They say on their admissions site that they want to know the title and length of every paper written in high school. I haven’t seen this requirement anywhere else. I have course descriptions for each course, but have not kept track of every paper written.
Are there any homeschoolers here who have gotten accepted at Cornell? Did you include this list of papers written?
You do not have to list all the papers ever written. You do not have to list any at all for that matter. Your course descriptions will suffice.
@KunjiBoy I hope you are right! Have you heard of homeschoolers accepted to Cornell without this?
Yes. The most important components of the application will be standardize tests (sat, ap, etc…) and your kid’s essays in regards to proving college readiness.
^ Great to hear! Thanks!!
At Cornell University? Can you link to the page? My homeschooled D was accepted two years ago and attends, and I never saw anything like that. I’m looking now to see if they have any instructions at all particular to homeschool applicants, like a number of schools do, and not seeing anything.
https://www.engineering.cornell.edu/admissions/undergraduate/firstyear/faqs.cfm
Taken from their Engineering Application FAQs:
How do you evaluate applicants who are home-schooled?
In order to understand and appreciate the depth and variety of the homeschool experience, and if an official high school transcript is NOT available, the admissions selection committee requires the following information for all four years prior to entering college:
English: list of books (including all textbooks and other anthologies) you have read each year; how many papers and how long (indicate which are creative and which are expository writing); any research papers (list titles and length of each).
Social Studies: list of textbooks and books you have read each year; how many papers (topics listed) and how long; independent research projects (titles and lengths).
Foreign Language: list of textbooks you have read each year; list of projects and/or papers; descriptions and dates of visits to other countries.
Science: textbooks you have used each year (description of topics covered if you did not use a textbook or only used part of the book); list of experiments and/or field trips; any projects or research done (titles and time spent).
Mathematics: textbooks (covering which topics) you have used each year; any independent projects (titles and time spent).
In addition, you should submit scores from an standardized examinations (state, SATs, ACTs, APs), and any transcripts from any college courses you may have taken. You should also send information on independent projects, laboratory experiences, research projects, etc.
Wow, I had no idea that Engineering said this; my D is in Arts and Sciences. I think that the key phrase is at the beginning - ‘if an official high school transcript is not available’. Many homeschoolers have official high school transcripts, albeit issued by their parents. In Illinois, each homeschool is a private school and issues transcripts and diplomas as such. My daughter’s transcript included grades from third parties - homeschool class teachers, online courses, local CCs and four-year colleges. Self-studies and courses taught by parents were ungraded.
We had a version of the transcript from maybe 8th grade on, for applications to summer programs and such, and just built on it over the years. If you have something like that already done, or could pull together a draft, you could potentially run it by an Engineering adcom to see if that would work for them as an ‘official transcript’…
Ahh, you may be right - I just skipped over that phrase. I think its a good idea to run our home-done transcript by an adcom.
I put the word official on our transcript as well as the state code (law) that we homeschool under. I also include course descriptions (but not to the extent they suggest).
Are you familiar with the hs2coll yahoo loop? You might consider joining it. The members are a wealth of knowledge and have kids accepted to a broad range of colleges. (They are also homeschoolers who have the parent as the primary teacher.)