<p>Hello, people</p>
<p>Ok, so I've been a homeschooler since around fifth grade and now I'm a "homeschool junior". I've always been a very disciplined student who wakes up very early to start my studies. However, there seems to be a slight problem; as a homeschooler I've never kept a GPA, and so now I don't know what I should do. For example, the University of Dayton, which is one of the colleges I want to go to, says that I need a GPA in my application. It would be either a GPA or a detailed course of my performance. Others, like Syracuse, say that a GPA is not that necessary for a homeschooler.</p>
<p>Does this mean I have absolutely no chance in Dayton? Help, please; I really like Dayton.</p>
<p>PS, my parents and I have an idea of how my performance was since like tenth grade, not to mention all the text books I used. Does that help a bit?</p>
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<p>Since you have a detailed course of your performance, I don’t see the issue here.</p>
<p>Your parents can still assign grades to your transcript and then determine your GPA. As a homeschooler, it’s not unrealistic to have all As, depending on the work you did. If the goal of your schooling is mastery, and if you have a curriculum that is tailored to you, you should be doing well. </p>
<p>The colleges will accept those grades; your SAT/ACT scores, and any supporting coursework (AP, CC, etc.) will come into play and give more credibility to your homeschool grades. Colleges will look more closely at that than your GPA.</p>
<p>But how can the colleges know that the grades put into my transcripts are real, and not a bluff? I know I did well, and that my performance has been very good, yet how can I make sure that the colleges will actually believe the transcripts made by my parents?</p>
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<p>Your test scores will give credibility to your grades. Across the board, grades are not equal anyway. Besides different grading scales used by schools, every teacher and every school grades differently. </p>
<p>Backtrack and create a transcript. It’s not a big deal. (I knew it was coming for three years, and I finally made my D’s transcript the summer before her senior year.) If possible, take some sort of outside class this year, or a community college class. But if you don’t, or if you can’t, don’t worry about that either.</p>
<p>(I can’t tell if you are ending your junior year, or beginning your junior year.)
Be sure to take both the SAT and the ACT, as you may do much better on one, and most schools will only look at your best score. If you are ending your junior year and have not yet done these, do it soon. Get a test prep book, practice, and take the tests. After you get your score, you will have enough time to study any weaker areas, and retest to increase your scores before early admission applications are due.</p>
<p>So you’ll have your transcript and your test scores, and you’ll write a great essay–one that is uniquely you, not one that is written to try and impress. </p>
<p>Your lack of a GPA really isn’t any big deal; it’s an easy fix.</p>
<p>Igartiburu1 - Hello from a fellow homeschooler! </p>
<p>“How can I make sure that the colleges will actually believe the transcripts made by my parents?” </p>
<p>The colleges know that your transcript is made by your parents (or even you! - with your parents’ supervision, of course). From my experience, the colleges used several other determiners to support the grades on my transcript.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>All of the colleges I applied to asked for detailed course descriptions (textbooks, detailed description of topics covered, etc.) in addition to the transcript. I spent a lot of time writing course descriptions last summer and made them as detailed and informative as possible. </p></li>
<li><p>They also asked for SAT/ACT scores. Although scores aren’t really a great presentation of high school performance, they’re important for a homeschooler - they’re an objective source of information.</p></li>
<li><p>Most colleges addressed homeschooling in my interview. When asked about my experiences with homeschooling or questions about grades, I made sure to give an answer that stressed the academic rigor of my courses and the objective methods my parents used (tests, etc.). </p></li>
<li><p>If the college mentioned supplementary materials, I sent them! AP grades weren’t required at any of the colleges I applied to, but they were “encouraged.” I took this as another chance to provide an objective measure of my abilities and sent in AP grades. Some colleges also referenced a supplementary essay or recommendation; I sent in both. </p></li>
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<p>I hope this helps, and good luck on your college journey!</p>
<p>Thanks so much, you guys. I feel much, much better with the info. :)</p>