The BIG Comparison: Planning Courses for Admission and Beyond
/
Yesterday found my high schooler and I at the computer—for two hours!
It’s mid-sophomore year and she knows what she wants to study. With that in mind, she’s building what I call her BIG Comparison List (more details included in Chapter 6 of Celebrate High School: Finish with Excellence). This comparison allows the parent and student to plan a high school path—courses and content—with the student, admission requirements, testing, and major in mind.
“Colleges and universities often offer an admissions page specifically for homeschooled applicants.”
Research high school courses required for admission. Home educated students intending to go to college—and even those who are remotely considering it—benefit from researching and anticipating admission requirements of their top college choices. This is helpful no matter what type of entity the student plans to attend: public, private, academy, non-competitive, or highly selective. I keep a running list of links to admission pages for home educated graduates here.
While sitting together, my daughter and I visited the home education admission page for each school on her Big Comparison List (so far). What we discovered was interesting!
What will be required of her for admission to her choices thus far isn’t anything like our other four graduates.
High school is not one-size-fits-all.
Based on what we learned, our current high schooler’s path is looking quite different than her siblings!
Research tests and scores required for admission. Aside from the transcript, test scores can be the most unnerving requirement for college admission. Parents (and sometimes high schoolers) voice this concern when I meet with them. As a parent of past, current, and upcoming high schoolers, I understand!
While my daughter and I were poking around on the admission requirement pages, we found the SAT/ACT test scores expected for applicants. We were also curious about PERT and CLEP scores for one of her college choices. We noted and compared the scores, college to college. Unlike our other graduates, we see a real advantage of both PERT and CLEP for this high schooler.
Check college General Education courses required for the degree. Having studied General Education requirements for many degrees and many universities, there are some common denominators in what is required across degrees. Freshman Composition and Speech Communication are fairly standard for most schools and degrees. There are exceptions, of course. Aside from composition and speech, required General Education courses vary per school and per degree. For example, AS degrees are considered terminal. The goal is to get the student needed knowledge to enter a specific workforce. I order to take the needed career-specific courses, the number of required General Education credits is reduced. Not all colleges and degrees require the same courses or number of General Education credits for graduation. This is why research is important.
Check college course requirements for the college major. Just as the courses and credits vary for the General Education requirements, so do the major requirements. In other words, the major course requirements for a BA in Anthropology at one university will likely vary from the courses required for the same degree at another college. Again, this is why research is essential.
Comparing the General Education courses for my daughter’s intended major at her top college choices (at this time), we discovered none of the colleges require College Algebra (as was the case with all my other graduates for their degrees). In fact, every college my daughter has on her list stated MGF1106 as the General Education math required. Upon further investigation, we discovered CLEP offers a College Mathematics exam. BINGO! She could study for and take CLEP College Mathematics and if she scores high enough, use that test score to earn the General Education math credit she will need. It was also encouraging to know every school she is considering accepts CLEP (this is not always the case—another reason to research).
For us, for right now, what we discovered is a WIN-WIN, worth every bit of the two hours it took to research.
What WIN-WINs are awaiting your high school learners?
