Outside unaccredited classes on transcripts

I have been starting to work again on my daughter’s transcript (she is a rising senior) and I have a question on unaccredited classes on the transcript.  So far she has not done any dual enrollment - obviously that requires acknowledgment and an official transcript sent.  The question is whether classes with outside providers need acknowledgement on the transcript.  I see many people say they label the class with a provider code on the transcript, but to me that looks unnecessarily messy as I enter it, and I cant believe colleges even care.  I know Lukeion is tough, but colleges don’t.  Derek Owens with self-grading doesn’t seem any different to me than buying a streaming video subscription with math lessons.  If you hire a tutor to teach a subject, do you include that on the transcript?  I live in Michigan  which says the parent is responsible for assignments, grading, and transcripts and it says that we can purchase any curriculum we choose (nice way of saying you’re on your own if you don’t enroll).  Is there really anything to be gained by cluttering up the transcript with who taught the class?  I can see including it in course descriptions, but wondering about the transcript itself.
 

anyone have any thoughts on memoria Press online academy accreditation?  They say they are accredited by the Classical Latin school association, but that organization appears to be created and run by people from memoria press so it doesn’t seem like accreditation that colleges recognize.  They offer a diploma program, but then claim you are still homeschooling so it doesn’t seem to jive with me.  I have more kids coming along so I am trying to figure some of this out for them as well ahead of time.

[Arcadia]

When I submitted my kids transcript for dual enrollment purposes, I used superscript with a number for outsourced classes. That makes it obvious the grades didn’t come from me and the admin can look at the footnote for the numbered list of outsourced providers. The community college my kids go to for dual enrollment wants a transcript submitted every quarter and they have no issues with my kids’ transcript. 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Arcadia
Grammar

[teachermom2834]

I have outsourced plenty in high school but the only thing I recognize that way on the transcript is dual enrollment. 

If I did course descriptions, which I have not done for my first two and don’t plan to for my rising senior, I would put all those details there. But for purposes of the transcript I list an appropriate course title, grade, and credit. I consider all those outside courses as a resource I use to complete the course. I have added to a course or combined more than one course for a credit before. The outside course is, to me, like a book or video program we used. 

I don’t think any college would care or be impressed by any online provider with the exception, perhaps, of a college that really recruited many homeschoolers. Like maybe a small Catholic liberal arts college might care if I used Kolbe. So maybe I would do that.

MPOA is my favorite online provider but I haven’t seen an advantage of the diploma program for us. I am sure there exists a circumstance that it is useful to fulfill state requirements or something. Even though my dd might take all the required classes I don’t anticipate doing the diploma program. If I really didn’t want to make my own transcript and wanted to record keeping it might be nice if I was already planning all those classes. I really don’t think any admissions rep is going to care whether they get that or a homeschool transcript as long as the homeschool transcript looks logical and is well organized. The only issue I have heard of with homeschool transcripts is when they are “not understandable” as one admissions rep told me.

Edited May 27, 2020 by teachermom2834

[lewelma]

I also used superscripts. I included Local university and 2 outside providers because they would be recognized.  ABRSM  for Music and AoPS for Math.  Because ds took 6 AoPS classes, I did get a transcript from them and attached it with my packet.

 

2 hours ago, teachermom2834 said:

I have outsourced plenty in high school but the only thing I recognize that way on the transcript is dual enrollment. 

If I did course descriptions, which I have not done for my first two and don’t plan to for my rising senior, I would put all those details there. But for purposes of the transcript I list an appropriate course title, grade, and credit. I consider all those outside courses as a resource I use to complete the course. I have added to a course or combined more than one course for a credit before. The outside course is, to me, like a book or video program we used. 

I don’t think any college would care or be impressed by any online provider with the exception, perhaps, of a college that really recruited many homeschoolers. Like maybe a small Catholic liberal arts college might care if I used Kolbe. So maybe I would do that.

MPOA is my favorite online provider but I haven’t seen an advantage of the diploma program for us. I am sure there exists a circumstance that it is useful to fulfill state requirements or something. Even though my dd might take all the required classes I don’t anticipate doing the diploma program. If I really didn’t want to make my own transcript and wanted to record keeping it might be nice if I was already planning all those classes. I really don’t think any admissions rep is going to care whether they get that or a homeschool transcript as long as the homeschool transcript looks logical and is well organized. The only issue I have heard of with homeschool transcripts is when they are “not understandable” as one admissions rep told me.

This is very much my situation.  My daughter has used MPOA and some other providers - some as is, some with supplementation - and I guess I view it like a tutor or curriculum I buy to make my life easier.  I know one school doesn’t require course descriptions, not sure where all she will be applying.  So many people seem to make a big deal on sample transcripts about outside classes and I was wondering if I was missing something.  Thank you for your help.

2 minutes ago, lewelma said:

I also used superscripts. I included Local university and 2 outside providers because they would be recognized.  ABRSM  for Music and AoPS for Math.  Because ds took 6 AoPS classes, I did get a transcript from them and attached it with my packet.

 

Here university or community college courses have to be submitted.  AoPS classes in certain circles would carry more weight than many of the multitudes of places offering homeschool classes because they cater to (really smart) public school students as well. 

[lewelma]

1 minute ago, Mom2mthj said:

Here university or community college courses have to be submitted.  AoPS classes in certain circles would carry more weight than many of the multitudes of places offering homeschool classes because they cater to (really smart) public school students as well. 

Yes, we had to get the local uni to send a transcript (boy was THAT a pain to get done internationally!) We chose to highlight AoPS because it is well respected and recognized by universities.  I don't know if any of the examples you gave are equivalently well respected in their areas. 

The goal of my transcript was to translate our somewhat unschooling approach into a traditional educational form. In the course descriptions, I described briefly when we used an external provider as a part of the content and mixed it with an unschooling approach.  I felt the need to make sure that none of my mommy grades were questioned, so I was careful and clear. 

[8filltheheart]

We don't outsource very much at all, so I included the few that we did.  AoPS, BYS (by the onion sea), CV (Connie's chem class), PAH (for AP chem.....that one I would see as necessary bc I called the course AP chem and I personally didn't have an approved syllabus), and PT for private tutor.   

[lmrich]

I also used subscripts to denote what was taught by other instructors. I felt it was important that the college could see that she had a variety of instructors and was used to balancing different teaching styles. 

[teachermom2834]

56 minutes ago, Mom2mthj said:

This is very much my situation.  My daughter has used MPOA and some other providers - some as is, some with supplementation - and I guess I view it like a tutor or curriculum I buy to make my life easier.  I know one school doesn’t require course descriptions, not sure where all she will be applying.  So many people seem to make a big deal on sample transcripts about outside classes and I was wondering if I was missing something.  Thank you for your help.

I also think it is fine if you want to denote them. As long as things are clear I think you can do it any way you best feel represents what you did and want to showcase. 

I should note (and I usually always remember to add the disclaimer) that my dc do not apply to competitive schools and they are not in running for the very top scholarships. They basically are applying to schools that are safeties for admission and places that the admissions officers aren't doing much more than glancing over the transcript and and making sure it checks out. I would likely look at it differently if ds was applying to top schools and then would determine if it made everything more muddled or not.

I also would think about the target school in terms of whether the information added anything. Like AOPS for MIT makes total sense. My local university wouldn't recognize AOPS because they don't get those kind of kids so it wouldn't add anything. If my ds was applying to St. Thomas Aquinas in California then maybe highlighting a classical school would make sense. 

In our case it would be a jumble of lots of different providers and wouldn't add anything. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't for you! I just don't think you have to if you would rather not. It isn't like failing to denote a college course. 

[lewelma]

24 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

As long as things are clear I think you can do it any way you best feel represents what you did and want to showcase. 

This is a very good point.  In the end, you are selling your student.  There are many ways you can create your paperwork, so choose the one that highlights what you want to highlight. 

[Farrar]

Agreeing with all of the above. I think it looks good that your kids had outside teachers so making it clearer seems like a bonus most of the time. Colleges rarely care about the accreditation element.

[RootAnn]

16 hours ago, teachermom2834 said:

I have outsourced plenty in high school but the only thing I recognize that way on the transcript is dual enrollment. 

This was true for my transcript for dd#1. I only noted dual enrollment on the transcript. Her course descriptions included outside providers & I had about nine different ones - not including DE. Wilson Hill was accredited by that point but I didn't bother noting those classes with a provider code. The colleges DD applied to were not lottery schools & her test scores were good enough that there wasn't a need to make her transcript look messy, IMO.

Second DD will have only DE and maybe one outside provider. I will, again, only include a marking for DE on the transcript. She plans to apply to only one local school that does not require course descriptions, so I do not plan to include them.

YMMV of course. Just didn't make sense in our circumstances.

[Momto6inIN]

On 5/27/2020 at 1:42 PM, teachermom2834 said:

I have outsourced plenty in high school but the only thing I recognize that way on the transcript is dual enrollment. 

If I did course descriptions, which I have not done for my first two and don’t plan to for my rising senior, I would put all those details there. But for purposes of the transcript I list an appropriate course title, grade, and credit. I consider all those outside courses as a resource I use to complete the course. I have added to a course or combined more than one course for a credit before. The outside course is, to me, like a book or video program we used. 

I agree.

I don't outsource much at all. I do create course descriptions and I make a note of what resources we used on there, outsourced or otherwise. But other than DE the transcript just lists the name of the course and that's it.

[dirty ethel rackham]

I did the subscript notation and a key at the bottom (in a box with tiny print) to note all outside classes.  I also used a background highlight for all dual-enrolled classes to make them further stand out since those were taken at a nearby 4-year liberal arts college.  Most admissions counselors we talked to appreciated the information on the transcript because it showed in a quick glance that this kid had contact with outside instructors.  My kids weren't applying to tippy top schools, but they did received top scholarships at those schools.  The big schools where the transcript only got a 2 second glance probably didn't matter as much, but those schools weren't giving good scholarships anyway.  

[EKS]

For outsourced classes from places that do not issue credit--such as Derek Owens, classes taught by tutors, etc--I indicated the provider in the course description as I would any resource.  For classes taken at institutions that issued credit (and in our case, all of those were accredited), I gave a provider code on the transcript.  For us these included the local public high school, a local private high school, the CC, and Oak Meadow.

I think it depends on whether the unaccredited/non-credit granting classes are needed to show that your student has had experiences with teachers and evaluators other than Mom.  If so, you might want to call them out as outside classes on the transcript.