A poll of sorts, for transcripts.

[madteaparty]

Does your transcript have the courses listed by grade (as in pre-9th,  9th,  10th, 11th, 12th), or do you have a “date taken” type column so, “spring 2021”, “2020-2021”, etc 

[regentrude]

Grade.

Easier for the admissions person to see at one glance what is going on.

Edited August 7, 2021 by regentrude

[Tiberia]

I listed classes by grade, but then also put a completion date for each class.

I'll try to give a sample:

 

[historically accurate]

4 minutes ago, Tiberia said:

I listed classes by grade, but then also put a completion date for each class.

I'll try to give a sample:

 

This is what mine looks like as well. By grade with completion date. 

[regentrude]

@Tiberia @historically accurate What purpose does the completion date serve? 

[cintinative]

Mine is by grade.

I have a note that classes are transcripted in the year in which they are completed. 

[historically accurate]

9 minutes ago, regentrude said:

@Tiberia @historically accurate What purpose does the completion date serve? 

Honestly, no idea, just a column on the template I used, so I included it. 

[daijobu]

Grade

[ShepCarlin]

I did my son's according to subject, then within that grouping, put it in chronologically. Worked best for me as I needed to be sure he was showing the required 4 maths, 3 social sciences, etc.

MATH
Algebra I	2018 / 2019
Geometry	2019 / 2020
Algebra II	2020
College Algebra/MATH 111**	Spring 2021

[Zoo Keeper]

Two kids' transcripts (so far) listed by subject.  No completion dates listed for the individual classes. 

One son applied to three different schools (two state schools, and one private), and no one asked for anything different.  Admissions seemed more interested in the amount of credits (3 of science, 4 of English, etc.), and not really caring when he took them. 

[fourisenough]

By grade

[Melissa B]

Neither - by subject only.

[JazzyMom]

By subject

[BakersDozen]

Ours has classes by semesters/years and grade level. I use the template on the Covenant College site.

[RootAnn]

By grade but there was room on the same line in another column so it also had what year that grade was. So, individual classes did not have a semester or year listed but you could tell what year that grade corresponded to.

[NittanyJen]

2 hours ago, madteaparty said:

Does your transcript have the courses listed by grade (as in pre-9th,  9th,  10th, 11th, 12th), or do you have a “date taken” type column so, “spring 2021”, “2020-2021”, etc 

I listed my boys’ transcripts by subject. The only grade indicator I gave was that on the front summary page, I did list “Courses taken in the senior year.” Since we don’t start and stop every course at the same time, or even at a neat “year end” break, listing by “year” would end up being rather arbitrary on my part (and not always accurate). Where courses were connected, in the course description, I did list “taken at the same time as x, y, and z.”

Now, I did not make any attempt to obfuscate— within each subject, courses are listed in the order they were initiated, and of course, I only included courses completed during high school.

 

[madteaparty]

1 hour ago, ShepCarlin said:

I did my son's according to subject, then within that grouping, put it in chronologically. Worked best for me as I needed to be sure he was showing the required 4 maths, 3 social sciences, etc.

MATH
Algebra I	2018 / 2019
Geometry	2019 / 2020
Algebra II	2020
College Algebra/MATH 111**	Spring 2021

This is what mine looks like now exactly, but I’m rethinking  the year column as 1. It’s wide and 2. There’s guesswork on the part of the reader what grade it was (esp. because there are a couple classes from 7th grade, like a college class.). On the other hand, he does have a ton of college classes, and the reason I chose the date format was because it’s clearer “oh he took this class in spring and that other one in fall, etc)

Edited August 7, 2021 by madteaparty

[lewelma]

I did both by subject and by grade in a grid. I got the template from someone here.  I did not include a completion date, but noted on the transcript that courses were listed in the year that the majority of the work was completed, because my son regularly did classes over 2 or even 3 years. If I put them when they were completed rather than when the majority of the work was done, I ended up with too many classes one year and too few in another. 

The main goal is to simplify high school into a school form that can be easily read by the admissions officers. 

[Roadrunner]

Can I ask an English question? I have mine by subject. I am having trouble with labeling. I have a column labeled Grade and another one leveled Grade Level, so the first one contains letter grades and the latter a student’s grade level (9, 10…). Is there a better way of labeling to avoid using the word Grade twice? 
I don’t want to use the years because I think it’s confusing. 

[Farrar]

47 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

Can I ask an English question? I have mine by subject. I am having trouble with labeling. I have a column labeled Grade and another one leveled Grade Level, so the first one contains letter grades and the latter a student’s grade level (9, 10…). Is there a better way of labeling to avoid using the word Grade twice? 
I don’t want to use the years because I think it’s confusing. 

I'd personally just use the word "Level" for that.

[Farrar]

Since I've done other people's, I've done them both ways.

I originally had my graduating kid's done as a subject transcript, but then switched it. He didn't go as deep in his areas of interest as I anticipated, but he did end up steadily increasing his rigor across the board year by year and got lots of solid credits in every discipline. So in that sense, by grade was a no brainer.

I have seen admissions folks say they prefer subject or grade. I don't think you can please everyone so you may as well do what makes your kid look best.

You can offset it by having a column that makes the year taken clear on a subject transcript or include a credit distribution table if you did a year by year transcript.

My rule of thumb is... Kid with a mixed academic history, kid with a super senior year, or kid who went super deep in a particular area = subject transcript is better. Kid who had a solid traditional education, kid who improved academically over time in grades or rigor or both = year by year transcript. 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Farrar

[Aloha2U]

Both

[EKS]

By subject, so no date, no year, no nothing.  Both of my kids started accruing high school credits in 6th grade.  They both got into their first choice colleges (one private, one out-of-state public), so I guess it worked.

Edited August 8, 2021 by EKS

[Lori D.]

I arranged by subject, not grade/year, as it is easier to see the # of courses completed for each subject area. (Because that is a big part of what college admissions officers are looking at -- do you have the required 4 credits of English, 3 credits of Science, 2 credit of Foreign Language, etc. that the college wants for the student to be eligible for admission.)

NOTE: a few colleges require the grade/year layout.

Another option is the spreadsheet layout that is simultaneously listed by subject AND grade/year, such as the example provided by @Mom21 above. (Thank you!)

[Lori D.]

1 hour ago, Roadrunner said:

Can I ask an English question? I have mine by subject. I am having trouble with labeling. I have a column labeled Grade and another one leveled Grade Level, so the first one contains letter grades and the latter a student’s grade level (9, 10…). Is there a better way of labeling to avoid using the word Grade twice? 
I don’t want to use the years because I think it’s confusing. 

How about the word "year" for the heading and either put the grade-year in parenthesis, and/or use the ordinal number for the grade-year. (Note, by putting the grade-year at the far left, and the course grade at far right, that physical separation also reduces confusion.) Examples:

MATH
year . . . course . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade
(8) . . .  Algebra 1 . . . . . 1.00 . . . . . X
(9) . . .  Geometry . . . . .1.00 . . . . . X
(10) . . . Algebra 2 . . . . .1.00 . . . . . X
(11) . . . Precalcus . . . . . 1.00 . . . . .X
(12) . . . Calculus . . . . . . 1.00 . . . . .X
TOTAL credits/GPA . . . . . 5.00 . . . X.XXXX

OR -- use the ordinal numbers for the grade year:

MATH
year . . . . . course . . . . . . . credit . . . grade
(8th) . . .  Algebra 1 . . . . . 1.00 . . . . . X
(9th) . . .  Geometry . . . . .1.00 . . . . . X
(10th) . . . Algebra 2 . . . . .1.00 . . . . . X
(11th) . . . Precalcus . . . . . 1.00 . . . . .X
(12th) . . . Calculus . . . . . . 1.00 . . . . .X
TOTAL credits/GPA . . . . . . . 5.00 . . . X.XXXX

Edited August 8, 2021 by Lori D.

[MamaSprout]

This is kind of what ours looks like.

Edited August 8, 2021 by MamaSprout

[mom2scouts]

I don't have grade or completion date. My transcript is by subject only and it hasn't been questioned at all. The only date on it is the graduation date.

[NittanyJen]

3 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

Can I ask an English question? I have mine by subject. I am having trouble with labeling. I have a column labeled Grade and another one leveled Grade Level, so the first one contains letter grades and the latter a student’s grade level (9, 10…). Is there a better way of labeling to avoid using the word Grade twice? 
I don’t want to use the years because I think it’s confusing. 

Or you could call it ‘year.’

[lewelma]

2 hours ago, Mom21 said:

Both

That is the one I used

[cintinative]

11 hours ago, Mom21 said:

Both

Us too, now that I think about it, I did not answer the question correctly. 😃

[Farrar]

FYI to that template - which I overall like... I've seen some annoyance from admissions counselors expressed about schools that put their test scores on the transcript. Obviously the concerns are totally different - admissions folks annoyed by this are annoyed because they want control over sharing the scores in the kids' hands, not the school's, which is not exactly the same for us. But still, just pointing out that this practice is being phased away so it may or may not make sense to include them.

[Roadrunner]

See I am not crazy about that template. I find it difficult to trace with my eye from the subject to the grade in latter columns. It could just be me, but I experimented with it and decided the subject one with grade level listed is the easiest approach with no guess work for the admissions folks. 

[regentrude]

21 hours ago, Mom21 said:

Both

I used this one for both my kids. It's genius because it also has the subject categories and you see at one glance how much work the student has done in each major area while at the same time seeing the course load for each year. No extra work for the admissions folks.

Edited August 8, 2021 by regentrude

[Eos]

Following this.  My older three I did by year, but like @lewelmaI also allowed extended time and put the credit in the year where it fit best.  I've been considering doing one by subject for last dd. 

On 8/7/2021 at 8:06 PM, Farrar said:

My rule of thumb is... Kid with a mixed academic history, kid with a super senior year, or kid who went super deep in a particular area = subject transcript is better. Kid who had a solid traditional education, kid who improved academically over time in grades or rigor or both = year by year transcript. 

This is really interesting.  Older dd went super deep in music, to the point where it felt important to use the year format to try to show she really did "normal" high school stuff too! 

A line from an early unschooling publication has always stuck with me: "the world rewards specialists more than it rewards generalists."  This would also suggest that transcript by subject would highlight spiky kids better.

Edited August 9, 2021 by Harpymom
pointy? spiky? unsure of the lingo

[lewelma]

10 minutes ago, Harpymom said:

 like @lewelmaI also allowed extended time and put the credit in the year where it fit best. 

As I saw it, my goal was to make my son's nontraditional education look somewhat normal. Admissions needed something understandable. I put all the idiosyncratic details into my counselor's letter and course descriptions. But I made the transcript very schooly. 

[Lori D.]

9 hours ago, Harpymom said:

Following this.  My older three I did by year, but like @lewelmaI also allowed extended time and put the credit in the year where it fit best.  I've been considering doing one by subject for last dd. 

This is really interesting.  Older dd went super deep in music, to the point where it felt important to use the year format to try to show she really did "normal" high school stuff too! 

A line from an early unschooling publication has always stuck with me: "the world rewards specialists more than it rewards generalists."  This would also suggest that transcript by subject would highlight spiky kids better.

I definitely think listing by subject allows you to highlight a special interest in addition to the required credits -- almost like a college "minor" that is a cluster of courses around a specific area in addition to the college major. 😉

[K_0987]

This might be kind of small, but here's what I did in Excel... The year is supposed to be under the title - it looks weird, sorry. Freshman Year / 2017-2018 on the line underneath, not that it matters a whole lot, I'm sure you get the idea. 😄

[lewelma]

1 hour ago, K_0987 said:

This might be kind of small, but here's what I did in Excel... The year is supposed to be under the title - it looks weird, sorry. Freshman Year / 2017-2018 on the line underneath, not that it matters a whole lot, I'm sure you get the idea. 😄

Yup. that is what mine looked like.  Under grading scale, I put what an A was for each type of class - A for homeschool = mastery, A for music = distinction for ABRSM exam, A for NZ exams = excellence, A for university class = >90% etc.  I put more details of my homeschool grading scale in my school profile.

In the notes field I put the codes for the different external vendors VUW = Victoria University of Wellington. TK = Te Kura. etc

I also put in the notes field something like "classes are listed in the year that the majority of the work was done."

[Arcadia]

On 8/7/2021 at 5:24 PM, Mom21 said:

 

Both

 

On 8/7/2021 at 6:05 PM, MamaSprout said:

This is kind of what ours looks like.

What font and font size did you all use? Some of my kids dual enrollment classes have very long course titles.

[Shelly in VA]

By grade.

[Aloha2U]

4 hours ago, Arcadia said:

 

What font and font size did you all use? Some of my kids dual enrollment classes have very long course titles.

Times New Roman 9

ETA: I created it in a Word document.

Edited August 13, 2021 by Mom21

[MamaSprout]

11 hours ago, Arcadia said:

 

What font and font size did you all use? Some of my kids dual enrollment classes have very long course titles.

10 point Times New Roman. Dd does have a course or two that wrap two lines, but I have a couple where I've used abbreviations or symbols (&).

Mine is also a Word Doc if anyone wants a copy.

[Murphy101]

None of the above.  For 6 kids so far This is what I’ve done with zero issues.  I believe I have a sample on my dusty blog.

mine lists these columns from left to right:

subject areas grouped by core subject (so all sciences together, all history together etc)

then date taken

then grade

then gpa for course

 

 

Edited August 16, 2021 by Murphy101

[madteaparty]

1 hour ago, Murphy101 said:

None of the above.  For 6 kids so far This is what I’ve done with zero issues.  I believe I have a sample on my dusty blog.

mine lists these columns from left to right:

subject areas grouped by core subject (so all sciences together, all history together etc)

then date taken

then grade

then gpa for course

 

 

Well, it’s not “none of the above” if you have a “date taken” column. That’s one of the above 😉 Grade taken is the other. Mine looks exactly like yours I guess but I’m changing it up. 

[Farrar]

Am I the only one who isn't fond of that both ways transcript template that everyone is using? I find it way too busy.

[RootAnn]

@FarrarI'm not fond of it & thus don't use it. But I know others think it is great & it fits their needs well, so I'm glad we can all use the layout we prefer (most of the time).

[Roadrunner]

1 hour ago, Farrar said:

Am I the only one who isn't fond of that both ways transcript template that everyone is using? I find it way too busy.

I hate it. I also find it way too busy and I have a hard time tracking my eyes from the subject all the way across the page to arrive to the year taken. I don’t like it at all. 

[daijobu]

2 hours ago, Farrar said:

Am I the only one who isn't fond of that both ways transcript template that everyone is using? I find it way too busy.

There's a lot of wasted space because for every class taken (every row), there are only 3 square used.  I didn't break it out by semester grade, just a final grade at the end of the year. 

So for each row/course you have: name, year (9-12), credits, H/AP, Grade, and "partner" like MIT OCW or OHS or PAH or Coursera.  

[MamaSprout]

6 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

I hate it. I also find it way too busy and I have a hard time tracking my eyes from the subject all the way across the page to arrive to the year taken. I don’t like it at all. 

Yes, I couldn't make that one work, that why I made my own.

[pgr]

 

NM 

 

Edited July 20, 2022 by pgr