If you've applied to state universities in TX

[....]

I have a couple of questions (that may not even have clear-cut answers).  

We had our first college visit and meeting with the admissions counselor this week.  DD16 is completely sold on this college.  It's a state/public university in TX.  I learned a lot at the admissions meeting, but I had a couple of lingering thoughts/questions...

It seemed like they wanted homeschoolers' transcripts to look just like public school transcripts.  The counselor told me they wanted a "by semester" transcript.  Our transcripts are "by subject" and when I asked her about it, she wasn't even sure what that meant.  She went into another office and asked someone else what that was.  One of my thoughts is...are they looking for class names like English 9, English 10, English 11, etc... or would World Literature, British Literature, Classic Literature, etc be OK??  I got the impression that something like that would be overwhelming for them.

Also, we have been schooling year-round for 10 years.  My kids have a TON of high school credits.  And I'm not entirely sure how to cram those into a semester system.  *sigh*

Does anyone know if they have a 1-page transcript preference?  Is it better to just have 1 page with their classes/grades...or 2 pages with extracurriculars/awards listed on them?

Thanks in advance if anyone has experience with this!   

[...................]

16 minutes ago, Evanthe said:

I have a couple of questions (that may not even have clear-cut answers).  

We had our first college visit and meeting with the admissions counselor this week.  DD16 is completely sold on this college.  It's a state/public university in TX.  I learned a lot at the admissions meeting, but I had a couple of lingering thoughts/questions...

It seemed like they wanted homeschoolers' transcripts to look just like public school transcripts.  The counselor told me they wanted a "by semester" transcript.  Our transcripts are "by subject" and when I asked her about it, she wasn't even sure what that meant.  She went into another office and asked someone else what that was.  One of my thoughts is...are they looking for class names like English 9, English 10, English 11, etc... or would World Literature, British Literature, Classic Literature, etc be OK??  I got the impression that something like that would be overwhelming for them.

Also, we have been schooling year-round for 10 years.  My kids have a TON of high school credits.  And I'm not entirely sure how to cram those into a semester system.  *sigh*

Does anyone know if they have a 1-page transcript preference?  Is it better to just have 1 page with their classes/grades...or 2 pages with extracurriculars/awards listed on them?

Thanks in advance if anyone has experience with this!   

 

Since you are a regular boardie if you PM me your email address I’ll send you the transcript my son made. We crammed a heck of a lot in!!! ?

[....]

50 minutes ago, Calming Tea said:

 

Since you are a regular boardie if you PM me your email address I’ll send you the transcript my son made. We crammed a heck of a lot in!!! ?

 

PM-ing you!

Edited August 29, 2018 by Evanthe

[JazzyMom]

My son applied to 5 Texas public schools and already has one acceptance! ?

I created his transcript by subject.  It’s one page.  I only listed academic work and test scores on the transcript.  Awards and activities went on his resume.

Your course names (am lit, british lit, etc. seem pretty standard).

I did put “Class Rank - N/A” on the transcript since class rank is so important in Texas and some of the schools want a written statement that there’s no class rank.

Also, a couple of the schools wanted a notarized transcript so I just sent them all a notarized one.

Unless simething specific is listed on the website (one school wanted BRIEF course descriptions), I wouldn’t overthink it. 

 

[....]

4 hours ago, JazzyMom said:

My son applied to 5 Texas public schools and already has one acceptance! ?

I created his transcript by subject.  It’s one page.  I only listed academic work and test scores on the transcript.  Awards and activities went on his resume.

Your course names (am lit, british lit, etc. seem pretty standard).

I did put “Class Rank - N/A” on the transcript since class rank is so important in Texas and some of the schools want a written statement that there’s no class rank.

Also, a couple of the schools wanted a notarized transcript so I just sent them all a notarized one.

Unless simething specific is listed on the website (one school wanted BRIEF course descriptions), I wouldn’t overthink it. 

 

 

Congratulations!!  

I think I now understand how important it is to go to the meeting with the admissions counselor before applying.  I learned a lot about what they were expecting when you applied.  This school wanted the transcript by semester and NO course descriptions (I actually asked, because I have not written course descriptions).  They seemed to be all about ACT/SAT testing scores.  They also came right out and said they consider APs to be wishy-washy and their program gave "less points" to community college transfers.  Yikes!  It was everything I was hoping wasn't true about college admissions.  Anyway, I learned a lot!

Forgot to ask if they wanted a notarized transcript...          

And resume?  Are we supposed to write something up specifically with activities/extracurriculars?  Besides the transcript?

[Bambam]

My oldest applied to several Texas state universities and was accepted to them all. However, we did our transcripts by semester as that worked well for us. I haven't heard anything about not doing it that way, so I'd appreciate knowing (if you would care to share either here or in a PM) which college that was!

As for activities and extracurriculars, we just included those in the Apply Texas app.  I think there was space for 8 each? You could do a separate resume, but I read something somewhere (nebulous, I know!) that led me to conclude that wasn't a good idea (separate resume).

Good luck!

[....]

1 hour ago, Bambam said:

As for activities and extracurriculars, we just included those in the Apply Texas app. 

 

Yeah, she did tell us that they don't use Common App.  They have their own system.  

Oh, and I PM'ed you.

Edited August 30, 2018 by Evanthe

[JazzyMom]

We only submitted the resume to schools that wanted it.  One school only wanted a resume if you ran out of room for activities on the Apply Texas application.

I didn’t speak to any admissions personnel, and just followed whatever was written on each school’s website.  Hopefully, everything works out because it is all sent in at this point, lol.

Best wishes to you, Evanthe!

[....]

20 hours ago, JazzyMom said:

Best wishes to you, Evanthe!

 

Thank-you.  You, too!

[8filltheheart]

My dd applied and was accepted to Trinity and invited to their competitive scholarship weekend (though she didn't attend b/c she changed her mind about Trinity.)

This is the transcript format I have used for all of my kids w/o issue. I only did final grades, but it would easy enough to break down into semester grades by adding additional columns.

 

Copy of sample high school transcript-1.pdf

Edited August 31, 2018 by 8FillTheHeart

[stlily]

1 hour ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

My dd applied and was accepted to Trinity and invited to their competitive scholarship weekend (though she didn't attend b/c she changed her mind about Trinity.)

This is the transcript format I have used for all of my kids w/o issue. I only did final grades, but it would easy enough to break down into semester grades by adding additional columns.

 

Copy of sample high school transcript-1.pdf

Thank you for sharing this! ?

[....]

7 hours ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

My dd applied and was accepted to Trinity and invited to their competitive scholarship weekend (though she didn't attend b/c she changed her mind about Trinity.)

This is the transcript format I have used for all of my kids w/o issue. I only did final grades, but it would easy enough to break down into semester grades by adding additional columns.

 

Copy of sample high school transcript-1.pdf

 

OK, I actually like this, because it's a mixture of by year and by subject.  You can easily see how many credits in each subject were completed.  

[....]

1 hour ago, Kinsa said:

PS -- We had to notarize every transcript. 

 

I should've asked that at the admissions presentation...

[LinRTX]

Well I just started my fourth home school graduate at at Texas state college. We have always done our transcripts by semester so I am no help there and ours are 2 pages. No one asked for a description of courses but one wanted them for scholarship consideration. I did not find this out until after the scholarships had been given out and she received the lowest one possible. The website said it was based on SAT scores and hers was almost perfect so we were shocked. I contacted them about it and they said it was because they could not tell how rigorous her course work was. She is not going to this school and I told them that info needed to be on the website.

 

[HollyDay]

 Dd applied to 3 (and was accepted at all 3) and all three wanted something slightly different.  One of the college provided a sample of what they wanted so that was helpful. 2 wanted yearly transcrips and 1 wanted semester.  All wanted credits shown.  Non wanted subject transcript. I thought it interesting on the yearly transcripts that they wanted English shown as 1,2,3,4, same as foreign language.  I found it tricky when it came to literature.  We had to list those as electives: British Literature, American Literature, World Literature, (1 semester) Shakespeare, (1 semester) Poetry). 

[southcactusrose]

Evanthe, a lot of what they told you they wanted is almost the opposite of what’s i am having my son do and also what I planned on doing on his transcript based on the colleges I’ve spoke to. Do you mind me asking what University it is you met with? Feel free to PM me instead of posting if you’d feel more comfortable. I’d just like to see if it is one that my son is interested in so I can keep their requirements in mind.

[....]

10 minutes ago, southcactusrose said:

Evanthe, a lot of what they told you they wanted is almost the opposite of what’s i am having my son do and also what I planned on doing on his transcript based on the colleges I’ve spoke to. Do you mind me asking what University it is you met with? Feel free to PM me instead of posting if you’d feel more comfortable. I’d just like to see if it is one that my son is interested in so I can keep their requirements in mind.

 

I'll PM you!

[Lanny]

On 8/30/2018 at 6:51 AM, Evanthe said:

 

Congratulations!!  

I think I now understand how important it is to go to the meeting with the admissions counselor before applying.  I learned a lot about what they were expecting when you applied.  This school wanted the transcript by semester and NO course descriptions (I actually asked, because I have not written course descriptions).  They seemed to be all about ACT/SAT testing scores.  They also came right out and said they consider APs to be wishy-washy and their program gave "less points" to community college transfers.  Yikes!  It was everything I was hoping wasn't true about college admissions.  Anyway, I learned a lot!

Forgot to ask if they wanted a notarized transcript...          

And resume?  Are we supposed to write something up specifically with activities/extracurriculars?  Besides the transcript?

 

Following, because my DD is interested in 2 Public Universities in TX.    The Bolded (above) is certainly the message we received from the Admissions Reps from the 4 Ivy League Colleges who were at the School Fair we attended the night of May 3rd in Bogota.  However, they indicated less emphasis about SAT/ACT scores, which contrasts with what you wrote.

IMO the Skeptiicism about AP courses revolves around who is teaching them and what are their qualifications and what experience do they have teaching College Level  courses, etc. 

[....]

2 hours ago, Lanny said:

 

Following, because my DD is interested in 2 Public Universities in TX.    The Bolded (above) is certainly the message we received from the Admissions Reps from the 4 Ivy League Colleges who were at the School Fair we attended the night of May 3rd in Bogota.  However, they indicated less emphasis about SAT/ACT scores, which contrasts with what you wrote.

IMO the Skeptiicism about AP courses revolves around who is teaching them and what are their qualifications and what experience do they have teaching College Level  courses, etc. 

 

The community college thing always upsets me, because it seems discriminatory against families who do not have a lot of money or resources.  I've also read a study that said doctors who start at a cc are more likely to volunteer and work in underserved communities.  I started at a community college and I thought the classes there were actually much better in quality than the big-name university I graduated from.

Oh well.  Grrr...  And the other parents at the admissions presentation looked frustrated when they spoke of the APs & cc.  The parents have to pay for the AP classes and stuff, right?  

[Kassia]

3 minutes ago, Evanthe said:

 

 I started at a community college and I thought the classes there were actually much better in quality than the big-name university I graduated from.

 

 

This has been our experience, too.  Our CC has small classes led by great professors who care very much about student success.  We didn't find that at our competitive state flagship university.

[Lanny]

1 hour ago, Evanthe said:

 

The community college thing always upsets me, because it seems discriminatory against families who do not have a lot of money or resources.  I've also read a study that said doctors who start at a cc are more likely to volunteer and work in underserved communities.  I started at a community college and I thought the classes there were actually much better in quality than the big-name university I graduated from.

Oh well.  Grrr...  And the other parents at the admissions presentation looked frustrated when they spoke of the APs & cc.  The parents have to pay for the AP classes and stuff, right?  

 

I think the CC thing is similar to the AP course thing. The quality of the courses can vary, and it can vary wildly.  I understand about the economics of this.