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My son just finished his first semester of Dual Enrollment classes at the local community college. He is currently halfway through his junior year so next fall he'll be applying to colleges. Should I plan on submitting examples of his dual enrollment work like I am for what he did at home and co-op? I'm thinking no dual enrollment examples would be needed as he has an official transcript but thought I'd ask. I do have the syllabi from his classes and he does still have the papers he wrote. Frankly, I just don't feel like adding all that to the pile of work but if I need to then I will. Curious to hear what others have done...

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The community college transcript should be ample proof of work for the DE courses -- although I totally agree with @8filltheheart about keeping a copy of the syllabi and the texts used in the course, to help a future college assess for credit transfer.

And, I would not submit samples of your homeschool courses unless specifically requested by the college you are applying to. An ACT/SAT test score, all transcripts (homeschool and from the DE school), and a Course Description document, plus a possible additional Extracurriculars/Awards Document, and possibly a Counselor Letter are likely to be all of the paperwork you might need for applying to college.

I did keep a handful of samples from each of DS's homeschool high school courses (but not DE) just in case it was needed for submitting a portfolio of work, but it was never needed.

 

Edited by Lori D.
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2 hours ago, ShepCarlin said:

Should I plan on submitting examples of his dual enrollment work like I am for what he did at home and co-op?

Under no circumstances would I submit work samples of either homeschool work or work done for CC courses unless it is required by the colleges he is applying to.  And, frankly, if a college requires it of homeschoolers and not traditional schoolers, I'd run far, far away from that particular school.

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I would not even supply work samples for at-home courses, but for a college class, the transcript is entirely sufficient. I would not consider a college that wanted to see work samples.

Make sure you save the syllabi until he is graduated from his terminal college! You may need them in case transfer credit is not automatically awarded.

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I agree with the above that in general you do not have to submit work samples and should not.

But there is a growing requirement in the last couple of years that boomed this year as so many schools had to go test optional that students submit a graded essay. That's not a homeschool requirement - all students applying test optional to some schools needed it and suddenly lots of students were applying test optional for obvious reasons. A paper from a DE class would be fine.

Additionally, there is a particular school (cough, Arizona) that does want to see the lab reports a student has done if they were done at home. This is not a general requirement. There may be a couple of other schools that ask for it, but the vast majority of families don't need to plan for this.

And, of course, some schools invite students to submit a portfolio of work. This is usually required for students applying to art and design degrees, but there is a handful of schools that invite all students to submit a portfolio of work and students may include stellar writing, art, research, computer projects, etc. etc. So this depends on the school. Work from home or a DE course would all be fine if you student applies to such a school.

 

Edited by Farrar
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Wow, thank you for all the responses. I had it in my head that colleges would be asking for examples of work. I'm glad I posted as I would have offered up the work examples without being prompted. He's lucky in that he was able to take the SAT and ACT this fall and score well. It wouldn't hurt to test again but if the pandemic keeps thwarting testing dates, he should be fine. 

Again, this board is an absolute wealth of information. Love this community!

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Some more competitive schools are asking for graded work (I know Princeton made such an announcement), but it often replaces an essay. I think it's in response to the admissions scandal, but I'm all for it if it lets kids reuse work they already did that they are proud of and that is probably more meaningful to them than a random essay prompt. 

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some schools require samples of work from homesxhool parents but they usually don't require it from courses taken at other colleges or accredited institutions. I have a student dual enrolling too and I'm just keeping the syllabus inforrmation from that class and nothing else. 

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11 hours ago, Dmmetler said:

Some more competitive schools are asking for graded work (I know Princeton made such an announcement), but it often replaces an essay. I think it's in response to the admissions scandal, but I'm all for it if it lets kids reuse work they already did that they are proud of and that is probably more meaningful to them than a random essay prompt. 

It's actually not - it's been a part of test optional admissions for a little while at a handful of schools, but when test optional blew up this year, this added documentation also blew up. It took a lot of students by surprise. It's not a homeschool specific requirement except at a couple of schools. I don't know of anywhere asking for it unless a student is applying test optional. It also doesn't replace the standard personal essay anywhere that I know of - of course, a student can choose to submit an academic paper and a few schools have required an academic paper in addition to the personal essay for a little while. But the graded part is newer.

Edited by Farrar
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