<p>I was unschooled for high school and am now going through the transfer process for fall 2008, meaning I am working on all of my applications this summer and in the fall in order to get an early start.</p>
<p>I attended public schools until 6th grade, then skipped 7th and 8th, did tutoring through the town for 9th, and finally finished all my town requirements at 15 through unschooling, after which I just kept going because I enjoyed it. Once I turned 18, I received my highest honors GED. (I could not do it earlier than that because of state law.)</p>
<p>For the most part, like most unschoolers, I did not use traditional textbooks or assignments. I also did not take any standardized tests, other than the GED.</p>
<p>Now that I'm 21 and going through all of this, I'm trying to figure out how exactly to provide a "transcript" of my unschooling. (It kinda goes against the whole point, you know?) Does anyone have any suggestions on how to do this? Should I just write an essay on what I actually did and learned?</p>
<p>I am going to be taking either the SAT or ACT in fall -- haven't decided which one yet (suggestions?) -- because, even though few colleges actually require them for transfers, I figure it will help overcome my lack of high school transcripts. I think I will probably throw in some SAT IIs as well.</p>
<p>For the record, I'm currently at a top community college with a 3.93 GPA in our honors program and have a genuinely outstanding collegiate r</p>
<p>Since you are a transfer student, you might not need anything else. Check with the college admission dept. at the schools you are thinking about attending and ask them what they prefer as far as paperwork.</p>
<p>No, I do need a "transcript" for each college, and they don't appear to want to elaborate beyond that. I don't think they're understanding that unschoolers, by definition, don't really have "transcripts."</p>
<p>That's why I'm asking, because I figure someone else has run into this before.</p>
<p>Perhaps I'll simplify this...when putting together application packets, what have unschoolers before me submitted? That might make it easier. :)</p>
<p>I have an idea that there is a wide difference in expectations between very competitive private schools and public colleges and universities.
My first two unschoolers just provided a reading list, sorted into "subjects" that admissions people were used to seeing. That was fine for the private schools they were interested in.
The public sector may well be more subject to civil service type "rules" and expectations. They are, after all, extensions of the public schools in their states.</p>
<p>I would add that we never tried to assign "grades" to anything they did.
In my opinion, standardized testing (no matter what the merits) is a terrific opportunity for "unschoolers" to shine in the areas they love.</p>
<p>Maybe I'm missing something here, but if you are currently attending an accredited community college and have done well and plan on transferring to a four year accredited college, I don't think you will need anything beyond the transcript from that accredited community college that you are attending - regardless of what you did for high school. </p>
<p>If you are not in an accredited community college program, then you may have a problem. Contact the college you want to apply to and ask them what they require from people in your specific situation.</p>
<p>I'm working on such transcripts myself. I basically am taking about two pages to explain what I did, and I also have a general reading list. I also make it clear that many subjects overlap and also that there were simply SO MANY things I did that I could not possibly remember or list them all. I'm not doing it as a timeline or anything. It's more like how I'd explain it to somebody if they were like, "How did you learn math/physics/etc? What did you do?" Think of it more as "explanation of learning history" than a transcript.</p>
<p>Pearl, the community college is very much accredited and one of the best in the country. Each college, however, has explicitly asked for a high school transcript, including when I've had in-person conversations with their counselors. As I said, I have contacted the colleges in question, and they have not been more specific with what they want, which is why I am posting here. They just keep saying "transcript," which I can't offer. I wonder if they understand the difference between unschooling and homeschooling.</p>
<p>dis-grace, the reading list sounds like a good idea. I will try that.</p>
<p>I seriously doubt that they understand the difference between homeschooling and unschooling. They want to see a transcript and you may have to offer it to them them best that you can. You did take the GED and that might be enough for them?</p>
<p>The fact that they probably don't understand the difference between homeschooling and unschooling is why RoughWinds should explain this at the beginning of his/her "transcript".</p>
<p>RoughWinds, unschoolers can create transcripts too. An excellent resource for help with that is Loretta Heuer's Homeschooler's Guide to Transcripts and Portfolios. Another resource is the book written by Cafi Cohen (And What About College?). Look them over at the library for help on turning your unschool high school work into a traditional transcript.</p>
<p>A transcript is merely a snapshot of "courses" and "grades." Unschoolers can bundle their non-traditional, non-textbook learning into school subjects easily.</p>
<p>homeskulmom, thank you so much! All I really have now are my GED scores (which aren't enough), a list of textbooks used (all college-level), and a "recommendation" from my parents, so that book should be useful.</p>
<p>For the recommended units for high school students (like four years of English and math, three of science, and the like), should I bother trying to break it into "years," or just go subject-by-subject and explain what I did?</p>
<p>(I'm sorry for asking a question that's probably answered in the text!)</p>
<p>I'm just breaking it up subject-by-subject, but I have mini-subjects within subjects for a few topics. For instance, in English, I separate general literature from books ABOUT literature, etc. I wouldn't be able to break it into years even if I tried, though. I didn't study most topics in massed ways, but rather in bits at a time and with other topics sprinkled in between.</p>
<p>Rough Winds, dis-grace has done it one way, and that would work. Do you know what universities you are going to apply to? If so, make your life easier and email or call admissions and ask the office what they need to see. Dates are probaby unnecessary, but you might break up subjects into English 1, 2, 3 and 4, Science 9, whatever. </p>
<p>Making your transcript look like one that comes from a school will make your life and the admissions officer's life easier. Your uniqueness will show in other places, such as supplemental portfolio and essay. Transcripts are designed to give perfunctory info like course names and grades. An academic resume with book lists and course descriptions can be attached, which will give more insight into the unschooling work you completed.</p>
<p>homeskulmom, I do know which ones I will be applying to -- there are eight (need to compare financial aid offers) -- but as I said, they themselves don't seem to know what they want, even though I have already contacted each about this. Unlike some other colleges, none of them have a standard for what they expect from homeschooled students, other than that dreaded "transcript" they're talking about.</p>
<p>I think I've learned a lot from these comments, though, and I will definitely get a copy of the suggested book to help me out a little more.</p>
<p>The thing I'm arguing with here though is that unschoolers don't HAVE courses and grades. To represent unschooling in that way would be to bull**** your way through admissions.</p>
<p>Oh, there's no way I'm going to make up courses or grades or anything like that. I'm proud that I unschooled and think I learned more that way than I would have otherwise. But I think the idea of breaking up what I did by subject, for example, might be a good way of doing it.</p>
<p>My only problem is, I can't seem to write anything brief about what I did! I've been playing around the past few days with writing something up, and I have two pages on how I studied science alone. Yikes! Need to condense...</p>
<p>Do you want to PM me? I could try and tell you which things strike me as the most interesting and relevant. Also, I bet you'd get a lot of help if you used some of the services here for people applying to college. They are soooo useful for non-traditional applicants.</p>