When it is time for home-schooled students to survey their higher education options, they face different admissions requirements depending on the colleges to which they apply — some schools require them to compose portfolios explaining their educational background, but some do not require a high school diploma or GED.

Floating between these two scenarios is Boston University, which does not have a separate application pool for home-schooled students.

Usually, around 45 to 50 home-schooled students apply to BU each year, entering the regular applicant pool, and approximately 45 to 50 percent of these applicants are admitted, said Assistant Admissions Director Erin Holmes. BU’s total percent of applicants accepted is 58 percent, according to the College Board website.

The main difference between home-schooled applicants and others is the way transcripts are created, Holmes said.

“[Home-schooled students] just formulate their own transcript rather than have their high school transcript sent in,” she said. “Some of them go through various home-school associations, where they have their curriculum approved and submit a transcript sent in, but otherwise, it’s the same.”

Even the most selective universities invite home-schooled students to apply, said School of Education interim dean Charles Glenn.

“It’s generally recognized that home-schoolers who show evidence that they learned a lot are very welcome because universities know that they can work independently . . . often, applicants who went through high school never worked on their own,” he said.

Home-schooled students who apply to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are not required to provide a high school diploma or GED to be admitted, according to the MIT website.

University of California-Riverside, which recently changed its home-school admissions policy, now requires home-schooled applicants to submit in-depth portfolios of their work.

“We now have a defined policy that involves applying to the university . . . taking the same standard tests, but in addition, submitting a 19-page portfolio summarizing [home-schooled applicants’] educational background and accomplishments,” said UC-Riverside computer science professor Frank Zahid, who pushed administrators to change the admissions policy.

College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Erica Brandt, who was home-schooled during elementary and high school, said learning at home improved her chance of being admitted to BU, but she said there should be a common application process for home-schooled students.

“I wish there was sort of a supplement or a common application that all the schools use for home-schoolers,” she said. “If something were standardized, it would just make things easier.”

Home Education Magazine Public Relations Manager Mary Nix, a parent of home-schoolers, said she believes public and private universities are accepting of home-schooled students’ situations.

“Perhaps [home-schooled students] have to be more creative at times due to lack of public-school credentials,” she said, “but I believe that once they meet with counselors, talk to them and show what they have done, there isn’t a problem.”

Nix said there should not be national guidelines for home-schooled applicants.

“For the most part, I think that home education has been accepted as academically legitimate,” she said. “After all, if they are there doing the work, why would others even know they have been home-educated?”