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Transcript questions - "Honors" courses, "P" grades, Weighting honors/AP/"college" or dual enrolled, etc.


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For schools that allow for additional recommendations for homeschooled applicants, did you send an extra? DS has an english teacher, the IMO deputy team leader, and me as counselor, I could get his music teacher to write one. Worthwhile? DS is not going into music.

Edited by lewelma
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Yes, this.  But if you end up making changes to senior year classes, at some point you'll need to inform your colleges, even after you submit the CA if necessary.  I'm not sure if it's best to do it by mail or email or whether you need to provide a reason.  

 

I had to make some alterations to spring senior year plans.  One kid did Stats instead of Calc 2 and the other switched CC campuses.  Both of these were because of scheduling issues.

 

The Common App Midyear Report was a way to both submit first semester grades and update what was happening for spring.

 

I included an updated transcript, a cover letter that briefly explained the changes, and a sheet with the course descriptions for the new courses.

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  • 10 months later...
On 9/4/2017 at 10:39 AM, 8FillTheHeart said:

We just moved and the umbrella I originally signed up with balked at the classes I labeled honors on my dd's transcript, even courses taken in another state before we moved here! It infuriated me bc the person overseeing the process obviously just had a generic response as to what could be defined as honors. She told me only college level courses could be labeled honors. Really??? That is absurd. It puts my student at a distinct disadvantage if Foerster's completed in 8th grade cannot be considered honors bc it isn't a college level clas bc it lowers her converted GPA at the college level. (I don't weight my kids GPA, but I label them honors when appropriate bc schools do weight them on their end.)


So you labeled Foerster's in 8th as honors, correct? Did colleges count it in the GPA given it was in eight grade?  Did you list many eighth grade classes? What about classes that don't have any clear cut years? (They were spread unevenly over two or more years.) Is it better to pick a year to assign it to or list the classes by subject and don't list years?

 

On 9/4/2017 at 7:15 AM, snowbeltmom said:

With my boys' transcripts, I only designated classes as "honors" if the outside provider listed it as "honors".  However, I don't think I am going to handle my D;s transcript the same way.  I think I am going to list AoPS and other classes as "honors" even if the provider doesn't. 

Would you mind elaborating on this? It's mentioned elsewhere in the thread about asking providers first -- is that required? There are some classes that we used an online class as the core and supplemented with other books and lab work and/or tutors to add depth and breadth. Do I need some sort of permission to label them honors? I plan to write a general explanation about what constitutes an honors class, as well as further details in each course description. I plan to list the course description that the providers gives, then add details about the extra work (depth/breadth). Does that sound sufficient? For what it's worth, she also has test scores which will hopefully be another way to validate honors designation. I don't want to come across as padding the transcript, but I also don't want to shortchange my teen.

I know this is an old thread, but rather than start a new one, I thought it might be best to ask follow-up questions about some posts here. I would love to hear any other thoughts or suggestions as well!

Edited by Woodland Mist Academy
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8 hours ago, Woodland Mist Academy said:


So you labeled Foerster's in 8th as honors, correct? Did colleges count it in the GPA given it was in eight grade?  Did you list many eighth grade classes? What about classes that don't have any clear cut years? (They were spread unevenly over two or more years.) Is it better to pick a year to assign it to or list the classes by subject and don't list years?

 

Would you mind elaborating on this? It's mentioned elsewhere in the thread about asking providers first -- is that required? There are some classes that we used an online class as the core and supplemented with other books and lab work and/or tutors to add depth and breadth. Do I need some sort of permission to label them honors? I plan to write a general explanation about what constitutes an honors class, as well as further details in each course description. I plan to list the course description that the providers gives, then add details about the extra work (depth/breadth). Does that sound sufficient? For what it's worth, she also has test scores which will hopefully be another way to validate honors designation. I don't want to come across as padding the transcript, but I also don't want to shortchange my teen.

I know this is an old thread, but rather than start a new one, I thought it might be best to ask follow-up questions about some posts here. I would love to hear any other thoughts or suggestions as well!

Whether or not they counted the courses in their GPA calculations I have no idea. Did I include many? I included the courses completed prior to high school that were high school level work. For ds that meant 6.5 credits, for Dd 7 cr. (Not all of those were from 8th grade. Ds for example had alg 1,2, geo, AoPS intermediate alg, etc)

FWIW, if you are including provider designation on your transcript, I would be reluctant to alter designations bc you supplemented. I would personally take the approach of leaving off the provider information and just listing materials/content covered and giving the designation that I feel is appropriate. 

 

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8 hours ago, Woodland Mist Academy said:


So you labeled Foerster's in 8th as honors, correct? Did colleges count it in the GPA given it was in eight grade?  Did you list many eighth grade classes? What about classes that don't have any clear cut years? (They were spread unevenly over two or more years.) Is it better to pick a year to assign it to or list the classes by subject and don't list years?

 

Would you mind elaborating on this? It's mentioned elsewhere in the thread about asking providers first -- is that required? There are some classes that we used an online class as the core and supplemented with other books and lab work and/or tutors to add depth and breadth. Do I need some sort of permission to label them honors? I plan to write a general explanation about what constitutes an honors class, as well as further details in each course description. I plan to list the course description that the providers gives, then add details about the extra work (depth/breadth). Does that sound sufficient? For what it's worth, she also has test scores which will hopefully be another way to validate honors designation. I don't want to come across as padding the transcript, but I also don't want to shortchange my teen.

I know this is an old thread, but rather than start a new one, I thought it might be best to ask follow-up questions about some posts here. I would love to hear any other thoughts or suggestions as well!

With my boys' transcripts, I only designated classes as "honors" if the outside provider listed it as "honors".  However, I don't think I am going to handle my D;s transcript the same way.  I think I am going to list AoPS and other classes as "honors" even if the provider doesn't. 

I am snowbeltmom. (I had to change my username to get back in after the change-over) I ended up not listing the AoPS classes as honors.  I kept the same approach with my daughter as I did with my boys.  She is applying this year, but the schools on her list that award merit base the merit awards on gpa and standardized test scores.  If she had been applying to schools that are a little more "fuzzy" with their merit criteria, and I thought that the honors designation would have made a difference in how the transcript was interpreted, I would have tried to figure out the weighted gpa formulae and listed all of her English, Math, and Science classes as honors.  

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On 9/4/2017 at 7:15 AM, snowbeltmom said:

With my boys' transcripts, I only designated classes as "honors" if the outside provider listed it as "honors".  However, I don't think I am going to handle my D;s transcript the same way.  I think I am going to list AoPS and other classes as "honors" even if the provider doesn't. 

I am going to have a blurb in my school profile describing what criteria was used in determining the "honors" level.

Imo, Lukeion classes are definitely honors level classes, and I would label them as such.

 

2 hours ago, alewife said:

I am snowbeltmom. (I had to change my username to get back in after the change-over) I ended up not listing the AoPS classes as honors.  I kept the same approach with my daughter as I did with my boys.  She is applying this year, but the schools on her list that award merit base the merit awards on gpa and standardized test scores.  If she had been applying to schools that are a little more "fuzzy" with their merit criteria, and I thought that the honors designation would have made a difference in how the transcript was interpreted, I would have tried to figure out the weighted gpa formulae and listed all of her English, Math, and Science classes as honors.  

So if you felt honors would make a difference and the class was absolutely honors level, would you still list the provider and mark the class as honors (even if they didn't designate it as such) or leave the provider off?

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4 hours ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

Whether or not they counted the courses in their GPA calculations I have no idea. Did I include many? I included the courses completed prior to high school that were high school level work. For ds that meant 6.5 credits, for Dd 7 cr. (Not all of those were from 8th grade. Ds for example had alg 1,2, geo, AoPS intermediate alg, etc)

FWIW, if you are including provider designation on your transcript, I would be reluctant to alter designations bc you supplemented. I would personally take the approach of leaving off the provider information and just listing materials/content covered and giving the designation that I feel is appropriate. 

 

What made the math classes honors? Were they all AoPS? I was under the impression doing a class early doesn't make it honors, it makes it accelerated or just taken early. 

If it's not only supplementing that makes a class honors (it's the text used, etc), would you still leave off the provider? Did your son take AoPS classes? Did you leave off the provider?

Edited by Woodland Mist Academy
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48 minutes ago, Woodland Mist Academy said:

I

 

So if you felt honors would make a difference and the class was absolutely honors level, would you still list the provider and mark the class as honors (even if they didn't designate it as such) or leave the provider off?

I would list the class as honors and also list the provider.  In my school profile, I would state the criteria for the honors designation. For example, AoPS has a blurb in the front of their textbooks stating that the books are written for top 2 percent of math students( or something similar I don't have a book with me now to check). WTMA rhetoric classes use college level textbooks and I would site that as reason for honors, etc

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1 hour ago, Woodland Mist Academy said:

What made the math classes honors? Were they all AoPS? I was under the impression doing a class early doesn't make it honors, it makes it accelerated or just taken early. 

If it's not only supplementing that makes a class honors (it's the text used, etc), would you still leave off the provider? Did your son take AoPS classes? Did you leave off the provider?

My definition is based on the level of challenge of the course.  I believe having students doing the entire text and all the challenge problems in Foerster's for example is honors.  If they are only doing the equations and the simpler word problems and skipping the more advanced topics in the text, that would not be honors. Completing an entire MUS text early would not be honors.

AoPS I did label honors bc he completed their course and when I inquired they told me it was up to me. If I wanted to label it honors, I could.  

I have never used an outside provider that I supplemented. I have either outsourced or done at home.

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