Colleges requiring detailed info about science labs

[klmama]

Do any colleges besides Arizona State ask for specific info about science labs?  

ETA:  LOL!  Revising title so it doesn't sound like we want to avoid labs!  I just want to make sure we are complying with whatever requirements might pop up, in case dc wants to attend a college that wants as much detailed info on science prep as Arizona State does.  

Edited August 9, 2019 by klmama

[Julie of KY]

My son had to turn in physics labs for AP credit for physics lab. He had done the writeups digitally so he just emailed the physics professor the file and they were approved.

 

[kokotg]

DS applied to 15 schools, and we didn't encounter any wanting detailed information on labs. There were two that had kind of vague "additional information" requests of homeschoolers, and we submitted a portfolio that included one lab report, IIRC, for each of those. We didn't do any of his high school science at home except biology senior year, but I don't think it would have made any difference if we had. I've heard Georgia Tech is very picky about lab sciences for homeschooled applicants, but I don't know the specifics. DS applied to mostly small LACs. 

[alewife]

I saved my kids' science lab reports, but none of the colleges they applied to requested them.  (My kids' friends in our public school are also told to keep their AP lab reports as some colleges request them in order to grant AP credit.)

[8filltheheart]

We have never encountered any asking for labs.

[Arcadia]

14 hours ago, Julie of KY said:

My son had to turn in physics labs for AP credit for physics lab. He had done the writeups digitally so he just emailed the physics professor the file and they were approved.

 

That’s good to know. My oldest need to get his AP credit for physics C for community college prerequisites (not for his fall quarter classes) and it says they want to validate lab work. So now I am going to get the documentation ready and submit that prerequisite clearance form.

[lewelma]

We were never asked for them.  But I did make sure that I wrote up our lab work carefully in the course descriptions.  For Biology and Physics, we only did ONE big investigation, rather than weekly labs.  Even with this unusual approach, no one asked a thing.

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Fwiw, I wanted to comment on the Arizona State Uni requirement. I talked to one of their admissions reps about this a couple years back when the requirement was newish. He was a little defensive about it, because it was imposed by the state Board of Regents that ASU was complying with and University of Arizona was sort of ignoring. 

He also indicated that they wanted to find ways to help homeschool applicants meet this requirement,  not use it to exclude them. They would take Subject Test scores in science, an ACT science subscore, or dual enrollment grades as well as a lab write up.

I don't want people to rule out ASU if it's a good fit, based only on this lab write up requirement. 

On your real question,  of the 15 schools my older kids applied to, none asked for lab write ups. A few did require Subject Test scores of all applicants or from homeschooled students. 

[klmama]

Yes, it does look like there are several ways to meet the lab science requirement at ASU, although homeschoolers still have to fill out an extra form for each lab course listing the labs performed and writing up one lab, as well as verifying the length of the course and how many hours were spent in labs each week.  Arizona Board of Regents wants lab courses to meet all year and to have weekly labs - that's the type of requirement I'm most interested in, since those are things I can address when I plan a course, instead of trying to figure out later how make it work.   

 

 

Edited August 11, 2019 by klmama

[EKS]

My older son applied to five science/engineering focused schools and none of them required information about homeschool science labs.  Personally, I think that ASU's policy on that is misguided and shows a lack of understanding of just how lame most b&m high school science lab experiences are.

[klmama]

I agree with you, but they are complying with the Arizona Board of Regents requirements, which are exactly the same for public and private school labs.  Homeschooled students just have to fill out an additional form to verify it.  

[EKS]

5 hours ago, klmama said:

I agree with you, but they are complying with the Arizona Board of Regents requirements, which are exactly the same for public and private school labs.  Homeschooled students just have to fill out an additional form to verify it.  

So real schools have to jump through the same hoops?

[Sebastian (a lady)]

18 minutes ago, EKS said:

So real schools have to jump through the same hoops?

Arizona Board of Regents sets admission requirements for public colleges in Arizona. This includes 3 lab sciences.

Students from brick and mortar schools must have lab science courses on their transcript or meet alternative requirements such as subject test scores for a science.

ASU created a mechanism for homeschooled students to also meet this ABOR requirement by accepting a lab write up for courses done at home.  The conversation I had with their admissions officer didn't lead me to think the reports would be graded or scrutinized. 

 

[Kalypso]

On 8/13/2019 at 3:49 PM, EKS said:

My older son applied to five science/engineering focused schools and none of them required information about homeschool science labs.  Personally, I think that ASU's policy on that is misguided and shows a lack of understanding of just how lame most b&m high school science lab experiences are.

This statement is so spot on. I have 3 kids who have taken high school courses that were AP level and Honors level at Arizona high schools, and NONE of the courses ever completed labs or required lab reports that compared to what some of our online home school courses have required. While it is the Arizona Board of Regents requirement that ASU is following, it does put an additional burden on home schooled students compared to public school students.

[Julie of KY]

In my son's case, the university required submission of labs from anyone wanting lab credit (not just homeschoolers) - probably for the exact reason that local high schools don't always do much labwork.

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

18 hours ago, Julie of KY said:

In my son's case, the university required submission of labs from anyone wanting lab credit (not just homeschoolers) - probably for the exact reason that local high schools don't always do much labwork.

 

 

Was that if they wanted lab credit for college courses?  Or were they checking all high school level courses for admissions purposes?

[cave canem]

On 8/9/2019 at 10:56 PM, kokotg said:

I've heard Georgia Tech is very picky about lab sciences for homeschooled applicants

My son matriculated at GATech.  He didn't take any SAT subject tests, and they didn't ask about his lab sciences.  It could be because he had a year of engineering-track physics at CC.  They didn't ask about his other 4 credits of science.