I know a lot of unschooled kids who have gone to college - each has done it in their own way. Some took college entrance exams and did so well that they were accepted and even given scholarships based on test scores. Some created portfolios or narrative transcripts and were able to get interviews and were accepted on that basis. Some applied to schools that are looking particularly for nontraditional students. Some went to community colleges to get a college transcript and used that in their transfer application. Some took extension courses at the college and then applied with that as their transcript.

WUE (Western States Undergraduate Exchange) Program

We just got back from a trip to Colorado. Amanda wants to attend the Community College in Lamar which provides an Associates of Applied Science in Equine Management.

During our visit with the school admissions staff we discussed the WUE(Western States Undergraduate Exchange) Program and I thought that I would post a little about it as until we started the research we weren't aware of it. The Wooee(WUE) as it is known is an understanding between several western states to give students a lower tuition so that they will not be paying the outrageous Out-of-State tuition. And there is also a Reciprocity program where some of the Western states provide In-State Tuition for Out-of-State students.

This particular school maybe able to offer the reciprocity and a discount on dorm costs.

So....if your older teens don't want to hang out in NM for some reason or there's a program they are interested in in a Western State check it out.

I may be the only one who didn't know this but I thought I'd throw it out!

Sheila (posted on NewMexicoHomeschooling, June 2003, a yahoogroups e-mail list)

Kelly Lovejoy's response to this comment:

As I said earlier, I will be putting a transcript together (probably along with a narrative) for her and just wondering what I'll put on it, if she doesn't complete more "traditional" classes. I know, not very unschooly of me, but I just think that a more traditional route might be easier for school people to understand if she does decide to pursue college at some point.

So....your goal is have her unique learning experience look like every other traditional high school student's in the US?

*WHY* would that be appealing to a university? What about that would make the college stop and think, "Hmmm...maybe *this* student would be a good match?"

If her transcript looks like every other transcript that passes across the admissions desk, WHY would the admissions officer look twice? Why would he look once? It's just the same ol' same ol'—nothing new. Nothing inspired. Nothing diverse.

Colleges and universities are looking for students who SPARKLE! Make her transcript sparkle! SHOW that she's different! Unique! An *honor* to have her as a student there!

They don't NEED another "A" student cheerleader president of the student body. Seriously! Those are a dime a dozen.

What they want is diversity. What does *YOUR* child have to offer the school? What does *your* child have that NO other applicant has?

Submit THAT!

Responses to a question on Unschooling Discussion about transcripts:

I have three teenage daughters, 13, 16, and 19. The older two have extensive college credits from the local community college and plan to go on to transfer to universities as juniors.

We kept no records of any kind at all.

The National Home Education Network website has some good information for High School and Beyond and I think there is helpful information about transcripts there, if you search around a bit.

I have a suggestion for a place for you to get some great information about transcripts of all kinds, including samples. It is a California resource and some of it pertains specifically to California colleges, but the transcript information is absolutely wonderful, it includes actual transcripts of various kinds.

This is SUCH an unschooling-friendly resource (Wes Beach, the author, is very much an unschooling advocate) that I'm going to give all the information about getting it here - but, for much more information, go to the HomeSchool Association of California website at www.HSC.org

HSC distributes Wes Beach's book, titled Opportunities After "High School": Thoughts, Documents, Resources.

It includes a number of transcripts he has written for his students; these transcripts can be used as models for homeschool transcripts. This book also discusses community college enrollment; preparing for, choosing, and applying to four-year colleges; and opportunities other than formal academic study. A number of resource books are described in Opportunities After "High School". Cost is $10 per copy, tax and shipping included.

Make checks payable to HSC; send order to HSC Book Order, 5520 Old San Jose Road, Soquel, CA 95073

-pam

National Home Education Network
www.NHEN.org
Serving the entire homeschooling community since 1999
through information, networking and public relations.

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He doesn't necessarily need a transcript. If he had gone to high school they would want the transcript of that, but there are other ways to get into college than the high school route. Really.

And he's only 13. Don't rush.

Sandra

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I put together a transcript that only included grades for the college courses my sons took — for everything else I just used an "x". It's on our homeschool resource center's website, along with a couple other samples. The address is www.hshub.org. Scroll down toward the bottom of the list on the right until you find transcripts. Feel free to copy and use any of the sample transcripts.

Kathy Joyce

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With a portfolio and good SAT scores, your son doesn't need a transcript to go to most colleges.

Joylyn

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[Regarding the suggestion that a transcript could just be faked up...]

[F]ind a solution that maintains the integrity of the unschooling philosophy and helps future unschoolers in the process.

. . . . People who've stepped away from mainstream ideas about kids and learning aren't going to find it easier or acceptable to lie and compromise their beliefs.

Deb L [more from Deb:

I'm suggesting unschoolers are smart enough and creative enough to get what they want without compromising their principles. If faking transcripts isn't one of the things an unschooler on this list would find compromising, then my opinion won't mean diddly squat.]

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I talked to the admissions officer at Stanford University. He told me that if an unschooled kid made up a transcript that made it look like they'd taken classes and gotten grades, and if he found out later that it was all made up, that they'd consider the kid had gotten in fraudulently and they'd evict him from the school. He said he wanted the truth about what the kid had been busy doing during those years, not something made up. He said that courses listed and graded by a homeschooling parent didn't mean much to him anyway because ALL homeschooling parents pretty much give their kids all "A's."

AND he said he'd be FAR more likely to take a close look at a kid without a traditional transcript, too.

When we chose to unschool, we chose to NOT school and that meant we don't get the trappings of school. So - to later make up something that implies that we DID school, that is clearly dishonest. I'd far rather have my kid never go to college then to go based on a complete fabrication like that.

But it really is not a choice of "lie or miss out" - to create a transcript that describes what the child REALLY did, that is honest and can be pretty wonderful, is very possible. It doesn't have to list courses he didn't take with grades he didn't earn and it doesn't have to be done under the pretense that he "did school."

If you ask them, colleges will say, "Yes, he must have a transcript." But the transcript can very often be a narrative, not a course/grade listing. Even when they want it in a more traditional format, it can be without grades, just a list of subjects that the kid has spent time learning something about during the previous few years. It certainly does not have to be a course list divided into semesters with credits and grades EVEN if the college says that is what they want, when they actually get the application, they'll review it. IF the student has high SAT or ACT scores, they will barely look at it.

There ARE universities that will not take homeschoolers based on coursework at all - unschoolers or otherwise. University of California is one of those. They have coursework that is required and it has to be pre-certified that it meets their requirements. This means they have to have, in advance, approved the textbooks and subject matter for the courses. Most public schools have had their courses approved and some private schools. But there is no way an unschooler is going to qualify based on "coursework". Still, unschoolers get into UCLA and Berkeley and other UC's all the time. They often do it based on high SAT scores and they also do it based on community college coursework. And all schools have a "special admissions" category.

When you step outside the mainstream, it is not honest to suddenly jump into the middle of the river and pretend you've been swimming along with everybody else all those years. And, it is the nonmainstream activities that will get a child noticed anyway - pretending to have done coursework just like everybody else makes the kid look just like everybody else. Not an advantage for getting into a prestigious university and not necessary.

-pam

National Home Education Network
www.NHEN.org
Serving the entire homeschooling community since 1999 through information, networking and public relations.

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Homeschooling the Teen Years: Your Complete Guide to Successfully Homeschooling the 13- to 18-Year-Old by Cafi Cohen http://www.fun-books.com/authors/Cafi_Cohen.htm Also at the same link: And What About College? by Cafi Cohen Wes Beach's book, titled Opportunities After "High School":Thoughts, Documents, Resources, from the HomeSchool Association of California website: www.HSC.org. (The book is described up above, in Pam Sorooshian's first post.) Alison McKee: From Homeschool to College and Work : TurningYour Homeschooled Experiences into College and Job Portfolios This is not from an unschooling point of view, but the suggestions about interviews and letters of recommendation are worth reading about! http://www.collegeboard.com/article/0,3868,5-25-0-56,00.html

More on teens or parenting unschoolers.

If you have additions for this page, or links to college info for homeschoolers which isn't readily available, please e-mail Sandra@SandraDodd.com.