The only one that I’m aware of on your list that I think of as a pressure cooker is W&M. I haven’t investigated UVA enough yet to know, but I don’t think that is as much of an issue there. We are visiting at the beginning of October and my dd will sit in on a class. We have had the same concerns about the classes being too light at certain schools but, again, I’m not thinking you will find that to be the case either, My dd will be sitting in on an upper level Latin class at CNU in a couple of weeks to see what she thinks. Part of the draw for her is the honors program which will get her into upper level class more quickly. I would suggest making visits and sitting in on classes. At every school we go to, dd sits in on an upper level Latin class. She gets a feel for the students and the academics by doing so that she thinks is helpful. Someone mentioned University of Richmond. It is a private school and expensive but the aid is supposed to be good. Same thing with Washington & Lee. Those are both schools we’ve looked at closely. ETA: Just remembering a friend of mine said some of the majors at tech were very difficult to do well in. Of course, she attended many years ago and things may have changed, but I would look into it if I were considering it.

Okay, so I know there are areas of NN that aren’t nice. However, I have never actually seen those areas in all my trips down to CNU and much of the surrounding area is nice. There’s a B&N, a Costco, a Target, a Lidl, and a lot of clean, bright northern-VA type stores about 10 minutes from the campus. There are shops right across from campus that the students go to frequently. There is a 5 mile hiking trail. The Mariner’s Museum is right next to the campus. There is a hospital right near the campus. When we go, we stay at a Holiday Inn Express, literally less than 5 minutes from the campus and the place is brand new and the people that work there are friendly and nice. I’ve also stayed at the Hampton Inn near the B&N, which is a few minutes farther away. My ds has seen the rougher area because I think he and my dh got a bit turned around, but he knows not to go in that direction. I honestly wasn’t even thinking about it and it never concerned us or weighed in on our decision to send our ds there. I was just talking to my dd about what a nice area it is when we were deciding where she would apply. Plus, you are very close to the beach and not far from Williamsburg. I completely forgot there even was a bad area.

I don’t know how to interpret the niche ratings, but I like reading the school newspapers to get an idea about the feel of the school. They are usually online, but I always look for one whenever we do visits. I attended George Mason many years ago and it was largely a commuter school. I know they have really built the campus up and have a lot more residential students, but there is still a large population of commuters. I visited Mary Washington with my son and William and Mary with my daughter. Both are beautiful campuses. I really like the location of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg. Classes seemed small and when we visited the historic preservation department, the professors we met seemed very involved and helpful. MW also gives automatic scholarships based on test scores (or they did as of a couple of years ago). William & Mary is pretty but is basically in a swamp. It poured the day we were there and we were literally standing in two inch deep water on the sidewalk. When our tour guide said, “Well, it an issue but it is swampland.”, I suddenly knew why I had never really liked W&M, lol! Very serious students though and I know people that absolutely love it. My dd says the main negative she reads about it is the social scene, or lack thereof. My SIL went there and felt it was a bad choice for her because everyone there was a top student and she fell in the middle and was unable to go on to graduate school because she didn’t do well enough. She did make lifelong friends there, though. Take a look at Christopher Newport maybe? They also give scholarship money to students who participate in the leadership and/or honors program. Usually about $5,000 - $10,000 a year. The campus is very pretty and bright and in a nice location. My ds is there and has been happy. I had never heard of it until a few years ago and then once I started hearing about it, it was nothing but positive reviews. The classes are smallish and discussion based. The academics have been challenging for my ds, but definitely not overwhelming or a pressure cooker. Their honors program allows you to streamline the general education requirements and knock them out quickly so that you can get to the upper level classes earlier. My dd is going to apply for it. ETA: Some dorms at W&M and UMW are not air conditioned. Same with UVA. My kids both have pretty bad allergy issues so that is something I really pay attention to.

A friend of mine told me that she called the college board and they told her the local school was no longer offering AP exams to homeschoolersI. I told her I doubted that was true. I emailed the administrator at our school and she told me that they are figuring things out, but homeschoolers absolutely will be able to take her exams there. Never believe the college board! This thread has inspired me to make sure to write a sincere thank you with a gift card to the lady at the school who handles AP exams in our area.

Oh my gosh, yes. I am using the common app, but the section on the courses the student is taking has a drop down box for what type of class each one is, So, honors, advanced accelerated, college level, AP, regular and about 10 more options that I can’t remember but that made me wonder if I was picking the *right* thing.

When did the ED II trend start? It seems that it eliminates the early action option from many schools that are going this route. Which means you have a choice between making a binding commitment with your application or waiting to find out until April to see if you have been accepted. I am happy we still have some early action options, but there are a number of schools that would be high on my dd’s list if her first and second choices don’t work out that I don’t feel like we can rely on as our safeties or backups because April notification is so late.

Nm

I have a little blurb after each class taken by an outside provider that tells whether it was an in-person or online class, how often it met, how many other students were in the class and how frequently my student interacted with the other students and with the teacher. I was reluctant to add all this info after many of my course descriptions, but in the end, I decided it was info that would be beneficial to my student. I *think* stereotypes about homeschooling are waning, but I wanted to make it obvious that my student can work with others.

I would try to upload it as a pdf. I had trouble with this though with my school profile because the document then wound up being too large as a pdf. But I’m not that great with all the tech stuff.

Okay. I was thinking this would be more convenient for whoever looks at her application. And save me the expense of sending official transcripts before admissions. So my transcript will be document 1, course descriptions doc 2 and then one file with the other transcripts as document 3.

Okay, I will include a weighted gpa. That’s an easier decision for me than figuring out whether to label certain classes as honors. But, I think I’m going to go with labeling the Lukeion classes and the Great Books classes that way and then just add a little explanation about how I defined honors classes to my school profile. And then just let it go.🎈

I really like your wording for your honors course designation. I did just find something on the Lukeion website that said their Latin 5 and 6 was paced like a college 300/400 level class. I am sure that the Barrs consider them honors level. My concern is not whether they are honors or not, but whether it will be perceived that I am padding. My dd’s Transcript looks a little over the top since she already had 5 language credits and 3 math credits by the end of middle school. I have scores and outside classes that validate her achievements, but I am concerned about giving the perception that I am not being 100% honest, even though I am trying to be very accurate. So, it’s this subjective stuff that’s throwing me. She has worked so hard, I feel a huge responsibility in documenting everything correctly. Thanks.

When it asks how many official transcripts I am uploading, I assume this is just for my homeschool transcript? I wouldn’t load community college transcripts here, right? Just have them sent directly from the community college? I am planning to send a PAHS “transcript”. Should I upload this here or have it sent separately as well? TIA!

Same here. The DE classes have actually been easier than any other classes she’s taken anywhere. My ds took two DE classes this summer and was quite shocked at how easy they were.

I am uploading my dd’s Course descriptions and transcript to the counselor portion of the common app either tomorrow or Tuesday. Then, we are submitting her first round of applications. So, I am going to make a decision soon and be done with it.

I can’t find anything on Lukeion’s website that says “honors”. My dd started with them halfway through Latin 3 in 9th grade and I’m not even including Latin I and II in her gpa.

That does kind of put it in perspective. I feel quite confident that the Lukeion and CLRC Great Books classes are honors level. The CLRC teacher recommends three credits for one year of GB — Lit, history and composition.

Okay, so the bolded takes some of the pressure off. I feel like I know which of my dd’s classes should be labeled honors. Those classes were, by far, more challenging than anything taken at the cc, which gets weighted like AP classes. It’s just bugging me that these particular providers don’t label their classes that way on their websites, probably because it’s just not on their radar or it’s not important to them. And I am sharing links for these providers in my school profile.

Am I hurting my student by not including a weighted GPA? A lot of the classes she has taken I would consider honors-level classes such as Lukeion (because of the pace) and CLRCs Great Books courses (because of the content). However they are not explicitly labeled honors on the website so I’m going back-and-forth on what classes to label honors or not. I’m thinking I will call them honors on my course descriptions but not on the transcript so I don’t have to think about it anymore. This reduces her weighted gpa, so I’m thinking of just reporting a regular unweighted gpa. Good idea or bad? My biggest concern with labeling them honors classes is that they are not labeled that way on the Lukeion website or the CLRC website. Now I am pretty sure if I contacted the individual teachers they would say that they are honors level classes. I just don’t want it to look like I’m trying to pad her transcript or be dishonest in any way..

Once my dd has been accepted to college, I would be happy to pass my copy along to anyone who would like it.

I’m finishing up this book right now and highly recommend it. It’s a great overview about the college selection process and how to select colleges that make financial sense for your family based upon your student’s profile. I had my daughter take the career assessment that was recommended in the book and that was also helpful. It seemed right on target for her strengths and interests. There was a lot of information in it that I had already picked up from these boards and elsewhere in dribs and drabs. It was nice to read something straight through from beginning to end that confirmed some of the information that I already knew but it gave me a different perspective about some things and introduced me to a few helpful resources such as the career assessment. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1619615339/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Interesting! I didn’t think about changing the essays. That could be really useful. Though I probably won’t attempt it because of the brain taxation issue.😊

I’ve also used Lial’s with the videos with great success here. Some don’t like it because it’s not conceptual, rigorous enough, but it sure was great for my ds. He has rock solid math skills and a great number sense from all his years of Rod & Staff and then Lial’s. It was a perfect foundation for him. He earned an A in Business Calculus at college and he’s now studying to be a CPA. Might not be as good for someone who is headed towards engineering or the sciences and needs more focus on trig though since you only get trig in the precalculus book versus the initial exposure in algebra 2 that many programs offer.

I like Derek Owens, but only with the self-grading option. It is half the price and he’ll give you an answer key. My ds tried myhomeschoolmathclass and what I found with it and every other class that is structured like it, is that it just isn’t a great setup for learning math for us. There was way more time spent on class time than doing problems. And doing problems, and lots of them, is what solidifies math skills here.

I tried printing mine, signing it and then scanning it in as a pdf. But then my document size was slightly too large. I wound up just uploading the original document without a signature. I don’t know how to get my signature on there without scanning it in.