Hello All!
I was recently accepted into UC Berkeley as a transfer student from a community college. I thought being home-schooled would not matter but they are now asking for my high school transcripts for grades 9-12.
I went to a charter school for grade 9 so I have a transcript for that year, but for grades 10 and 11 I was completely home-schooled. Furthermore, I am currently in 11th grade and the first semester of University would technically be my “12th Grade” so it would be impossible for me to send a transcript because it doesn’t exist.
I asked my admissions officer about this and he replied with “You’ll need to submit the transcript for the one year as well as any home-school transcripts and or graduation certificates that you received to show your completion of high school.”
Does this mean that since I had an accelerated education I won’t be accepted since I “technically” cannot show my “completion of high school”? Or do I have to send a transcript with the courses I took, showing I completed high school early? If this is the case, how is it possible to send transcripts to UC Berkeley?
Sorry for the loaded question, just find it stressful that I was accepted, and now I might not be due to my high school transcripts… even though I’m a transfer student (why?).
Surely your parents can write up a high school transcript for all of the home school courses other than college courses that you would send the college transcripts for.
Read the admission requirements on the [UC college website](https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/admission-requirements/freshman-requirements/home-schooled-students.html) to see what they require. You should also read your state education regulations for homeschoolers. Your family should really have exored the path to college before now. Also, check with your local homeschool organization. Other homeschoolers in your area have likely run into the same issue. They’ll be able to advise you.
In our state parents write their own homeschool transcripts. But to get a college degree the state requires students to show proof of completion of a high school program. There are different ways to do that here, but one of them has to be done for students to attend college. You need to know what the CA education laws are. If they just need a transcript your parents can create one. But if they need something else you’ll be able to find out what that is.
@taranalt2 - There are a couple of umbrella schools that will help you with this (writing a transcript in retrospect). For example, check out NARHS(dot)com. They are accredited, not that expensive, and have experience putting together things like this for folks who find themselves in your type of position. They are legit.
My daughter is a homeschooled student who has been a full-time student at a community college for the past 3 semesters. She will be applying to universities as a dual-enrolled homeschooled student in the up-coming application cycle, so I’ve spent a lot of time researching how to present her high school transcript together with her CC transcript.
Your parents should be able to write up and submit a homeschooled transcript for you. My guess is, since you applied as a transfer they will not count your CC classes towards high school (unless they are accepting you as a first year). Semantics, but bureaucracy always wins in the end. Look at the work you did in the previous 3 years before CC, cross reference Berkley’s high school course requirements and write a transcript. They just need it as a formality for their records. Berkley is a very open minded school- they love alternative learners like you. They are not going to care that your high school experience doesn’t look like everyone else, in fact, that might even be part of why they accepted you. It is highly unlikely that they would accept you based on grades and recommendations given by your college professors, and then rescind it because of an atypical high school transcript. There is no law or rule that says high school must span 4 years, people graduate early all the time. As long as it shows 4 credits of English, 4 credits of math, yada yada yada, you’re good.
The one important detail I want to reiterate, if you applied as a transfer student and not as a first year, you will have to show high school completion prior to your start at CC. If you applied as a first year, make sure you know what Berkley’s rules are about whether or not you can use CC classes to count towards both high school and college credit (and write your HS transcript accordingly). No worries… congrats and good luck!
Thanks for the reply! One question though;
“if you applied as a transfer student and not as a first year, you will have to show high school completion prior to your start at CC”
I started CC during 9th grade so pretty much impossible to state that, is that a requirement?
Thanks!
My daughter is in a very similar situation (she started CC in what should have been 8th grade). We handled her transcript by itemizing course credits instead of academic years. For example, for english/lit we simply showed 4 classes and listed them (no dates necessary)…and so on for each set of requirements… usually 4 english credits, 4 math credits, 4 science credits, etc. As a companion to the one page transcript (you can find basic templates and examples online), you will also want to write a description of your homeschool teaching methods and a description of your courses with texts used. This sounds daunting, but it’s not so bad. My daughter happens to love Shakespeare and has read all his plays- so one of her courses is simply Shakespeare with his works as texts used, for example. In your description of teaching methods it’s ok to say “I self-taught geometry using these sources and used a placement test to determine grade”. Some homeschool students are straight up “unschooled” meaning they learn on the fly according to what interests them and they don’t even use grades. It’s ok to be flexible and creative as long as you’re honest.
Because you were able to hold your own in a college environment at your age - and by the sound of it quite well or you wouldn’t have been accepted to Berkeley- I’m sure it’s just a formality. Just be sure to look at Berkeley’s requirements for homeschool students and make sure your transcript answers those requirements. Just like you we could not put together a traditional high school transcript by year because my daughter covered 4 years of high school math courses in one year. Here’s the thing, homeschool students are admittedly a bit of a wild card which is why universities require additional application requirements such as ACT scores or subject placement tests to prove competency. In your case (and in my daughter’s case) your College transcript and recommendations are worth ten-fold any AP classes or test scores. They know who you are… they already have your official college transcript… you’re a kid who was able to ace college in 9th grade! They just need the paperwork to cover the high school part. Have fun at Berkeley!
In addition to all of this good advice, please talk with someone in transfer admissions so that you can get do things the exact way they want them.
https://admissions.berkeley.edu/contact-us
https://admissions.berkeley.edu/transfer-advising-resources
One more thing… I don’t think it’s going to matter that your high school course dates and CC classes overlap as long as you don’t use CC classes to fulfill high school credits (since you applied as a transfer). In other words, if you took Western Civ at CC you can’t use that to fulfill one of your 3 HS social studies credits. You might need separate high school coursework to cover that (again, your academic abilities are proven so you can be creative here if needed). Double check with Berkeley about what their policy is and exactly what they need because each college is different. I’m guessing you probably surpassed high school coursework at least a semester or two ago, just list the point at which you transitioned to exclusively college level work as your grad date.
Thanks for all the info, already started making the transcript! One final question if you know, would you send the transcript physically or virtually as a pdf somehow?
Thanks.
We sent ours as a PDF. I’d try that first. There may not be very many staff who are physically on campus.
Can you send me a link or their name? Thank you!
Has anyone been told they need to have their school district certify the transcript or the student needs to take the GED?
We’ve run into this.
My DD has 19 credit hours of dual credit including 4 hours of engineering physics and is being asked to take the GED by Florida schools she’s applying to. We are from another state.
Also her dual credit gpa is a 4.0