Home-schooled students successful at A&M

The Battalion ^ | 8/30/06 | Julie Weddle

[2Jedismom]

Home-schooled students successful at A&M
Julie Weddle
Posted: 8/30/06

For Ian Martinez, coming to Texas A&M and attending classes with hundreds of students was a big shock.

"Last semester I had a class with 300 people," he said. "In junior college the biggest class I had was about 10 people."

Martinez, a sophomore biomedical engineering major, was home-schooled with his family every day of his schooling except for one science class in junior high and his freshman year of college.

"It made the family feel more closely knit," he said. "They're basically my best friends."

Statistically, home-schooled students are academically successful at A&M, said Katie Cochran, assistant director of admissions.

"Lots of home-schooled students do very well on standardized tests and generally do better than average," she said.

Cochran said she has seen home-schooled students adapt well in college because of their involvement with other students in their communities and classes.

"Many of them are more prepared in that they have attended classes in their community college in addition to having a lot of self-discipline that is necessary to be a home-schooler," Cochran said.

A&M is considered to be a home-school- friendly university, Cochran said. The University frequently receives requests from home-school organizations for A&M staff to present information about the University, she said.

Peter Rench, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, said coming to college after being home-schooled was a slightly new experience but it was not hard to adapt. Rench said that most the time he was home-schooled, he worked independently and completed assignments quickly.

"I personally am glad I was home-schooled through at least my first eight years," he said. "I believe I could've received a more well-rounded high school education in a private school, but I don't regret being home-schooled, and I don't think I would have learned as much as I did if I didn't get home-schooled those four years."

Sophomore biology and philosophy major Sean Hart was home-schooled independent of other students until junior high, where he had classes of four to five students. Each mom had a specialty to teach the children, and by high school, Hart was in classes with 10 to 20 students who met at a local church.

"I think home school was better for me because I could choose to focus on certain areas," he said.

Hart attended Wharton County Junior College for three semesters while being home-schooled and then came to A&M.

"Coming here was a little bit harder and I had to live here," Hart said. "The biggest difference was coming to live here and not coming back home everyday and having a car to use every day."

[tx_eggman]

Oh, but you must've gone to TU

Nope ... but a lot of my $$ did. The pup was an '03 grad

[Luke Skyfreeper]

LOL. You have my sympathy! :-)