For what it's worth, my student admitted to Stanford with a full tuition ROTC scholarship didn't have more detail than the Educational Partners section above and the Name/degree/source info for homeschool and online providers. I do think it could help to explain that CHESS is a well established homeschool learning center with instructors who have expertise worth noting. But once you establish a certain threshold of rigor additional detail doesn't necessarily add a lot.

@mlktwins What are you sharing about the credentials beyond the degree that you think is significant? Do you need more than a solid sentence to make the point that they were teaching out of a wealth of knowledge? Dr. Sue Fischer (PhD Classical Archeology, University of Cincinnati) specializes in Latin and ancient literature, did ten years of field work in Athens and Troy, and taught in colleges, high schools, and online.

My profile was about 2 pages long. Most high school profiles I've seen are 2 pages long. Often they have two columns and relatively small font. But then I don't think admissions readers are reading every word so much as skimming if they are unfamiliar with that high school. Occasionally I'll see a private school with a 4 page profile, but the extra two pages read more like marketing copy for prospective parents and often include a list of colleges previous graduates have been admitted to. My educational partners section describes coops, colleges, and online providers. I didn't give info about individual teachers other than name and degree info. This an example of what I have done: Educational Partners: In addition to at home coursework, several online curriculum providers and community colleges were used to offer the most appropriate level of coursework. These partners include: The Lukeion Project - An online provider of classical language, literature and art history courses. Instructors hold advanced degrees in classics. Well-Trained Mind Academy – A classical education online provider. Used for pre-calculus and calculus. Northern Virginia Community College - Dual enrolled in college courses. Courses are normally offered on the college campus, but were delivered as online and hybrid courses in Fall 2020 due to local coronavirus restrictions. Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars (VASTS) – Competitive-entry, interactive online STEM program followed by an intensive summer academy. The program is a partnership between the Virginia Space Grant Consortium, NASA Langley Research Center, The Commonwealth of Virginia and the aerospace industry representatives. College credit for VASTS was offered under the auspices of Thomas Nelson Community College. The last one is the most detailed because it is unusual and directly related to the student's intended major and career goals. On course descriptions I gave info for instructors for some outside courses. Name, degree & source. Ex. Dr. Sue Fischer, PhD in Classics University of Cincinnati. I don't think I gave this info for any community college courses, just homeschool providers or online courses that were atypical.

Just sending encouragement to everyone in the thick of this. You are doing great. Eat the elephant one bite at a time.

My concern with longer course description docs is that it encourages skimming. And then you don't know if they are skipping boilerplate content (like algebra course content) or details of the innovative independent study project you really want them to see.

10 pt font. 8 pages. I think most of the math classes fit on one page. For book lists, I stuck to major works. I didn't list every short story. I usually only gave author and title, unless additional info really added something. (I did include publisher for Art of Problem Solving and occasionally year of publication or edition for science texts.) ISBN isn't necessary for colleges (NCAA is its own thing. ) As you go through, ask if the content adds meaningful information. In my experience, colleges care more about how a course was structured than about a full listing of math or chemistry topics. If it was an outside course, it can help to say that. But if the student did lots of courses with a couple outside sources, you could put some of that description of the environment into an educational partners section of the school profile. But it's also ok to ask the colleges. If they really want a multi page description per course, then give them that.

On the question of if recommendation letters also have to be in by the deadline, this is based on individual college policies. Many will allow a student a few days of grace as recommendations arrive. Some will not. If a student is having problems getting a recommender to complete the letter or the recommender is struggling with the technology, the student should reach out to their admissions reps at the colleges in question to let them know and ask for guidance. Also, any students who are affected by natural disasters should reach out to their admissions reps, especially if this affects delivery of transcripts or recommendations. Most colleges want to extend grace when it's not the students fault. They may extend deadlines in these circumstances (though might not if it's 11:59 on Nov 1 and the student simply runs out the clock).

Does this English teacher have much experience reading and evaluating college admissions essays? What makes an effective application essay isn't always what makes a good English essay.

Mailers are created by enrollment marketing companies. They may have input from the college, but are marketing not a representation of what academics at a school are necessarily like. I suggest departmental web pages for the academic side.

Screenshots may be the best you can get. Though there is also an option in some computer operating systems to hit print and then select pdf instead of a local printer. You can then save the pdf.

It doesn't matter as long as it's clear and easy to find what they are looking for. Traditional high schools tend to group by subject and then by sequence (intro to advanced) or by alphabetical order (if there isn't a clear progression). But since your docs will probably be transmitted as pdfs, odds are they will just search for the name of courses they are curious about or skim the whole thing.

What you will sometimes see is the CA Personal Statement marked as optional when the college either doesn't read essays or has a college specific essay prompt instead. Off the top of my head, I think Auburn doesn't read essays (and says so), and Virginia Tech uses their 4 shorter prompts instead. Texas A&M and UTexas only joined the Common App this year and still also use Apply Texas. For them, they don't read the CA Personal Statement, but have a somewhat similar prompt (same as Essay A from Apply Texas). For optional additional information prompts, they are optional. I think many students can use them profitably to clarify and add context. But don't answer them with filler just to have something in the box. If a college has a college specific optional question, like Why do you want to study here, or Tell us about part of your identity that makes you who you are, I would not skip those even if marked optional.

Another option for including info from the previous counselor would be to quote them in your counselor letter. Not pages, but specific details or statements. Don't get freaked out by writing the counselor recommendation. Write about character traits, specific milestones that might not be clear in the application, and reasons for changing schools. What insights can you offer about who the student is. I like to use stories about their experiences or accomplishments to demonstrate the traits I'm trying to convey.

Now that I'm working as an Independent Educational Consultant, I talk to a lot of college reps. There is so much variation between colleges on admissions. Some highly value test scores. Others don't use at all. Some want lots of demonstrated interest. Others care about the student's context. Others just rank applicants based on grades. For homeschoolers the most critical pieces seem to be explaining what the student did academically (transcript & course descriptions) and outside evaluations (outside grades, test scores, letters of recommendation). I've heard dual enrollment and letters of recommendation from non-family members mentioned frequently. If I had a current homeschooler, I'd make an effort to retain a little more sample work from outside courses. Had we been asked to produce a paper, we probably could have. But that's because they were returned via email. I worry that courses that use Canvas or similar portals are inaccessible after the course, so a student can't retrieve a course syllabus or graded assignments. But also, I'd like to tell my past self to enjoy the process more and worry a little less. There are so many colleges out there. Not dozens, but hundreds and hundreds of nice schools with a lot to offer.

A few years ago, when my youngest qas in high school, I started working as an Independent Educational Consultant. The Bard experience was one a colleague encountered with a client. She is a longtime homeschooler and experienced IEC. Bard was adamant that they wanted a full syllabus per course.

You really need to ask the colleges how much they want. Last year Bard insisted they needed a full syllabus for each class. For others, what you proposed would be enough. But unless you ask what they mean by syllabus, you're guessing.

I've seen College Algebra refer to so many different things at different colleges. The first semester of Pre-Calculus, the course between Algebra 2 and Pre-Calculus, a very basic Algebra course. Try to find the math sequence flow chart for the college he'd attend as a DE student to see how they sequence courses and what they are called. I like Farrar's idea of starting DE in the spring with a single math course so he can get used to that. On the other hand, sophomore year can be young to start at a college and that schedule can interrupt a lot of homeschooling plans. So I'd probably go with the TT Pre-Calc starting this October, followed next year by whatever course is appropriate based on the placement test. You might want to have him take the placement test in the spring, so if he doesn't place well, he has time to study for a couple months and retest. I didn't see anyone mention Statistics. That might be a more useful follow on course than Calculus for a student interested in social sciences, education, or journalism.

I think you may be reading this as more complicated than it is. Test scores are not required at JMU, even for homeschoolers. If you think the scores send a strong positive signal, they would have to be sent via an official score report to be considered as part of the admissions review. JMU doesn't have supplemental essays, and says the Common App personal statement is optional (which often means it's not read at all). The Early Action deadline is Nov 1, which is less than 4 weeks away. So a score report ordered now would take a couple weeks to arrive, putting it comfortably in before the deadline but not too far in advance. (I think the caution not to send them much before the application is talking about scores sent months before the student applies, not days or weeks.)

I don't see why it has to be an either/or. It's possible that the students were not taking effective steps to learn the material AND that the professor was doing an inadequate job teaching the students in the room. A teacher were was remarkable and groundbreaking in the past might not be effective in his current setting. Students need to work hard in hard classes, but if they didn't learn how to study in high school (and many didn't) then that needs to be an overt part of the college curriculum. I find it interesting that the students didn't ask for his contract not to be renewed, but that is the remedy NYU used. I also think it's possible that an 84 year old professor might not be on top of how his current students are accessing course materials through digital platforms. I've been frustrated with how many places I have to search through platforms like Canvas to find readings, videos, syllabus, and assignments. Standardization within a university, through the use of instructional design professionals would be really helpful. It once took my son over 2 hours on the phone with customer service, just to properly gain access to the digital textbook and homework portal for chemistry. It's not just a matter of getting the one text from the bookstore and reading it while taking notes.

If the student took SAT Subject Tests back when they were available, they were generally included in the SAT score report. Most colleges are happy to see self reported AP scores. Usually students only need to send the AP score report to the college they will enroll at.

I usually called the counseling office and asked for the AP Coordinator before explaining my question. At least then I felt I was getting an authoritative answer and not what the person answering the phone assumed was true. I would also ask if they could recommend another school that might have space. I had private schools decide to let my kids test when they heard that local publics had said no. I also had a state AP coordinator refer us to a private school with her personal introduction.

Does he have an academic interest for college? Have you looked at what courses he might take senior year? Are there specific colleges he might be interested in? In general I'd say it's fine for students to start to specialize. But in practice, some colleges are so popular that they can pick whomever they want. And often those are kids who gave 4 credits in each core subject plus more in their areas of interest. There is often a gap between what a college lists as required and what admitted students typically have. On the other hand, sometimes colleges are really excited about students who dig very deep into their interests. I asked about senior year classes, because he might not want a social science class then either, depending on course load. Then he might end high school with only 2 SS credits. You said he doesn't want to do a course at home. Would that include a course he mostly designed? Looking at his interest in German, I can think of several directions a German history course might take, for example.

When we lived in Hawaii, it was a constant struggle. The school I could see from our house stopped allowing any outside students. Another school we'd used was renting classroom space for the exams and decided only locally zoned students could test at their site. We were able to get seats each year at private schools, but it was so much anxiety. What frustrated me though was that when I suggested trying to get a provision in law to ensure access, some of the powers that be within homeschooling were opposed to trying. Their attitude was that opening legislation would open homeschooling to more regulation and who needed AP tests anyway. Just getting people to agree there was an issue took more energy than I could sustain.

For moments when the student is stressed and having a moment, Eat a Sandwich, Take a Shower, Take a Nap. This was SWB advice from a conference workshop a decade ago. It also helps when homeschool parents are having a moment. Don't forget that the student is also a human being that you have love and affection for. Sometimes academics do need to take a back seat to cocoa and snuggles on the couch. (And sometimes you need to sit down and learn the algebra or grammar alongside them in order to give them the support they need.)

That sometimes your homeschooling will look different from what others do, even from what friends you love choose. And that this is just fine.