Applying for college with a weird, fragmented transcript

[pathgirl]

My son has had a fragmented high school experience unfortunately and I'm struggling with how to present it when he applies to college. I'd appreciate anyone's advice if you have it!

 

 

2014-15: His freshman year was at a private prep school. He did well academically (3.8 GPA, honors classes) but the school was a very bad fit socially and the nearly the stress of staying up until midnight or later most nights with homework was overwhelming for him and his new diagnosis of ADD. (Volume of coursework was an issue, not content.)

 

2015-16: Sophomore year we pulled him out to homeschool, using a homeschool partnership in that is run in conjunction with a local K-8 classical school that had just started its first high school class- adding a grade a year, this was their first freshman class. He did well academically but did not like the homeschool aspect and wanted to switch to the full-time program. Switching to the full-time program, though, meant accepting an extra year of high school as they only had a freshman class at the time. Because it is a new high school, they are adding a grade a year and will only have their first graduating class in 2019.

 

2016-17: He is full-time at the classical school and doing well (Mostly A's, one B). Social situation is great, and the learning style (fewer subjects but more in depth, more writing/essays and fewer tests and quizzes) fits. He has to do an online math program though because he is in precalc and the high school only offers math up to Algebra 2 so far.

 

Projected 2017-18 and 2018-19: He will continue in the full time high school but with additional either online classes or dual enrollment to cover math and possibly a science not yet available at the high school.

 

He plans to apply for colleges with matriculation in fall 2019. He will have a HS diploma from his accredited classical school but there is that "extra" freshman year from the other high school plus his "sophomore" year he was homeschooled. His standardized test scores tend to be average or slightly above average. We haven't yet looked into accommodations but may do that as he often doesn't finish a section or two in time.

 

We're such a mess! Oh, and he wants to major in music- new territory for me. How should he best present the high school experience on an application? I am tempted to just "ignore" the freshman year but he took some really tough classes that year and did fairly well so it might help him. Ignoring it would also require that he take both a math and science credit his final year in order to meet state requirements- and he would rather spend that time on a music and arts elective that is geared toward his college studies. Ignoring it might also be suspicious since he will be 19 when he graduates. ON the other hand, I don't want it to look like he had to repeat a year out of incompetence - it was more that the new classical school was such a good fit that I wanted him to take advantage of the whole program. The added year of maturity is a blessing when it comes to his executive function skills.

 

Thank you for your help in my confusion!

[snowbeltmom]

On your transcript, you could have a field for "academic provider" where you could state where your child took that particular class.  I would explain your son's educational journey in your home school profile.  Good luck.

[pathgirl]

I guess where I am struggling is that with the exception of his sophomore year, he's not homeschooled: everything else has been within the confines of an accredited, degree- granting school. Should I have him apply as a homeschooler anyway?

[snowbeltmom]

I guess where I am struggling is that with the exception of his sophomore year, he's not homeschooled: everything else has been within the confines of an accredited, degree- granting school. Should I have him apply as a homeschooler anyway?

 

Oh, sorry.  I thought the classical school was part of a homeschooling program and you were the one responsible for the transcript.  If he is graduating from an accredited school, won't the school be issuing the transcript?  Have you talked to them about whether they will accept and list on the transcript the homeschooled classes taken in sophomore year?

 

I don't think he will be able to apply to college as a homeschooler, unless your state considers him a homeschooler.

 

[Julie of KY]

I agree that if he's graduating from an accredited degree granting school, then that is the school he lists as his high school and not homeschool. 

 

I would provide a homeschool transcript for his sophomore year if needed - your other school may have already accepted those classes and put them on a transcript for you. 

[clementine]

I'm wondering if you can do your transcript with all of his classes listed (regardless of where/how they were taken) and then have outside transcripts sent along with that one?

 

Our dd was homeschooled 9-11th grades and DE for 12th.  When she applied to colleges we sent a mom-made transcript that included ALL of the courses she took, regardless of where.  We also sent a separate transcript from her DE school.  

 

Would that work for your situation?

[Corraleno]

If he will have an accredited diploma from the classical school, then he's not a homeschooler for college application purposes. So the question is: how did the classical school handle his freshman and sophomore classes? Did they accept all of them for credit and will they appear on the final transcript that they issue? That's usually how it works when students transfer between schools, and that would be the ideal solution here. You could ask the school to include the credits from the prep school but list them as "prior to 9th grade."  

 

If for some reason they are not "transferring" those courses into their own school, and expect you to provide transcripts for those, I would be inclined to provide a homeschool transcript for the year he did at home and call that 9th grade, then list the math and science courses from the prep school on your transcript as "completed prior to 9th grade." Colleges don't ask for transcripts from 8th grade, so if you reclassify that year as 8th grade (even if that means it was 8th grade 2.0), then you wouldn't have to send that transcript.

 

But I would start with the classical school and see what they're willing to do in terms of listing his prior credits on their transcript.

[J-rap]

If he's going to be in a high school full time for his senior year, that means he'll meet their requirements to be there and all classes before that point will be transferred over to that school, even his homeschooled courses.  Any dual enrollment courses he takes that year will also be appear on that transcript.  The school should take care of all of that.  They will in all likelihood make note that certain classes were transferred in, or transferred from a private school (homeschool), but it will be all together on one transcript.  Many students going on to college have a mix of schools and courses that come together in one transcript.  He should be fine.