<p>Hello everyone,</p>
<p>I am a homeschool senior currently applying to colleges.</p>
<p>Being homeschooled, my transcript is somewhat subjective. Besides my grades from the college classes I have taken, the grades on my homeschool transcript are pretty fabricatedthey are not real metrics.</p>
<p>That said, since the grades are flexible, what do you think they should be? I have straight A's on my college transcriptfrom the classes I have taken; but would colleges think it was odd if my homeschool transcript had straight A's? Do colleges realize that homeschool grades are a bit of a joke? Or do they take the homeschool transcript grades seriously?</p>
<p>Should I have straight A's? Or some A-'s and maybe a B mixed in? Since it is quite flexible and really pretty subjective, I am unsure what to do. What do you think?</p>
<p>Thank you for your help,
</p>
<p>What did you do as part of your school work to earn those grades? How were your credits determined? Did you unschool completely through? Did you take no tests, nor have any standards that were expected of you to complete a class?</p>
<p>You don’t determine the grades on your transcript, really. That’s the job of whoever is overseeing your education. </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s odd that a homeschooled student would have all As. It would make sense–it’s expected that you might have more opportunity to master the material. However, I do think it’s odd that you already have a transcript but no grades assigned. ???</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply marbling,</p>
<p>Yeah, I was unschooled largely. I self-taught a large amount of the material. Of course I do have SAT scores, state test scores, college class grades, etc. But I am unsure of what to do about the grades.</p>
<p>I have a “transcript” of the subjects I covered, but the grades are a bit of a joke. Do you think colleges realize this? So you think all A’s is not uncommon for homeschoolers?</p>
<p>All As are not uncommon for homeschoolers. Of course, in general, one is to be realistic. If you don’t have the SAT scores or community college grades, for example, to back up your at-home grades, colleges will be suspect. A homeschool English grade of A, followed by a community college Comp 101 grade of C, would show inconsistency.</p>
<p>My D did mostly typical homeschool coursework, along with several comm. college courses in 12th grade. For the most part, she didn’t have “tests” in her schoolwork, but she showed a mastery of the material. She had mostly As, mostly Bs in math, and a B in chemistry. </p>
<p>She also did a couple of interest-led homeschool courses, spending literally hundreds of hours in a couple of subjects that interested her. We made up a list of course descriptions to submit with her college applications along with her transcript. I believe the course descriptions for the non-traditional classes helped elevate her re admissions. You might consider course descriptions, listing out what you used and what you achieved in your different classes. Course descriptions are not necessary, but if they are something that might work in your favor, by all means, use them to your advantage!</p>
<p>The schools to which she applied openly stated they would look at everything as a whole, a combination of grades, (SAT or) ACT score, essays, recommendation letter, etc. That’s typical of a lot of colleges, but it’s even more important in how they view homeschoolers.</p>
<p>I’m sorry for the late reply, but my son had mostly As in Community College, and mostly Ss in homeschool classes. He was accepted to several top schools.</p>
<p>And as far as a transcript with no grades assigned, I built his transcript in fall as he was looking for colleges and writing essays. Doesn’t sound odd to me at all. :)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Check on unschooling blogs and websites for more information on this. Homeschool grades, in my opinion, should not be “a joke”. You need to find a way of translating your activities and learning into a sensible transcript. It does not necessarily have to have an grades unless you took outside courses. Validation through subject tests, AP tests, CLEP, and SAT would be very helpful. You can prepare a reading list and create course descriptions based on what you actually did.</p>
<p>I’ve basically homeschooled myself and my parents let me help with grading my work as long as i’m honest (which I of course am since I would feel like a fake if I didn’t earn the grade I got). Here’s how we do grades per course:</p>
<p>A = understands the subject quite well, especially having mastered the most important principles
B = understands the subject for the most part, but is lacking mastery of some important principles
C = understands the subject fairly, but needs more practice
D = doesn’t understand the subject hardly at all
F = no understanding whatsoever</p>
<p>Not sure if it helps or if I’m too late, but yeah.</p>