“Hmph. I homeschooled. The kid’s bright and magnificently well educated. No college is beating down our door.”
This article notwithstanding, the overwhelming number of colleges evaluate homeschool kids pretty much the same way that they evaluate other kids.
Selective colleges start out with grades and SAT/ACT scores.
For homeschoolers, the grades part can be a little difficult. Scores from AP exams and SAT II scores can help validate the grades given in the homeschool. If your kid takes the AP US History exam and gets a 5, then that homeschool grade of A in US history is going to hold up. But if you gave your kid an A and he score a 3 on the AP exam, not as much.
Anyway, just like with kids traditionally schooled, selective schools will show more interest in kids with high test scores than otherwise.
As well, if you want schools to chase you, the student, you can't be too coy. You gotta let them know you're willing to be chased. ;-) My older son took actions to get on numerous college mailing lists. He'd sign up at open houses, go see college reps when they came to his high school, sign up on-line at college websites.
sitetest
Knowing what I know about conventional education, I’m not gung ho about college anyway. Also, I raised my offspring to be productive and self-sufficient, so there is no question of student loans. And yet when we see local kids now in college, my high-IQ homeschooler wonders if they are better off — and needs reminding, “You’ve got your own house already, and you’re bringing home the bacon; they’re in dormitories, racking up debt for a square foot of wallpaper.” (That’s what I’m inclined to call the college diploma.)