<p>Last time I was here at CC, D was applying to boarding schools. Well, D wound up attending an excellent, traditional b school for one year--her soph year. She loved the independence it fostered in her but felt oppressed by the homogeneity she perceived in the student body. Recognizing that it wasn't a good fit after all, we took D out of b school at more or less the last minute. Actually, it was just about a year ago at this time.
We live in NYC. Our choices were few--there are just two transfer high schools that would take her given the timing. But we wound up being extremely fortunate: D adores the school.
The school, founded in the 1970s as a progressive, internship-based semi-utopia with no grades (pass/fail) and a transcript that might as well be a blank piece of paper, is the antithesis of Ds entire prep-school educational experience. The change invigorated her. Last year, her junior year, she did four internships at prestigious institutions in NYC. She took on multiple community service activities and became a leader within the school (ie, yearbook editor, peer counselor/advisor, information panelist). With no honors or AP classes available, she took some college level courses during the school year (outside the high school) and this summer did the NYU pre-college program, achieving high grades.
Here's the rub: D will graduate with a portfolio and no GPA. And as I noted, the school's transcript is close to being useless. However, D is interested in applying to several small lacs as well as to some large, private universities with low acceptance rates.
What suggestions do you CCers have for how she can compensate for her nontraditional (and, with the portfolio included, thick too) high school transcript.</p>
<p>If the colleges and universities that she will be applying to often receive applicants from her high school, then they will know what to do with the transcript and portfolio. If she will be applying to places that have never received an applicant from her high school, it would be the job of her guidance counselor to explain the educational model that they are using, and to provide background for the interpretation of her records.</p>
<p>Truly, you really don’t have to worry about this. It is the guidance counselor’s job. If you absolutely must know how he/she plans to handle it, make an appointment with him/her and ask. I’m sure he/she gets this question every single year from at least one parent, and can talk you through the process.</p>
<p>Well happymomof1–under most circumstances what you’re suggesting would be the case. What I left out, I see now from your suggestion, is that the school does not have a college guidance counselor other than for city and state schools. It’s anomalous that D is applying to private institutions.</p>
<p>Two of my kids were homeschooled (unschooled) during high school. IMO, the number one thing colleges want to see from your D, and any “non-traditionally-schooled” applicant is a high standardized test score. Colleges will also want to see official transcripts from every high school/college she attended–so she will have those grades to show from freshman and soph. years, and from her college classes.
Do not send a portfolio to colleges–unless they ask for it! You should make a short (one-two page) summary of the activities/experiences that made up her junior year, and her planned senior courses/activities.
I cannot stress enough that high test scores may be the deciding factor. If she hasn’t already taken the SAT or ACT, she should sign up and prep hard. Good luck.</p>
<p>Even if the GC hasn’t done private schools before - the process is not that different. They should still be able to provide some context. I agree with atomom that standardized test scores will be more important than usual. She should take the SAT sooner rather than later to see where she stands. I’d also take three subject tests at one sitting even though I don’t think any schools ask for more than two any more. She should get the blue book of sample subject tests and see which ones she seems best prepared for. The fact that she has some college classes under her belt will be helpful.</p>
<p>Many schools welcome “outliers.” I cannot imagine that any of this will be a problem.</p>
<p>And if test scores aren’t stellar (and they may be stellar, just saying…) google “test optional colleges,” and you will find many of them will fit your daughter well.</p>
<p>Honestly, it is really never the GPA that gets kids into selective schools. Your daughter has everything that does, in fact, help with admissions and will stand out due to the different kind of school environment she has been in.</p>
<p>Does she want a similar kind of campus for college? Bennington, Hampshire, Marlboro, Sarah Lawrence, Brown, Amherst, Lewis and Clark are all possibilities. Have you seen “Colleges that Change Lives,” a book by Loren Pope? There is a website by the same name…</p>
<p>I think atomom is correct. Conventional wisdom also has it that homeschoolers would be wise to take one or two extra SAT IIs I would think that this might apply to your D, also. On the other hand, since she will be presenting grades from more conventional settings, it may not be as much of an issue.</p>
<p>I would add that it would be wise to get recommendations from one or two internships.</p>
<p>My hope would be that she’d have strong test scores, and that the teacher recommendations would be personal and enthusiastic. In that case, I wouldn’t worry at all.</p>
<p>I don’t think she needs strong test scores, though she may have them. If not, here is a list of test optional schools: [SAT/ACT</a> Optional 4-Year Universities | FairTest](<a href=“http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional]SAT/ACT”>ACT/SAT Optional List - Fairtest)</p>
<p>This daughter is not at all like a homeschooler. Her school will vouch for her, not parents. She has an academic record through portfolio but also the summer program and college courses, and has apparently fairly extraordinary internships and extracurriculars.</p>
<p>I think she should aim high and realize that many selective schools are quite holistic in admissions.</p>
<p>(I have a kid who didn’t do senior year at all, got a GED, then a diploma by mail, but had an outside-of-school “passion” that she concentrated on. She got into all the schools she applied to. Her SAT’s were low so she stuck to relatively selective but test optional schools. The original poster’s daughter is in position to get into some top schools, I think.)</p>
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<p>I agree, assuming that the grades where she does have them are good, and so are her recommendations. </p>
<p>She certainly is likely to fare better at selective, holistic schools than at by-the-numbers kinds of places.</p>
<p>Have you asked to see the HS Profile which gets sent to the colleges? That might help outside schools to understand her transcript.</p>
<p>Her college courses’ grades and test scores will prove her ability to do college work at schools she is interested in. All of the wonderful opportunities to do activities you mention may have been good for her as a person but are no replacement for academic learning- it sounds like extracurriculars trump intense academics at her HS. Fortunately she was able to do the academics she needed through outside classes. I’ll bet she won’t want typical colleges as they will resemble her boarding school too much. The colleges that most interest her are likely to want her.</p>
<p>I should bookmark this thread somehow. I have a feeling I’m going to need it in the near future. D1 did well in a competitive public high school and did well in her college admissions as well. D2 finished her freshman year in the same high school and informed me that she WILL NOT go back. Since her grades tended to back her up (how does a child this brilliant wind up with 2 Ds?), I went searching for a school and found a hippy-dippy, loosy-goosy non grading school. She is stating right after labor day. Assuming she does well there, I’ll have no idea how to orchestrate a college search from a school like that.</p>
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<p>This is exactly why UC Santa Cruz eventually started giving grades. Otherwise, its alumni were at a distinct disadvantage when applying to selective graduate and professional programs with no grades to show for their four years in college.</p>
<p>UCSC was originally founded as the UC’s sort of hippie campus with no grades - “progressive,” “alternative,” “unconventional,” or whatever else you might call it. It still has something of a crunchy vibe today, but they began giving out real transcripts with traditional grades decades ago.</p>
<p>Queen’s Mom–I’ll gladly update here once D receives feedback. Or, pm me anytime.</p>
<p>Her SAT and ACT scores will give you a ‘sense’ of where she fits nationally and also help you pin down the application list as well as give the colleges some feeling for her academics. The NYU classes will also help. Her essay will give them insight into her ability to write. I would assume if she chaffed at traditional K-12 she’s looking for something uniquely different for college also, and her high school history will bolster applications at those sorts of colleges/unis.</p>
<p>The public high school in my district has an alternative school within it (acceptance is by lottery) and they also only have a portfolio. It’s been in existence for over 20 years. I know someone who was in the first graduating class and her parents were quite concern with how how it would be viewed but their D had no problem with admissions at all (she ended up at Bryn Mawr) and I have never heard of any problem getting into colleges since it was established. Alternative schools like these are not new and admission offices are well aware of them and portfolios versus traditional transcripts.</p>
<p>Thank you, Rubricon. I would appreciate that. I figure we will have to start a serious search next year sometime. D is very happy at the new school, but the jury is still out on the academics. We will see.</p>