Homeschooling and College Admission
As your child begins to enter the middle school and high school years, college admission questions begin to enter your radar. Many families successfully homeschool through high school, and many homeschool graduates go on to enter college. There are a few simple things you can do to plan ahead to make college admission a smoother process.
By taking the time to compile records and keeping up with them throughout your student’s middle and high school years, college admission can be a smoother process.
Points to Consider
- Requirements. Find out your state’s requirements for high school graduation as you begin planning a high school course of study. In addition, check the web sites of a few colleges to find out their admission requirements. Coordinate courses that meet both sets of requirements to ensure your student has a competitive transcript. For instance, my state requires one foreign language credit for graduation but also seven elective credits. Our state university requires three foreign language credits for admission. Filling those elective credits with further foreign language study will make a student’s transcript more college-friendly.
- Grades. Many homeschool parents do not assign grades in the elementary years, but use a system like Satisfactory/Needs Improvement for grade reporting. Beginning in middle school, use a letter or numerical grading system for report cards and transcripts.
- Record-keeping. If you haven’t done so all along, begin keeping good records in middle school. In some states, high school level work completed in eighth grade can be counted as high school credit. Keep track of courses completed and document them in a high school planner or portfolio. During high school, make a transcript for your student and add to it at the end of each semester.
- Dual Enrollment. Look into dual enrollment opportunities in your area. This is a great way for homeschool students to earn early college credits in high school and adds a great deal of substance to their transcript.
- Testing. Have your student take college admission tests like the SAT or ACT, and have their scores sent to a few colleges. In addition, look into opportunities for CLEP testing for college credits.
Bottom Line
By taking the time to compile records and keeping up with them throughout your student’s middle and high school years, college admission can be a smoother process. Do a little homework in advance and focus on enjoying these years while they last!
My article also appeared at Home Educating Family.
In grad school, classes were small- 12 students max- and I was surprised by how many people were homeschooled (four in one class)! Several raved about dual enrollment programs because they graduated high school with associate’s degrees, which saved so much time and expense.
My son is in dual enrollment now, Ariana. It’s wonderful that homeschooling gives us the flexibility in our schedule to accommodate it, and it will be wonderful for him to have some credits out of the way when he graduates high school. Thank you for your input!