What do colleges want? They want to know about the applicants.
They want to know about each student that applies to their college. To understand the student, they need to know about the school the student attends. When a child goes to a school that the college already knows, or an accredited school, they know what that child’s transcript means. But what if they don’t know for sure if the public school is accredited? What if the school is a private school they have never heard of? Then they ask for more information.
Sometimes we think we are the only ones that have to give lots of information to colleges, but that’s not true. We just don’t think about how public and private schools need to give colleges information on their curriculum, course descriptions, and grading criteria. But colleges need the academic information about a high school. All high schools. Even ours.
What do colleges want? They want to know about our homeschool.
Most colleges want lots of information. Many colleges want detailed homeschool records with course descriptions, a list of what you used, a description of how you graded, work samples, reading list, activity list, and test scores that are available.
Other colleges don’t have a lot of time, so they try to go the “quick and easy” route by asking for lots of test scores. Of course, that’s really only quick and easy for the college asking for scores. It’s actually pretty laborious and difficult for the student.
Which college do you want?
The biggest problem, of course, is that while you are in the midst of homeschooling, most parents aren’t really sure which colleges their child will apply to. Some parents aren’t sure if their child will go to college at all – and then are shocked when it happens!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I suggest that all parents homeschooling high school take on the role of school administrator and prepare professional and detailed comprehensive records. You will be ready for anything.
Valerie shared the results of her comprehensive homeschool records. The college told her she did it just the way they wanted, and were thankful that she put it all together in an organized way. They said, “Typically more information is better than less. When I first saw the records I though it was a private school.”
Creating homeschool records is part of our job description.
Now I know it’s a little freaky to give a college information about your personal, private, independent homeschool. You may have never had to do that before, depending on your state law. But it’s OK to give colleges your information. If you want your child to go to college, they will need to know if your child is qualified to attend, or if they have earned scholarships.
It’s our job to create homeschool records. We made the decision to homeschool high school. Creating homeschool records is part of our job description. Let’s do it with excellence!
