Courses are the “meat” of a great transcript. A well-rounded lineup of high school coursework shows an admissions department that your student is ready for college-level work.
Needless to say, that’s a big deal—and it’s crucial to get this part of a transcript right!
In today’s blog post, we’ll cover the basics of handling courses and credit hours in a way sure to impress admissions departments.
Here are the elements you must include on your transcript:
Here are four tips to get you started.
Don’t get too creative here! It’s a good idea to look at the terminology typically used by public and private schools, such as:
There are so many ways to organize courses—by subject, semester, or school year—but it’s not nearly as complicated as you might think.
How you organize a transcript will vary based on the requirements of the college you’re applying to. Some colleges are strict about wanting to see semesters, while others don’t have a requirement and will accept a transcript organized by year or subject. When in doubt, check with a college admissions officer or your local school district.
The most common approach is to organize by school year. This is a nice balance between organizing by subject and semester. Courses are split into four groups, one for each year of high school. It’s very easy to read a transcript organized like this. It’s simple to change the order if a particular college or university wants to see something different.
Most times, it’s easy to come up with course titles and course groupings. The harder question is how much credit you should assign to each course.
A typical high school transcript will list enough courses to bring the number of credits earned to 24. Courses are generally awarded either 1.0 or 0.5 credit hours. Smaller electives are sometimes awarded 0.25 credit hours. Courses with credit hours outside this range are used in some localities. Check with your local school district if you’re unsure what’s used in your area.
How many actual hours of classroom time equals one credit hour? Standards will vary, but it’s typically safe to assume that 130 to 180 hours of classroom time (roughly, a class that meets for one hour per day for the duration of a school year) equals one credit hour. If a student takes a particularly rigorous course or one that requires far more time than typical, consider classifying it as an honors course.
Courses are one of the most overlooked parts of a great homeschool transcript. They’re also one of the most important.
Because home schools don’t have the same uniform approaches as public or private schools, it can be hard for an admissions officer to know what a course titled “Introduction to American History” actually covers. More detail is needed, and that’s where course descriptions come in.
Course descriptions are the key to explaining precisely what a student covered in a course and how he or she was evaluated for proficiency. They give a helpful snapshot of a course, are useful for explaining and justifying an “honors” ranking for a particular course as well, and help clarify courses taken through dual enrollment, with a tutor, or through a co-op.
At a basic level, your course descriptions should include these core elements: