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Common app questions - down to the wire


dirty ethel rackham
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We are getting down to the wire for our Early Action application deadlines and I have a couple of questions.

 

I am working on the School Profile document.  I have one from my older son, but I remember seeing a post here in the last couple of months about what they want in this from homeschoolers.  I looked at the help on the CA website, but that one was not very applicable to homeschooled students.  I tried searching, but a see of posts came up and I spent an inordinent amount of time sifting through these posts.  Can anyone help me find that post? 

 

I have another question about listing AOPS courses.  For my older son, we did not use the graded option.  It wasn't available at first and, then, when it was, I was concerned that he was getting a terrible grade in the course.  I decided to make a final exam from a hodgepodge of sources (AOPS and other high school textbooks) to use for a grade.  I just listed the book and the online online class discussion as resources on my course descriptions.  I didn't actually list it as a class he took.  For ds17, he tookthe classes, but we didn't get any grade reports.  I have no idea how he did in the class.  This kid is very independent and can't stand when I "look through his stuff" (i.e. check up on him in class.)  I did use other assessments and felt comfortable giving him a grade.  As I am writing this, I am unclear on what I am asking exactly.  I guess, should I just list things the same as I did for his older brother and ignore AoPS as an educational partner or should I list them as a partner, but not worry that I never got grades from them? 

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For the school profile I discussed our educational philosophy, how we started homeschooling, how the 2 impacted our course designs, my older kids educational paths and the current opportunities that my kids take advantage of (things like my 9th grader taking multiple foreign languages and ds creating independent science studies,etc.)  Mine was about 1 1/2 pages.

 

For the AoPS, I don't know what to suggest.   We used the online courses and requested grades.   I would probably simply list the course title and not refer to AoPS on the transcript.

 

ETA:   I don't know if you are aware of it, but some of the schools have a "completed" requirement for their deadline for scholarship considerations.   For example, one scholarship ds applied for had to have in hand all LOR and test scores, etc by the enrollment date or he would not be considered for the scholarship.  

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Thanks.  I have already been around the block on this with my older son.  I just remembered a post here that specifically listed what the schools were looking for from homeschools.  I think I may just ignore that and go with my original one that worked for my oldest son. 

 

With AoPS, when we first started using them, you had to ask for grades at the beginning of the year and you would receive a grade at the end.  My oldest son thought he was failing because he was accustomed to 90% being an A.  As any AoPS family knows, 90% is not realistic for even the most talented math students.  So, I decided to do a different assessment, mostly to make sure that we had the scope and sequence covered. 

 

I am aware of the deadlines, which is why we are working hard to meet the Nov 1st deadline.  Ds17 has asked all of his recommenders earlier this month and has been in contact with them.  He is following up with them on Monday.  Test scores have been sent to all the schools with the earlier deadlines. 

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I have another question about listing AOPS courses.  For my older son, we did not use the graded option.  It wasn't available at first and, then, when it was, I was concerned that he was getting a terrible grade in the course.  .. I did use other assessments and felt comfortable giving him a grade.  As I am writing this, I am unclear on what I am asking exactly.  I guess, should I just list things the same as I did for his older brother and ignore AoPS as an educational partner or should I list them as a partner, but not worry that I never got grades from them? 

I am a year away from going through the process, so I don't have any btdt experience, but my oldest also doesn't have any formal grades from AoPS.  When he started taking their online classes 6 years ago, the students received detailed evaluations on their submitted challenge set problems, and I did not realize until a few years later that AoPS would assign a letter grade upon request.

 

The schools at the top of my son's list are familiar with AoPS, and I want the adcoms to know that his math was online with AoPS even though he never received a letter grade from AoPS.  I have listed AoPS as an educational partner and explain that my son received detailed evaluations in lieu of letter grades.  I have stated that the letter grades were assigned by me based on the AoPS comments and standardized test scores.  I also state that a copy of the AoPS evaluations are available upon request, but I would be shocked if any adcom requests a copy.

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