Who should contact admission counselor in this case - student or parent?

[Kassia]

Dd was homeschooled for 9th and 10th grade, but we enrolled her in ps this year (11th grade) because DE is free for public school students.  If all goes as planned, she will graduate with a public school diploma while attending DE full time.

When she applies to colleges, the ps will send a transcript that will include all of dd's 9th and 10th grade homeschool courses/grades.  I would like to know what (if anything) the colleges will require from her years as a homeschool student.  Is that something dd should ask or is that something I should ask as her homeschool teacher/counselor?  

[GoodGrief]

Is she enrolled as a full time ps student? If that is the case, she will apply as a public school student, rather than homeschool, even though she does have homeschool courses on her transcript. Counselor information on the application will be done by the school's counselor. Because the counselor is unlikely to know her very well, if at all, I would definitely want to arrange a meeting and discuss the situation with that person, and get your daughter on the counselor's radar now.

We were in a similar situation with my older two, who were enrolled in public charter programs for homeschoolers, and there were certainly frustrating moments during the app process with an outside counselor involved. Your daughter should consider using the "other information" section of the Common App to clarify her homeschooling/educational circumstances.

In general, your daughter should be handling inquiries with college admissions staff.

Edited December 29, 2018 by GoodGrief

[katilac]

I would have dd send an email. Because the public school is including all courses, I wouldn't expect anything else to be needed. Actually, I would be tempted to simply have the school send the official transcript and let the college ask if they want more (because I have found that it's better to keep things as simple as possible). 

[Kassia]

53 minutes ago, GoodGrief1 said:

Is she enrolled as a full time ps student? If that is the case, she will apply as a public school student, rather than homeschool, even though she does have homeschool courses on her transcript. Counselor information on the application will be done by the school's counselor. Because the counselor is unlikely to know her very well, if at all, I would definitely want to arrange a meeting and discuss the situation with that person, and get your daughter on the counselor's radar now.

We were in a similar situation with my older two, who were enrolled in public charter programs for homeschoolers, and there were certainly frustrating moments during the app process with an outside counselor involved. Your daughter should consider using the "other information" section of the Common App to clarify her homeschooling/educational circumstances.

In general, your daughter should be handling inquiries with college admissions staff.

 

She is enrolled as a full time ps student.  Normally, I would have her handle all correspondence with admissions but I thought this might be different because I'd be her homeschool teacher/counselor for 9th and 10th grade.  My older sons graduated from this high school and the guidance counselor didn't know anything about them either - just too many students per guidance counselor for any kind of relationship.  Good idea to use the "other information" section on the Common App to clarify the circumstances 

 

51 minutes ago, katilac said:

I would have dd send an email. Because the public school is including all courses, I wouldn't expect anything else to be needed. Actually, I would be tempted to simply have the school send the official transcript and let the college ask if they want more (because I have found that it's better to keep things as simple as possible). 

 

Interesting.  I just assumed that I'd have to supply information since the applications will ask for all schools attended and dd will have to include homeschool.  But maybe they won't care.  Her scores and grades are solid and she has a lot of DE credits starting in 9th grade. 

 

[freesia]

The Common App will ask for all schools attended, but if you know that the PS will send a complete transcript, you won't have to send anything else unless asked b/c she is not applying as a homeschooler.  My ds used a different umbrella school for ninth than for 10-12.  We just always listed that school, but they never wanted any other information.

[Farrar]

If it made sense as a way to showcase her homeschool years, you could do the teacher rec, though having a non-parent voice is almost certainly preferable unless you really feel the need to show off something that you're pretty sure is not going to come through elsewhere.

[GoodGrief]

11 hours ago, Kassia said:

 

She is enrolled as a full time ps student.  Normally, I would have her handle all correspondence with admissions but I thought this might be different because I'd be her homeschool teacher/counselor for 9th and 10th grade. 

 

They are unlikely to have any questions about the courses if the public school has accepted them as adequate for graduation. However, she can expand on any unique aspects of those courses in her "Other Information" section :-)

[Arch at Home]

3 hours ago, GoodGrief1 said:

 

They are unlikely to have any questions about the courses if the public school has accepted them as adequate for graduation. However, she can expand on any unique aspects of those courses in her "Other Information" section 🙂

This has been our experience. My oldest had no questions and my younger daughter who is now going through the application process right now has none either. In fact, schools have no idea that they were ever homeschooled if they don’t mention it which my oldest didn’t. My younger DD did mention it in the Other Information section. 

[DawnM]

I am a school counselor and have never had a HS parent submit previous transcripts as their admission into the high school and grade level depends on the info you have already provided.

Schools know counselors don't know all students well.  They don't expect them to.  My middle son was homeschooled until the end of 9th grade.  He attended two public high schools after that (charter and then our local school.). I didn't do anything extra and he got into colleges and got scholarships.  You are actually at an advantage over my middle son, since your child has already proven he can handle college classes.  My oldest did that and he had no issues getting into the college of his choice.

[Kassia]

1 hour ago, Arch at Home said:

This has been our experience. My oldest had no questions and my younger daughter who is now going through the application process right now has none either. In fact, schools have no idea that they were ever homeschooled if they don’t mention it which my oldest didn’t. My younger DD did mention it in the Other Information section. 

 

It's been a while since we filled out college applications.  Wouldn't there be a place to list all high schools attended?  I assumed there would be and that's where dd would list homeschool for 9th and 10th grade.

Thank you to everyone for your responses!  I am relieved to know it's unlikely I'll have to provide course descriptions and other documentation.