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Hello. Problem with the common app. Daughter is attending public school 11-12th years but not obtaining their diploma. How do I handle this?


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Hello,

My daughter homeschooled up through 10th grade then went to the local high school full-time. She is graduating this year; however, she will not receive their diploma. Instead she will receive a paper stating that she attended, but is considered a homeschooler. This is because we opted not to have her take 'test out' exams for every homeschooled class. These are typically up to 4 hour long in length. I wasn't feeling that she needed their diploma.

So, when the common app asks for the most recent school we will list this school, BUT do we say that she graduated from this school?? If she does not receive their diploma she wouldn't be considered as graduating from this school, correct?

Then could we indicate she graduates from homeschooling? This would not be the most recent school.

The main issue is two-fold: 1) who will be the counselor and 2) how do we get both official transcripts into the common app.

In addition, she is also taking an online AP class from a different source that we purchased for her. So, I guess that transcript would need to be uploaded as well.

The school guidance counselor was nice and said she would try to find a solution. She suggested I try asking common app. I created a parent account and sent an email with no response. Now, I can not figure out how to get back into my account as it always brings up my daughter's account.

I hope some of you experienced and wise people will know just what to do! ?

Thank you so very much!!!!

PS don't pay attention to my signature. My kids are older than that now!

 

 

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This is in a way similar to our situation.  My son attended a community college full time.  BUT he is still considered by me to be high school and I call his community college dual credit courses.  I called the universities and they seem to want him as a freshman, and they seem to think it's much better for him to be shown as being homeschooled otherwise he will have to come in as a transfer student which severely limits acceptances at private and out of state colleges. So for last school attended we put our homeschool name.  In fact, I think that if you put your dd down as a homeschooler in the beginning of the common app, it'll ask slightly different questions.  

So I am not 100% certain but I believe you would put her as a homeschooler and list all the classes she took at the public school and then when it says earn diploma you would say "no" and that would make sense to them since most homeschoolers do not earn a diploma.  She can only have one official transcript.  (unless a student actually attends two schools but even then the credits would transfer over and they'd still expect only one transcript) I think that should be your homeschool transcript.  On that transcript you can put a star and put that all courses were taken at the public high school.  The benefit of having a homeschool transcript is that they'll stop a second to look at it more carefully and scrutinize it which is good.

I would pick 2 or 3 of your dd's favorite colleges and also call their admissions and ask what makes sense to them.  After all they're the ones making the decision, not Common App.  

Edited by Calming Tea
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I mostly agree with what Calming Tea said.

Because she won't be receiving a diploma from the local public school and they still consider your daughter a homeschooler, your "home" school would be the most current school.

You should have an overarching transcript that includes the AP class, your homeschool classes from 9th & 10th grades, and the AP online class--basically, all her classes on one transcript from your homeschool. You'll want to indicate with a superscript the different places (one for the AP class provider & one for the public school). You will be her counselor of record. Have the public school send their transcript directly to the colleges. 

I would say your homeschool will issue a diploma (this differs form CT's answer). I believe homeschools CAN issue a diploma of their own. My kids will have diplomas from our homeschool. You are just treating the public school as a 'vendor' from which your child takes (most of their) classes.

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Right, the public school is like a vendor to you.  

Did you put homeschooler in the beginning when you started out?  If you do, it'll open up several boxes for you to explain your homeschool situation, and they are open-ended so you can take the time to state what your dd did.  

And yes, as per what Root Ann said, you'd have to check the laws in your state regarding calling your homeschool thing a diploma..just because it's not accredited doesn't mean it's not a diploma. ?

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If she does not receive a Diploma from that school she is not a graduate of that school.     She is getting a certificate that she attended that school, not that she graduated from it.

And,  yet,  I wonder if you can put her as a Home School graduate, if she was in the Public School for 2 years?   She was Home Schooled in grades 9 and 10 but in Public School in grades 11 and 12. Those are different schools.

You were correct to reach out to Common App and to the School Counselor.

If you have a university in mind, I would document the issue in as few words as is possible, without leaving anything out, and send it to their Admissions Dept. and ask them to suggest what you should do. 

Would the university be OK with the fact that you issue a Home School Diploma, although she was in the Public High School in grades 11 and 12?

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35 minutes ago, Lanny said:

If she does not receive a Diploma from that school she is not a graduate of that school.     She is getting a certificate that she attended that school, not that she graduated from it.

And,  yet,  I wonder if you can put her as a Home School graduate, if she was in the Public School for 2 years?   She was Home Schooled in grades 9 and 10 but in Public School in grades 11 and 12. Those are different schools.

You were correct to reach out to Common App and to the School Counselor.

If you have a university in mind, I would document the issue in as few words as is possible, without leaving anything out, and send it to their Admissions Dept. and ask them to suggest what you should do. 

Would the university be OK with the fact that you issue a Home School Diploma, although she was in the Public High School in grades 11 and 12?

 

What about the idea that she is a homeschooler but the public school was like her vendor? Lots of people use one program/school/non-accredited co-op full time, for every single class but they're still homeschoolers... I am not certain by any means, just thinking aloud

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This was my daughter.  She graduated as a homeschooler despite attending public school nearly full-time for the last two years.  So, we called the public school an "educational partner" just like every other outsourced class.  When she applied, she had an master transcript that listed everything she did for high school (including online classes, college classes and high school classes.)  She had to request separate transcripts to be sent from the public high school and from the college where she took classes.  But the master transcript was maintained by me.  I was her counselor, so I wrote the counselor letter.  She did have a counselor at the public school, who did offer to write the counselor letter, but I felt it was better to come from me since I knew her entire school history.  She did ask some teachers at the high school to write LORs.  

She is now a freshman in college.  She was treated as a homeschooled applicant despite having a hybrid schooling experience.  

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2 hours ago, Carpe Diem said:

So, when the common app asks for the most recent school we will list this school, BUT do we say that she graduated from this school?? If she does not receive their diploma she wouldn't be considered as graduating from this school, correct? I would list homeschool as the most recent school, indicate she will graduate from it, list the date she started homeschooling in 9th & the graduation date when she's done with all her classes (plus give yourself a week or two), and list yourself as the counselor. Then, I'd indicate (1) other secondary school attended with the dates for 11th & 12th grades, using the "Please provide details" box to explain that she attended full time during 11th & 12th grades but is considered a homeschooler and will graduate from your homeschool.

Then could we indicate she graduates from homeschooling? This would not be the most recent school.

The main issue is two-fold: 1) who will be the counselor and 2) how do we get both official transcripts into the common app. You should be the counselor. Just make an over-arching transcript the covers everything. Have the school send their own transcript to colleges directly. You do not need to upload their transcript to the Common App as your transcript will contain those grades AND they will get the separate one from the school that has those classes/grades on it. Treat it like a dual enrollment transcript, basically.

In addition, she is also taking an online AP class from a different source that we purchased for her. So, I guess that transcript would need to be uploaded as well. I would just list this grade on your over-arching transcript. The only exception to this would be if the online provider is something like K12 (basically, an online public school provider). I'd have them send the transcript separately -- just like the public school will. But, you'll have the grade(s) on your transcript, too.

The school guidance counselor was nice and said she would try to find a solution. She suggested I try asking common app. I created a parent account and sent an email with no response. Now, I can not figure out how to get back into my account as it always brings up my daughter's account.

Try signing into the Recommender section instead of the student login section. You should be able to get into your parent account there.

See my other specific recommendations in red, above. I played around with my dummy account & this seems like it would work.

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26 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

Try signing into the Recommender section instead of the student login section. You should be able to get into your parent account there.

See my other specific recommendations in red, above. I played around with my dummy account & this seems like it would work.

 

I agree with this BUT I would ask, Why do they need the extra transcript?  I thought, Only if they are worried about accreditation and issuing credits would they ask for that transcript.  

 

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Colleges want to see transcripts for all schools a student has attended.  If your child was not homeschooled, but transferred high schools, they want transcripts from both.  If your child took any college classes, they want that transcript as well.  (Official transcripts sent directly to the admissions departments of the schools being applied to.)  But, to give an accurate picture (and to be able to claim your chlid as a homeschool graduate rather than a non-graduate of the public school, having a master transcript fulfills that need.  

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7 minutes ago, Calming Tea said:

sorry to hijack- Do I have to tell my son's CC to send transcripts or will they get a request from the Common App?  

Your child has to request them to be sent to each school being applied to (based upon what those schools want.)  Some colleges are self-reporting, meaning that they don't want a transcript sent until after an offer of acceptance has been made and a student chooses that school.  (Those tend to be really big universities ... it allows them to cut down on paperwork.  If you lie, they rescind the offer, though.) 

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2 hours ago, Calming Tea said:

 

What about the idea that she is a homeschooler but the public school was like her vendor? Lots of people use one program/school/non-accredited co-op full time, for every single class but they're still homeschoolers... I am not certain by any means, just thinking aloud

 

I think the only possibility, for the DD to become a High School Graduate, is for the OP to graduate her from Home School.  I don't know how she will write the Transcript, but it will need to include the Home School courses from grades 9 and  10 and the courses she took in the High School, in grades 11 and 12. 

If the DD had been in the Public High School in grades 9 and 10 and then come home and was Home Schooled, it would be a no brainer (I think) for the OP to issue a Home School Diploma.  But, this is very different.

The Public school cannot issue a Diploma to her, because she did not take (and pass) the EOC examinations.  If their state is like Texas, that would make it impossible for them to issue a High School Diploma to her, because of their State Laws.. 

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IDK...why does switching it around make that much difference?  In either case, she took courses in the home, and outside the home. 

OP, you will have to request official transcripts to be sent to the colleges. I just called my own son's target university and he said any institution that can issue a transcript needs to send the transcript. In the case of non accredited classes, they don't need to send anything and my homeschool transcript is enough for those.  What they want is to make sure you're not hiding anything, that's all.

It is confusing though, for sure.  I would definitely be making some phone calls.

 

 

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7 hours ago, Lanny said:

If the DD had been in the Public High School in grades 9 and 10 and then come home and was Home Schooled, it would be a no brainer (I think) for the OP to issue a Home School Diploma.  But, this is very different.

I do not see why this is different at all.

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Hello Everyone,

Thank you so very much for your assistance with this situation!

I did call two universities. They thought I could be the counselor and then have the high school send in their transcript through Parchment.

I did get some emails from Common App. At first they were confused by my question, but then said the high school counselor should upload my transcript as well as the online AP class transcript when they upload theirs. I explained that I wasn't sure they would upload a transcript that they were not associated with  (it didn't seem like they would consider that based off the email communication I have received) to which Common App replied that it was their job.

So...I do not want it to look as if she has not graduated. 

Which way would be the best scenario if indeed the high school counselor would allow for uploading all three transcripts (the online AP class would be the 3rd transcript.)

**Also, do I sign and notarize the over-arching transcript  when the final grades are not in yet and then scan/upload? Or do I only sign/notarize once it is final?

THANK YOU ALL!!!

Edited by Carpe Diem
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Why do you need to notarize?  Is this something special in your state?  I scanned my signature and imbedded it into the document. I I converted it to PDF before uploading it.  Unless you live somewhere that needs notarizing (which doesn't add any more "official-ness" to your document ... it only certifies that you are the person signing it) there shouldn't be a need to notarize your transcript.  And, yes, you can sign a transcript in progress.  (But I know other people who "electronically signed" their transcripts.    By doing this, you are certifying that what is on there is indeed true.  You would put the planned and in-progress classes in there, but not put any grades in there (or put IP or PL or something like that.)  

If you are the one graduating your child, then you are the one who is the school counselor.  I am not sure how Parchment works, but, at my daughter's school, they could not send her transcript electronically through Naviance because she was not graduating from the school.  I am not sure all the details about that.  But, they had us give her counselor a list of the schools where she needed the transcript sent and they sent paper copies.  If your AP course provider is an accredited online school, then I could see a need for them to send a transcript.  But we never did that.  Part of the reason was that two of the providers we used had gone out of business so there wasn't anyone to send a transcript.  (We had to rely on the AP score speaking for the validity of the class.  )  

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What your si

18 hours ago, Carpe Diem said:

Hi Dirty Ethel Rackham.

I guess I had it in my mind that the transcripts had to be notarized. Not sure where I received that idea.

So I sign it without the final grades in place. Then do I resign it when the final grades are in?

What your signature indicates is that you are verifying that this is official as of the date you signed it.  I'm not sure what you mean by resigning it.  If it is purely an electronic copy, your signature would already be there.  If you are printing paper copies, then you would sign it every single time you print it.  

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3 hours ago, dirty ethel rackham said:

What your si

What your signature indicates is that you are verifying that this is official as of the date you signed it.  I'm not sure what you mean by resigning it.  If it is purely an electronic copy, your signature would already be there.  If you are printing paper copies, then you would sign it every single time you print it.  

Carpe-

You send one now with IP for in progress, another one mid-year after first semester grades are posted, and then another one after final grades are in.  You sign each one.

Edited by Calming Tea
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