What course info to save for college apps

[Grantmom]

I'm not sure if I should post this here or on the college board forum, so I will start here.  I want to be really proactive in making sure that I save everything I could possibly need for college applications. 

 

For online courses that your student took from a provider, what did you need to provide?  I received an official letter from the provider with the final grade only, an explanation of grades (what the grades included but they did not give a grading scale, like 90-100 is an A etc.), and a brief evaluation of the student.  What else do I need?  Obviously we have all of the work he has done from the class, but we don't have the individual grades for every assignment, because it was in an online platform and some of those grades were already removed.  I van print a copy of the course description from the website.  The teacher did not give the kids a syllabus though.  Should we ask for that?

 

So, what do we need to save?  Should I ask for a syllabus?  Do we need the grades from every assignment (homework, quizzes, etc.)?

 

Many thanks for any advice for those who have already filled out a college application.  I wonder, is it possible to actually go in and see the common app and see everything that they ask you for?  Some of those online applications are set up so that you have to enter in certain info and proceed one page at a time, but then you come to something that you didn't know you needed.

[FloridaLisa]

I only had one university that wanted course information so far. But I save the letter with the grade. I'd also save the text used and go ahead now and write a course description based on the syllabus. You can always screen shot the syllabus as well just in case. Save information to contact the teacher in case you need it for any recommendations. 

 

Lisa

[regentrude]

The must have are a course title and a grade, which do on the transcript.

Optional for many colleges, and requested by a few, is a course description. For outside courses, I use the one listed by the provider and add the main textbook.

Syllabi and assignment grades are not necessary.

 

Exception: if it is a COLLEGE course and your student plans to use the credit. In this case, you might need a detailed syllabus, list of assignments, copies of tests and labs, because the terminal college might want to evaluate the materials to decide on whether the student will received credit.

[MtnTeaching]

Granted, we were not going for the really super high end-schools, but they still all required that a separate transcript be sent from all online schools.  I wrote my own transcript with all of the grades in one place, but then I contacted each online school (Ds had several different schools because we pick and choose individual classes and instructors) to send their transcripts to the schools.  I believe the common application asked for this as well, but I just cannot remember.  I had no problem with all of the schools doing this, except for one school - The Potter's School.  They really gave me a hard time and finally, I just did not have them send one.  None of the colleges seemed to have a problem that ds' three years of French did not have a corroborating transcript other than mine.

 

None of the schools asked for individual assignment grades, but I made a point to always print those at the end of the year and file - just in case.  I also kept any courses that we did together even more detailed.  For instance, I know there are schools out there that require that they see science lab books.

 

The Common Application does require individual course descriptions of every single course with grading scale.  I pretty much used the Homeschool Scholar's format for writing course descriptions which made it very easy.  I HIGHLY suggest that you write these every year at the end of the year while it is fresh in your mind.  I waited until application time and it was a lot of work and I realized that my memory is not what it used to be.  If the class is online, printing and keeping the description of the class is a huge help when doing this.  Those syllabus' help, too.

 

The Homeschool Scholar (Lee Binz) also has good advice on making a transcript. Once again, I highly suggest keeping this up-to-date as your child finishes each grade.

 

I really liked Lee Binz's book Setting the Records Straight: How to Craft Homeschool Transcripts and Course Descriptions for College Admission and Scholarships.

 

Good luck.  The absolute best advice I can give is to please start early.  I wish I had.

[clementine]

Will your child be competing in a sport at the Division I or II level?  If so, then a little more information should be kept track of.  If not, I'd say that having the teacher's final grade, a short course description & the textbook used (copy cover, back, and table of contents) should be enough.  

[JanetC]

Here is what I do. 

The course shall cover <syllabus items>.  The student shall <output requirements>.  Resources used: <textbook, lab kit, etc.>

 

For outside classes (e.g homeschool co-op) the first sentence is "This course shall be taught by <outside source.>" Followed by the three items above.

 

I also have some cut-n-pasted descriptions from the community college classes DD took this year. Since they are already nicely written and formatted, I decided to use them "as is." They are organized as "Description" and "Outcomes"  The first sentence on those in my document is: "This course description is from <CC> <Link>", followed by the cut-n-paste.

 

Here's a link to one of those: http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/classes/All/BIOL%26/100

 

Mine are paragraphs, but when I was showing my course descriptions at the college fair, the reps loved the bulleted lists on the CC classes.  So, best advice is: make it easy to skim!
 

I have not saved individual item grades to send to colleges. All the transcript shows is the final grade.

[Grantmom]

Will your child be competing in a sport at the Division I or II level?  If so, then a little more information should be kept track of.  If not, I'd say that having the teacher's final grade, a short course description & the textbook used (copy cover, back, and table of contents) should be enough.  

 

Actually, there is a possibility my child would be interested in playing a sport, though at this point I have no idea where, so I would like to have everything in order to be able to comply with what's needed.  What would I need different or in addition for that?

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I've saved course grade/evaluation sheet, course description and syllabus.  

 

I think with those items I can answer nearly any question a school might have.  If your child had an outstanding paper or project or work of art, etc. I might save the sample with instructor comments should they apply for a school or scholarship that wanted to see a portfolio. 

[clementine]

Actually, there is a possibility my child would be interested in playing a sport, though at this point I have no idea where, so I would like to have everything in order to be able to comply with what's needed. What would I need different or in addition for that?

You would need course descriptions in a little more detail, table of contents/chapter names, the date the class started & ended, how the final grade was calculated/weighted, what assignments were given (papers, discussion questions, essays, etc.), textbook name & publisher.

 

Hopefully others will chime in too.

[Grantmom]

Wow so basically that would mean save everything? Do you think I'd need those grades for every assignment too? The online class that he took already took down their first semester grades. Should I ask if they still have them somewhere?

[clementine]

Not the grades for individual assignments, just the types of assignments done and how the final grade was calculated.

[Grantmom]

Okay, it does still have that info up, like what percent was quizzes, tests, homework, etc.

Thanks for all the info.  I honestly have no idea if DS would want to try to play his sport in college or not, but I really just want to be prepared for anything.  I am reading threads now about the NCAA mess and wow, there is a lot to untangle there.

 

[Aelwydd]

Okay, it does still have that info up, like what percent was quizzes, tests, homework, etc.

Thanks for all the info.  I honestly have no idea if DS would want to try to play his sport in college or not, but I really just want to be prepared for anything.  I am reading threads now about the NCAA mess and wow, there is a lot to untangle there.

 

We're still early in the process (rising 7th grader in the fall), so we're just now testing the waters for high school.  I have read several pages of information on NCAA's eligibility website, but darned if I know what we should do for our ds, who plays hockey.  We have ds enrolled in Florida's Global Virtual school, which does have NCAA approved core courses in high school.  But, unless we want to shell out an extra $285 dollars per half credit for the Cottage School umbrella HS Diploma program, we're still the ones who would be graduating ds.

 

Using their courses, which are accredited, would be classified as "nontraditional" schooling by NCAA, not home schooling.  But, dh and I would be the ones determining his graduation requirements.  So... :confused1:  :001_unsure:

[clementine]

We're still early in the process (rising 7th grader in the fall), so we're just now testing the waters for high school.  I have read several pages of information on NCAA's eligibility website, but darned if I know what we should do for our ds, who plays hockey.  We have ds enrolled in Florida's Global Virtual school, which does have NCAA approved core courses in high school.  But, unless we want to shell out an extra $285 dollars per half credit for the Cottage School umbrella HS Diploma program, we're still the ones who would be graduating ds.

 

Using their courses, which are accredited, would be classified as "nontraditional" schooling by NCAA, not home schooling.  But, dh and I would be the ones determining his graduation requirements.  So... :confused1:  :001_unsure:

 

You may want to post another thread with this question, using NCAA in the title.  I don't have knowledge of classes taken with a virtual school, so I am of no help there.   Hopefully someone else does.   :001_smile:

[goldberry]

The Common Application does require individual course descriptions of every single course with grading scale.  I pretty much used the Homeschool Scholar's format for writing course descriptions which made it very easy.  

 

 

WOW.  I didn't know the common app required course descriptions.  So many people here say they were never asked for course descriptions.  Why is that?

[MtnTeaching]

WOW.  I didn't know the common app required course descriptions.  So many people here say they were never asked for course descriptions.  Why is that?

 

I am not really sure, unless they did not use the Common App to apply to their schools.  Of the eight schools ds applied to, three did not take the common app.  Ds just applied directly to those schools.  One of those required course descriptions, the other two did not.  One of the eight schools ONLY took the Common App.  There was no way to apply directly to it..

 

The Common App definitely asked for course descriptions this year,  if you were a homeschooler.

 

It was interesting for Ds to look at what the schools required (especially essay-wise) if he were to apply directly to them, versus using the Common App route.  He asked me why he should even do the Common App since it required an essay, and then the individual schools would require their own essay or essays.  He felt it was more work.  (I certainly felt it was a lot of work.  The Common App asks for a LOT from the homeschooling parent.)

 

If any of you have a junior heading to senior this next year, I HIGHLY suggest having that student start on the essays over the summer and you start working on your Common App, as well.  Did I say "it is a lot of work?"

[goldberry]

So here is a question then...if the school direct applications rather than the common app, is it better to go that way?  Is there any advantage to the common app over direct application?  (especially if direct application asks less from homeschoolers..)

[Heather in WI]

Granted, we were not going for the really super high end-schools, but they still all required that a separate transcript be sent from all online schools.  I wrote my own transcript with all of the grades in one place, but then I contacted each online school (Ds had several different schools because we pick and choose individual classes and instructors) to send their transcripts to the schools.  I believe the common application asked for this as well, but I just cannot remember.  I had no problem with all of the schools doing this, except for one school - The Potter's School.  They really gave me a hard time and finally, I just did not have them send one. 

 

Are you saying TPS won't send a transcript? Ds is currently in a class with them this year & is signed up for one next year. Can you elaborate on this?

[dirty ethel rackham]

We didn't send transcripts for any of the online course providers.  Many of them didn't provide such a thing.  I didn't consider them schools where my kids were enrolled (unlike the public school or college) but providers of course content.  Not one college we applied to batted an eyelash.  In the school profile, I listed our "educational partners" and explained their grading system if they had any.  I did create course descriptions.  For outside classes, I listed the provider, a description of the class (I used theirs if it was adequate or added things based upon content if I didn't think it was), any materials used and the instructor.  For home grown classes, I listed what we did (often looking at what was covered in the text book), any materials used.  Since many of the outsourced classes were AP, I didn't feel the need to save a syllabus since the AP designation indicated what was covered.  We did not save the syllabi from the college classes.  The registrar and the department head determined what credit to give based upon the transcript from the college where they took classes.  If they had questions, they contacted the college.