Colleges Love Homeschool Graduates

 

Our parents called several colleges and all seemed to welcome our non-accredited homeschool transcripts. Even Ivy League colleges like homeschool graduates; as Harvard College says, “homeschooled applicants are treated the same as all other applicants.” Note: we did not go to Harvard. Our high school transcripts are simple one-page documents as recommended by most homeschool associations. We also completed the college applications which ask for additional details such as extracurricular activities that are not covered on the transcript. College acceptance rates are high because many colleges have open acceptance programs where almost all applicants are accepted. There are two routes to college entry and the  incoming students are usually treated differently depending on which option is chosen.

A student applying to a University immediately after high school is called a Freshman applicant or first-year student. A Freshman will have a high school transcript and may have results from a standardized test such as the SAT given by the College Board. If the student has not completed a standardized test, they may be required to take a placement exam such as Acuplacer from the College Board. The placement test will determine if the student needs a remedial class to catch up to college-level study. Once accepted, the student will complete 120 college credits at that university to graduate.

The second option for College acceptance is the transfer student with college-level transcripts. When a student has transcripts with college credits above a certain threshold, usually 30 or 60 college credits, the university will view the student as a transfer student, so standardized tests or placement tests will not be required. The 30 to 60 college credits shown on college transcripts prove the student can complete college-level work. The college will accept all or most of these credits and place them on the student's record, so the student will only have to complete the remaining credits at this college. 

We applied to college as transfer students with almost 90 college credits. No standardized tests were required. Transcripts with applications were the only requirements for us to become matriculated students.