Do colleges look at gpa for homeschoolers?

[Slipper]

My kids are younger, but my niece will be a senior this upcoming year (and my nephew a junior). I'm wondering if colleges will look at their gpa or will most of their concentration be on ACT scores? Both my niece and nephew will need a scholarship to afford college. My brother and SIL are hoping that their gpa will help (my niece has straight a's and my nephew has all a's and one B). My niece has taken the ACT three times and scored a 21 each time. My nephew has taken it once and scored a 12. I've asked them to send me the subscores. I'm hopeful that I can figure out what they need to concentrate on.

 

I have always felt that colleges might not give a lot of attention to gpa simply because the parents are the ones giving the grades. But, with my kids being younger, I have no idea what colleges look at for homeschoolers.

[Jane in NC]

We had one admissions counselor tell us that he likes to see outside courses on homeschoolers' transcripts.

 

A transcript does offer some insight into what your student has covered, but personally I felt that my "mommy grades" were relatively meaningless. Grades from the Community College and test scores certainly backed up what I claimed were my son's grades.

 

Neither your niece nor your nephew will qualify for merit aid with those test scores. Merit aid is usually determined by either test scores or a combination of test scores and GPA. Perhaps financial aid may be available?

 

Gently--I am not sure that your nephew should attend traditional college. Perhaps remedial classes at the CC could help him. Many of the trade programs require solid math skills which I don't think he has if his ACT score was 12.

[Dmmetler]

Colleges don't really even look at GPA much for PS students-it's just too variable from school to school. There are schools where a 3.0 takes more work than a 4.0 from a different school in the same district, some schools weight grades for honors classes, some for AP classes, some weight for AP but not for DE (meaning that a student who took two years of real college courses could have a lower GPA from the same grades than if they took half as many year-long AP classes). The transcript matters-but is taken with a grain of salt unless the school the child is applying from has a really, really good reputation for having reliable grades because past students from that school have done well (I've heard from a couple of people in admissions locally here that some of the homeschool cover programs have better records with admissions than some of the PS high schools for this reason, even though the cover programs mostly just are a record keeping service).

 

 

So in general, yes, for scholarship purposes the test scores matter more than grades. So do the recommendations, the essay, the interview (and if you're going to apply and need scholarship money, make an effort to do an interview), the portfolio/audition if the program wants one, and simply standing out as a student.

 

I'd suggest that your niece and nephew try the SAT, if they haven't already-sometimes kids will do substantially better on one than on the other.

[angela in ohio]

I can tell you what we have been told by admissions officers so far...

 

Overall, we have been told that they do consider them, but they give them more weight if at least some of the grades are from outside sources (online classes, CC classes, etc.)

 

Some colleges have told us that they tend to give a bit more weight to homeschoolers SAT Subject Tests and SAT/ACT and a bit less weight to GPA. One told us they replace the "class ranking" aspect with SAT Subject Tests. The most selective ones we have talked to said that in the holistic review, the "numbers" matter in the beginning as a prerequisite of sorts, but then it starts to matter more *who* the student is (their passion, what they have accomplished so far outside of classes, evidence that they can overcome challenges, etc.)

 

And for anyone, homeschoolers or not, the rigor is also considered, so one 4.0 is not equal to another necessarily, and colleges know that.

[klmama]

Colleges do look at GPA to get a general idea, but the ACT will weigh more, particularly for students with such huge discrepancies between their grades and the test scores. Such low ACT scores makes it look like the parents didn't expect much for an A. I would expect a student getting all A's to score from the mid 20s up into the 30s. Is it possible that there are learning issues, such as slow processing speed, that might have affected test outcome?

[Teachin'Mine]

A composite score of 21 on the ACT is at the 55th percentile nationwide, and 12 is at 3rd percentile. I agree with Jane that they need to adjust their goals somewhat. Are you sure those scores are right? Honestly, I've never heard of anyone getting exactly the same score three times on the ACT. Even if it doesn't improve much, it is usually at least different. Would you believe that they earned A's with those standardized test scores? I think colleges would look at their GPA in the same way. Community college would be a great way to start so they can begin with where they're at. If your niece gets a good GPA at community college, then she could reasonably expect some merit aid to some good colleges. Her ACT scores won't matter at that point as she'll have proved she can handle college level courses.

 

You may want to just find the chart for ACT score percentiles and send that to your brother and SIL so they can come to their own conclusion without having to spell it out. There is always a chance that some help with preparing for the ACT might help her to raise her score, but it's a long shot for getting it into scholarship range.

[Barbara H]

I would encourage the family to try out a net price calculator and get an estimate of what sort of financial aid they may be eligible for. More money comes in the form of financial aid than it does in merit scholarships anyway.

 

It is fairly sure that a student with a 12 on the ACT is not college ready. That doesn't reflect meeting even the minimum benchmarks. It may be good to assess if the student has learning disabilities or what is happening there.

 

The student with the 21 may be college ready. That's around the benchmark and she may do just fine at a community college or regional state university. Some regional state schools will offer "conditional admissions" for students who don't meet the benchmarks for a particular subject like math and then require the student to start with a remedial course. Whatever she decides about college, I'd encourage her to start slow and make sure she's got good advising. She may be a much stronger student than the 21 would indicate or that may reflect that even with hard work she's going to need to start earlier in the sequence in topics such as math.

[Slipper]

Thanks for the responses so far. Jane, I happen to agree with you regarding my nephew, but that's not my call to make. I'm hoping they'll take me up on my offer to help as I feel like my niece needs a back up plan and my nephew needs a completely different one. He has always struggled in reading, significantly, but in our community, testing for learning disorders is considered shameful. (I moved here from a different area so I worry less about stigma and more about what the child needs). The school suggested testing which is when my SIL and brother pulled them out to homeschool.

 

My niece has taken one outside cc class and made an A. She is a self-motivated learner and enjoys school and I'd love to see her score improve. Her score hasn't budged in 18 months so I'm at a loss without the subscores. To the best of my knowledge, she made a 21 all three times. I haven't actually seen the paperwork, but I'm assuming they are being truthful. (It's possible they aren't if it went down).

 

And, no, if I were a college admissions person, I wouldn't believe the gpa either. (That's why my own kids take standardized tests - I want to see how they compare to the rest of the country).

[Teachin'Mine]

What a shame that he never got tested and how sad that others consider it shameful to be tested. Maybe you could post on the Challenged Learners board and see if there are any preliminary tests you can do with him. If you find that a LD seems likely, as I assume it would be, then maybe you could persuade them to get professional testing done. They're really doing him a disservice with their avoidance. It won't go away, and it likely won't get better without help of some kind.

 

Barbara's suggestion about a regional state university is a good one for your niece. Taking a couple of cc courses this fall, and doing well again, would help to strengthen her application.

[SarahW]

If the nephew really does have a LD, wouldn't he get accommodations for taking the ACT? I'm not sure which tests have what accommodations, but some give extra time, or someone to read aloud the questions, or some other things, depending on the specific LD. OP, if your relatives won't get him tested, then when he turns 18 you can give him a list of local resources for testing and remediation. It's more difficult then, but he'll be able to get some help.

 

If the curriculum and courses and grades are actually reflective of their current work, then it may be that they simply have "middle school" gaps that they are fudging over. Maybe they don't have a good grasp of fractions or the decimals for percentages. I always managed to drag down my math score with silly, stupid mistakes in simple calculations. A good test prep program should be able to spit out a basic diagnostic of the areas of weakness. By inspecting the wrong answers more closely the specific skills that are missing should turn up. This late in the game, though, a crash course in those areas would be tough.

[Slipper]

Yes, he would get accommodations, but he has to be tested for a LD first. They won't test him. Unfortunately, the whole conversation is now dead. They said the kids were doing just fine and they plan to continue prepping for the test the way they have in the past. I was hopeful they would let me help develop a game plan, but the answer is no. :(

 

It's frustrating because I want to help. But, at the end of the day, it's their call.