What's Up With GPAs !

Pre-College Issues Home Schooling and College
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<p>Re: the Singapore economy, certainly food for thought bceagle! It was my parents’ initial concern as well, that perhaps staying in Singapore might be more practical, but we’ve decided that college and working in the US would be better for me, environment-wise (you do get kinda sick of living on a tiny island after a few years :p)</p>

<p>Even though there are people who deal with international admissions, I really do hope there are people who are familiar, it would be such a great help to me!!</p>

<p>About your son’s dual enrollment, I assume he did it at a US college? Homeschoolers in Singapore are very uncommon, in fact I don’t know anyone else here who is homeschooling. Dual enrollment in a college here would definitely help, I’ll ask my dad to poke his nose around and see what can happen :slight_smile: Hopefully it would be possible although Sg’s pretty inflexible when it comes to education hehe.</p>

<p>And yes, I do wish to major in finance (or econ at the very least) although after reading all that stuff about Wall Street, I’m rethinking where exactly I want to work although definitely in the same field :)</p>

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<p>Also, this is directed to creekland! In your earlier post in this thread, you said adcoms look more to test scores for homeschoolers and may take classes with outside validation more seriously. I’ve always gotten the impression that outside classes were the most important part of a homeschool app (it was the main reason I attended a local school, apart from meeting people so that I wouldn’t become a hermit haha). I’ve also read on another post on CC that cc (community college, sorry there’re two cc’s) class grades aren’t really given very high weighting because cc’s vary and not all of them are reputable.</p>

<p>Would you say that presenting test scores would be better than presenting outside grades? Of course as I’ve mentioned I do have some outside grades from local school, but if test scores do carry more weighting then I’m going to consider taking more CLEP/DSST tests! I’m going to send anywhere from 6 to 9 SAT II’s (depending on how I perform), and I’m registered to take two DSSTs next month, if test scores really do help, I’ll think about taking more!</p>

<p>Also bceagle: I just noted one thing you wrote in your last post, that I need admissions to be able to translate the work I do into the US system. It’s a little problematic cause mostly it’s a US system but I use the grades from local school and ‘import’ them to form some of the credits on my high school master transcript, then I’m submitting those transcripts as an appendix. Any advice on how to ‘translate the work I do into the US system’? I don’t mean taking extra classes, it’s kinda too late for that, but more of any advice on how I should write my transcript? </p>

<p>Thanks guys this help means so much to me! I’m so glad there’s people like y’all on CC :)</p>

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<p>I would consider moving to Singapore if things got really bad in the
US (things are decent in my part of the country). The small island is
an issue but I understand that many travel to Malaysia, New Zealand
and Australia for a change of venue.</p>

<p>There are a lot of things to like about the US which is one of the
reasons why we live here.</p>

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<p>Four different US universities. He had a year of credits going into
college. He would have had a lot more but he had an extended illness
where he couldn’t study much for 18 months.</p>

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<p>Part of the reason for homeschooling interest is where the kids aren’t
learning to parents’ expectations and I’d guess that this isn’t a big
problem in Singapore. There are other reasons - religious, cultural,
educational philosophy, additional time to pursue other interests like
sports and arts but these may not be big factors there. In the US, there
are email lists for homeschooling by state because regulations vary from
state to state so much. There are national lists too but the nitty-gritty
stuff happens in the state lists. I did find something on that with a
google search - I don’t know anything about this email list other than
what I read on the front page. It might be a good place to ask questions
on dual-enrollment.</p>

<p>[Homeschooling</a> in Singapore | IPA Voices](<a href=“http://www.ipavoices.com/2011/06/26/homeschooling-in-singapore/]Homeschooling”>http://www.ipavoices.com/2011/06/26/homeschooling-in-singapore/)</p>

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<p>Singapore is quite flexible in many ways. My wife told me that private
schools are funded with state funds which is quite different from the US
system where private schools generally can’t receive state funds.</p>

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<p>There are other avenues to work on Wall St besides majoring in
finance. We hired an MIT physics graduate to do software
engineering. He was taking med-school courses on the side as that’s
something that he wanted to do. His girlfriend was accepted to med
school in the New York area so he joined a HFT firm. My wife has a
nephew that went to school in Singapore for engineering but wound up
working in finance. It’s not a direct route but it does happen.</p>

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<p>I am unsure how to do this in your case. In my son’s case, I just
drove down to his school and had a chat with admissions. I wrote up a
high-school transcript and just sat down and went over it with the
admissions person. I am a big believer in the power of personal
persuasion.</p>

<p>I don’t think that the essay would be a good place to do this - perhaps
an appendix explaining your work would be helpful. This might be an issue
for international students in general and you might want to ask this in
a forum for international students.</p>

<p>Another possibility would be meeting with an admissions person
locally. Some US schools send out admissions folks to other countries
for recruiting (Boston University recruits in Asia). Some schools also
have Alumni volunteers that do interviews outside of their local area
(I used to do this for BC).</p>

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<p>As always, such a comprehensive reply :slight_smile: I hope your kid’s doing better now though!! 18 months must have been a struggle for him and all the best! :)</p>

<p>My family’s been out of the US too long to maintain residence, so the regulations and stuff don’t affect me much, the credits on my transcript are certainly enough to meet colleges’ expectations and so that’s not a problem. The url you linked, thank you for sourcing that out :slight_smile: Generally those are for kids with LDs and such, and they follow the British system anyway, so not much of a similarity but I’ll definitely ask if anyone there has done dual enrollment :)</p>

<p>And yup, it’s true privates here get government funding, although it also means that the govt has say over some of the education, so it’s not really as private as it sounds :slight_smile: Almost all the colleges here are also government-run, so dual-enrollment… hopefully my dad can pull a string or two for me :)</p>

<p>I’ll definitely look into college fairs here, I think the embassy here has one or two ! :slight_smile: You sound like such an involved parent :slight_smile: I don’t quite have the liberty to drive down like you do of course, but a couple of the colleges I’m applying to told me that they actually accepted parent-assigned grades (preferably if there’s an accompanying course description and textbook list etc). And when I told them that I had some grades from a foreign system they said to just use it as credits that counted towards my diploma, and ‘import’ the grades. Not too sure if this holds at every single school, but hopefully it works too, seeing as my application will be in the format of a high school transcript and I don’t know if international admissions officers would be involved. I’ll check with the schools and if they are then I’ll poke around the international forum here :)</p>

<p>My main problem is that when I sent the emails my transcript is so unconventional that I think people monitoring the admissions email account wasn’t even sure how to reply, I’ve not gotten many replies haha :)</p>

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<p>Also, just a quick comment :slight_smile: Your profile says you’re in New Hampshire, I heard it was ranked the safest place in the US to live in, so yeah it must be good over there :smiley: Singapore can be a little stifling, not only geographically, but in terms of political leaning and such :slight_smile: Not to mention the standard of living here is insanely high, recently there was a newspaper article that mentioned that for the price of a 3 room flat here where the price is moderated by the govt, not even private property, you could buy a whole island in the Caribbean. </p>

<p>Just one of the many reasons my family and I decided US would be better for me :)</p>

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<p>I think that Singapore provides a middle-ground solution that isn’t
seen in the US. There are charter schools but they have differences
with government-funded private schools.</p>

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<p>You might have better luck with phone calls. Admissions staff can be
very busy and in service organizations, I usually find that priority
goes first to people that show up in-person, second to those that call
, and third that use email (unless the query is trivial) and post
mail. My wife does that when she needs to talk to banks or government
offices in other countries.</p>

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<p>I haven’t been there since the late 1990s but my wife and sister are
involved in real estate there so I have a rough idea of housing costs.
I’m aware of some of the political stuff there (my wife keeps up with
news there and tries to tell me about it).</p>

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<p>I’m sure the US would be glad to have you studying and working here.</p>

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<p>Not related to this discussion but I’d appreciate it if you could you tell me the economic mood in Singapore right now.</p>

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<p>Certainly a good point, I’ll be looking into phone calls then :slight_smile: I generally try to avoid calling too much because the calls get pretty expensive if I call too many schools, also time zones can be a real bother! Maybe I’ll narrow down to 3 or 4 of my top choice schools and give them a ring then :)</p>

<p>As per your question: Economic mood in Singapore is pretty bad right now, we’re going into a kind of slump, although we haven’t hit the lowest point right now. I know some banks have started retrenching since last December (2011) and they’re still doing so now, and the next half a year is probably going to get worse. I saw a news report a few days ago about the government lowering prices of goods in supermarkets (yeah the supermarkets are actually affiliated with the govt heh) to make them more affordable. GDP this year is predicted to drop, although in general the government does a pretty good job to support the whole country through economic crises. I can’t tell you what direction it will take in the future though, we’ve had some pretty big changes in leadership in the past year - election of a new president, the previous one was in power for over a decade, and in general opposition parties put up a much stronger fight at the most recent electrons and actually won a couple of local constituencies over and some of the best and most experienced politicians in Singapore were cast out. But you mentioned that your family was involved in real estate here, prices are definitely dropping if you’re looking to invest in new property but the economy isn’t REALLY suffering so if you’re looking to buy at the lowest possible price perhaps a few more months? News reports indicate that the worst is coming, but not immediately yet. </p>

<p>Hopefully that was a rough explanation :slight_smile: If you’re interested in the economy, you should check out the biggest local newspaper, they’ve been reporting quite regularly on this: [The</a> Straits Times](<a href=“http://www.straitstimes.com/]The”>http://www.straitstimes.com/)</p>

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<p>Also, just in case my above questions gets lost in this post: giant shoutout to creekland if you’re there :slight_smile: The question in post 22, thanks :)</p>

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<p>I made a six-figure investment in Singapore about 30 minutes ago - I had been considering it this week. I used to read the Straits Times but haven’t in many years. Maybe I jumped the gun a little but I’ll give it some time and see how it works out. I do recall that GDP went negative in S’pore in the most recently reported quarter, down from around 9.8% in Q1.</p>

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<p>Well I suppose it’s a pretty good time to invest now, after the recession ends value should go up, and Singapore does a pretty good job at keeping the economy afloat even during recessions, it definitely hits the low-income group hardest, I do know friends with super rich parents, and their investments don’t seem to be affected too much by recessions! Then again, I don’t know what you invested in and I’m not going to pry seeing as that’s pretty private, so hopefully it works out for you :slight_smile: If you want noticeable results you might have to wait awhile though, the economy as a whole isn’t going to get better for months. </p>

<p>If you’re into reading exact stats, [Economic</a> Survey of Singapore First Quarter 2012](<a href=“Page Not Found”>Page Not Found) this should be a good resource, it’s one of the ministry’s websites and they publish stats regularly, and it’s definitely reliable :slight_smile: Might help you decide on things and your investment! Regarding your stats about GDP, if I’m not mistaken and memory hasn’t failed me, Q1 reported 9.4% expansion but Q2 was 1.1% contraction, so of course that’s never a good sign.</p>

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<p><quote>I’ve asked a few folks in admissions about this and each one told me they don’t really take a homeschool GPA into consideration. They look more at test scores. I also assume they will look at and consider anything with outside substantiation (outside classes) more highly.</quote> As posted by creekland.</p>

<p>I realised that actually this question wasn’t directed exactly at creekland but more of at everyone on this forum!</p>

<p>As per what I said in a previous post swallowed up by a discussion on the Singaporean economy (LOL), I’ve always gotten the impression that outside classes were the most important part of a homeschool app (it was the main reason I attended a local school, apart from meeting people so that I wouldn’t become a hermit haha). I’ve also read on another post on CC that cc (community college, sorry there’re two cc’s) class grades aren’t really given very high weighting because cc’s vary and not all of them are reputable.</p>

<p>Would you say that presenting test scores would be better than presenting outside grades? Of course as I’ve mentioned I do have some outside grades from local school, but if test scores do carry more weighting then I’m going to consider taking more CLEP/DSST tests! I’m going to send anywhere from 6 to 9 SAT II’s (depending on how I perform), and I’m registered to take two DSSTs next month, if test scores really do help, I’ll think about taking more!</p>

<p>Opinions greatly appreciated :smiley: Thanks guys :)</p>

33

<p>Hi, I’m really glad I found this thread. My transcript is a mess and I have no idea how to even begin calculating my GPA. My family does “classical homeschooling” which is nothing like public school. Instead of taking the normal social studies sequence (geography/world history/US history/civics or whatever), I study world and US history together over 4 years, ancient history in 9th grade, medieval in 10th, early modern (through the early 19th century) as a junior and now I am going into my senior year and will study contemporary history. Instead of the typical English sequence I study world literature over 4 years in the same pattern as history.</p>

<p>Obviously this is weird. Among other things, I plan to take APUSH, AP European History and World History exams all at the same time next May, because I won’t have finished any history until then. I self-studied for 2 APs this past May and got a 5 in US Gov and a 4 in English Language, but that’s it. I have also taken 3 years of Latin (planning to take AP Latin this year) and 1 year each of logic and rhetoric, along with more typical math and science progressions (biology/chem/physics in science, Algebra 2/Advanced Algebra/trigonometry in math) and I will take AP Environmental Science and AP Statistics this year.</p>

<p>You can see my problem–my weighted GPA looks low compared to most of the regular high school students I know, even though my curriculum has been way more rigorous. Maybe there’s no AP Ancient Literature but I want the fact that I read Plato and Aristotle as a high school freshman to be reflected in my GPA!</p>

<p>Further complicating things is the fact that I have 23 college dual enrollment credits and I don’t know how to factor them in. I would assume a 3-credit semester-long class would count as half a high school credit, but I don’t know how local high schools count them. I know College Composition 1 counts as a full high school credit because someone told me that, but I haven’t taken it and I don’t know if other courses are 1 credit or 1/2 credit. I’m also confused as to whether a 4-credit course counts more than a 3-credit course and whether an honors course is weighted more than a regular college course. Finally, I attended Girls State and received 3 credits from a different community college based on the weeklong program and a few online exercises afterwards (and got a B, the only one of my high school career). It wasn’t a full high school semester’s worth of work but I know I get 3 college credits, same as a 1-semester course and high school credit, but I don’t know how much. Schools I guess have standards for weighting things in GPAs, I’m on my own.</p>

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<p>Yes, it can be complicated but you can do it! You sound awesome and interesting. You’ll want to emphasize these strengths in your essays.</p>

<p>You can do one transcript that has all your courses-college included- and then you can also have your college transcripts sent to each college.</p>

<p>As far as gpa, decide on a standard and then apply it to all your classes. If you decide that 90% is an A, set that standard for all your classes. If you decide 94% is an A, set that standard. On the Common Application is a place for a counselor letter as well as a school report. On the report, you can list your standards for grading.</p>

<p>On my son’s “School Profile and Homeschool Philosophy” document, I listed: philosophy, community and school profile (describing our neighborhood), curriculum, grading, and standardized test scores. It helped schools to understand what we did.</p>

<p>I wish you the best!</p>

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<p>mmmgirl - you’ll be fine. I wouldn’t worry about GPA - let your cc classes speak for you. Many colleges are used to classical homeschoolers.</p>

<p>xo - you don’t need oodles of tests. One admissions officer told me they want to see test scores to confirm parent grades, but once they’ve seen a couple (more than one) they see that the student is doing well and know they’d do well even if they had 15 scores. You’ve passed that “score” bar and now other things count. They don’t take hours looking at an application and they skim the scores part just to see where the student is at. They spend their time on other parts of the app.</p>

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<p>Thank you creekland, as always that is definitely reassuring :)</p>

<p>mmmgirl, sorry for getting back to you so late, I’ve been spending days researching and talking to people about the best way to do so. GPA itself is less important. Yes your weighted GPA may look lower, but if I’m not wrong most schools nowadays will recalculate your GPA anyway. Some cause high schools include non-academic subjects, like art and PE, stuff like that. Also if you’re applying to the UCs they recalculate gpa based on their own formula. So I wouldn’t be too worried about weighted GPA, just explain in your application that your curriculum was very rigorous.</p>

<p>As creekland said, worry less about GPA! Some colleges will ask that you fill in mommy grades for every course taken, but I have no idea if they’re actually taken into consideration. Sometimes the GPA assigned can help you in getting merit scholarships and stuff, but I think it varies with the college anyway. Never hurts to ask, I’ve been bombarding admissions offices with emails lately heheh :slight_smile: And I’ve also heard that if you’re an athlete then if you don’t fill in your own grades they assign you a D and you can’t compete or something like that. </p>

<p>With regards to wanting adcoms to know that you’ve read ancient lit, isn’t that the whole point of homeschooling? To pursue academic and non-academic interests that aren’t available in public schools anyway. You don’t need an AP designation exactly, but if you were to say, list Advanced Ancient Literature as a freshman credit and write a brief course description attached to your transcript, that would certainly be beyond impressive. I think it’s up to you if you choose to attach course descriptions, but from what I’ve heard if your courses are unconventional, course descriptions can only help enhance your app!</p>

<p>And as to whether you should assign cc classes with high school credit, it definitely should be part of your transcript, but as a homeschooler you get to define how many credits it is worth! It’s really up to you I guess, I’ve heard homeschoolers who go by Carnegie units (not my preferred method), others who just go by what the public schools in your state offer etc. Mine are entirely designated on my own though. </p>

<p>Btw, love your interest in ancient lit, for one of my home-designed courses I read Homer and the like, although I have to admit it was more for fun than study :slight_smile: </p>

<p>BEST OF LUCK !!! :D</p>

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<p>Keep in mind, though, if you’re a National Merit semi-finalist, NM wants to see grades (and, consequently, gpa) for all courses; so, even if you don’t give “mommy” grades on the transcripts that college receive, it would be good to have another transcript for NM.</p>

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<p>I saw a college counselor talk, one of those who helps student apply to and get in to colleges. Anyway, she worked mostly with home school students. She flat out told us (I do not home school my high schoolers but went anyway as it was done with my home school group, my youngers home school) to just put A’s down for every single grade. She said most homeschoolers work until you get it and do not settle for knowing half the subject anyway. This is true. If one of my children does a poor job on something, they redo it until it is good. We do not use grades. Giving lower grades will hurt the child, never help. They will rely on the SAT scores then.</p>

<p>Texas A&M relies mostly on SAT scores for home schoolers (assuming you put A’s for the grades). You have to get 1300 on the M and R of the SAT, min of 600 per test. That is just one example of many. You would have to look in to each individual college.</p>