a fancy course or anything; just get your hands on lots of old tests and take them until you get it right. Always go one better than what’s expected of you. If your favorite college wants either the SAT or the ACT, take both. If they recommend two SAT subject tests, take four or five (and make one of them Math Level 2 – it looks good and the scoring curve is way friendlier). If they want two academic letters of recommendation, throw in an extra one from your sports coach or orchestra conductor or dance instructor or whoever knows you really well and will tell them how great you are (because you are great). I really believe that everybody has what it takes to do what they want to do – it’s just a matter of getting up and doing it. If anybody tells you you can’t do something, do it extra well to spite them, and then use the story as a topic for your application essay. Just be unstoppable.

If any home schooling parents want more information on the college preparation/application process (or general home schooling support), you can reach my brilliant mother at She started a home schooling community in the Chicago area, and can direct you to tons of wonderful resources (plus I’m pretty sure she shares templates of my own transcript, school profile, etc. – the parts of the application that are really daunting for home schoolers). If any students have questions for me (or just want to talk about home schooling, college, or any intersection thereof), feel free to email me at We would both be delighted to help you get where you want to go!

Chelsea