xoxoviviannnn

Hey guys!

BACK TO BUG MORE PEOPLE FOR HELP HAHA

Hopefully this helps anyone who's reading as well!

First off, well most colleges define official transcript as one bearing signature of school official and/or raised school seal. And it has to be submitted in a sealed letterhead envelope.

How does this work for homeschoolers ?! I'm pretty sure homeschoolers' parents aren't running around to design seals for their homeschools to stamp on an envelope. I know for the master transcript parents' signatures work, but wrt the envelope, do I just get my mom to sign across the seal or something?

Second, wrt concurrent enrollment, how do I submit the transcripts? The school I did dual enrollment at told me to photocopy the transcripts, and bring them to the school and they'd stamp 'certified true copy' on it for me, and then send it off. Is that really okay? I heard you have to get real copies, my dad says when he applied to college he got his certified by the school, but that was like ages ago haha Anyway, my point is: is a transcript like that official? Given that it's photocopied and all, even if it's certified by the school.

Also someone told me if I'm going to submit a transcript from the school, I have to get them to put it in a sealed letterhead envelope? Something like getting the school seal stamped across the envelope. Do I really have to do that? I mean it's just one part of my transcript, and I have no idea if that's really necessary :>

If all that is really true, wow I really pity homeschoolers who outsource their classes in so many different formats, getting transcripts sent must really be a pain omg O.O

CLARIFICATIONS DESPERATELY APPRECIATED

sbjdorlo

Hi xoxo,

Our experience only:

For Common Application schools, you can upload your transcripts right into the Common App-easy peasy. :-)

For other schools, just have your parent (or whoever oversees your education) sign a copy, and send it directly from home to the school. No need for a seal or anything. My son's transcripts said, "Official Transcripts" on top because they were the official transcripts from our private (home) school. :-)

Community college transcripts can be ordered online and sent from the community college directly to the various colleges. Ours cost $5 every time we order a copy but it was easy enough.

HTH and maybe others will chime in.

GeekMom63

Nah, it wasn't that bad. We uploaded an "official transcript" just like sbjdorlo did. First we printed it and signed it (or scanned in signatures and put them on it electronically - I forget), then uploaded it as a PDF to the transcript field part of the Common App. Then we photocopied paper copies of the CC transcripts and uploaded them into the Common App as supplemental transcripts. We also sent official copies from the community college (stamped across the seal, sent directly from the CC to the school he was applying for). For outsourcing that wasn't from a community college (the rec center, academic summer camps, etc.), we just listed them on the transcript and didn't bother trying to make it official.

Everything was cool except for the school that lost the transcripts and had to be re-sent them, but that should be expected during application season. :Þ

(If I haven't sent you a sanitized copy of my son's transcript, I'd be happy to if you send me a PM with your email address. Many people claim to have found it helpful. )

xoxoviviannnn

Both of you, thank you so much! I think the common app is so much easier to use haha I got stuck with ApplyTexas, which requires hardcopy transcripts.

Geekmom: About the classes you outsourced, you didn't bother to make it official, but were they official classes? Like from an online provider, or any source that made transcripts? Or was the coursework outsourced but mommy grades given? If they provided grades that you listed and you didn't have to really make them official, wow that would take off so much trouble for me! My mom thinks I should just bug the school for an official envelope or something, so I'll be heading down on Monday to see what I can get from them Another thought I had that was it might have been ok for you not to get outsourced classes made official, since you had CC transcripts, and that was great outside validation anyway! This transcript is my main outside validation that isn't test scores, so well my fingers are crossed that the school is cooperative About your son's transcript, I would love to, it's so appreciated Will PM you, and don't worry I won't make copies or anything, so whatever you send won't be seen by anyone by me and my mom! THANKS

GeekMom63

For the online classes that provided grades (Aleks, eIMACS), I put the grades on the transcript and kept copies for myself but didn't send anything in.
For the stuff that didn't provide grades (AoPS, rec center, Teaching Company), I just gave S for a grade, except the Teaching Company class where he took a matching SAT Subject test.Yup. I highly recommend CC classes, at least a few.Good luck!

xoxoviviannnn

Thanks for the help

I'm looking into seeing if local universities might allow dual enrollment, but they're generally not keen on it in this country - so I don't exactly have that luxury, so yup hopefully this transcript pulls through for me and it'll be enough if I send it in with lots and lots of SAT II's and a couple of CLEP/DSSTs and a research paper I wrote mentored by my dad(My dad does international-level research, though not at a university)

Setumommy

New York schools require "certification" of the transcript from the state of your homeschool. This becomes a problem when the state doesn't certify because it views homeschooling as private schooling. In lieu of certification, New York requires home schooled students to provide a GED! Anyone else encounter this problem?

xoxoviviannnn

Yeah me too actually, I think it's just a NY thing though. Most schools count a homeschool transcript as valid but NY schools want like a legit transcript and all, but I think the only homeschoolers who have a transcript like that are those that are homeschooled in NY.

They asked me for a GED, but I honestly didn't see the point in taking it, and I only considered one school in NY anyway, so I just decided to cut it off my list.

Did they specify what they mean by certification? Maybe you could find out then see if it's attainable, if it isn't maybe you'd just cut NY schools out unless you're really really interested in them.

xoxoviviannnn

Homeschooled Applicants

An example would be NYU, which says it accepts a homeschool transcript and diploma. Which colleges were you looking at? When I started my college-hunting days, the only colleges I found particularly unreceptive were NY colleges since they wanted me to be able to be admitted to university in my home country, which doesn't make sense to me since I'm a US citizen living abroad and homeschooling is really uncommon, in fact the high school system isn't even used here.

That might be worth noting if you're currently residing overseas, but if you live in a US state that isn't NY it might be less of a hassle than you think

Setumommy

Thanks, xoxo. In reading some New York colleges' homeschool requirements, it sounds as though they might deny a college diploma to a previously home schooled student if their high school transcript was not certified. Would the college really admit them, school them for four years, and then deny them a diploma? Why is New York different from other states in this regard?

xoxoviviannnn

I've heard of that happening, although a bit differently. Something about not being allowed to return in sophomore year or something like that!

I think the key thing to note would be the state's general flexibility wrt homeschoolers. NY is just stricter than any other state when it comes to homeschooling regulations, so most colleges (especially the public ones) would tend to adopt the state's rule? Just hazarding a guess though. It's a trend that I noticed, although I won't say its a solid rule. Eg Texas is super relaxed wrt homeschooling laws and Texas A&M actually auto ranks homeschooled applicants in the top quarter, which totally bumps up chances of admissions. NY is super strict hence a million reqs for homeschooled applicants.

Hopefully you/your family (sorry I can't tell if you're a parent or a student or some other kinda person) isn't particularly fixed on attending a NY college and keep your options open since there are many colleges in other states which are much more accepting of homeschoolers and don't have such requirements.

Homeschoolq

Would the stricter NY reqs just be for the state schools or would the reqs also impact how homeschoolers would be treated by private schools (Columbia, Colgate, NYU)?

sbjdorlo

I do know of a local young homeschooler who got into NYU and his transcript was pretty simple. As far as I know, he only took the SAT and didn't take any subject tests, so I think it only applies to public universities in NY.