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The "Official High School Transcript" is the singular element of the college application that distinguishes the homeschooled student from the traditionally-schooled student applicant. As you create this transcript you will have a great deal of flexibility in the particular information to disclose and highlight. Be concise and thorough but avoid repetition of information found elsewhere in a student's application. You can create and individually tailor this document to your advantage! This is one of the perks of homeschooling. Here is an outline of the varying elements on a homeschool high school transcript:

The Basics of the "Official High School Transcript"

• Name of school - Homeschool or any name you have decided to call your school
• Address of school - Your home address
• Telephone number - Your telephone number. If you have a fax number you may or may not want to include this detail.
• Name of home education program supervisor/parent/guidance counselor - Your name
• Student's Name
• Student's Address
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Social Security Number - This is optional but helps schools with recordkeeping.
• GPA - Report the student's cumulative grade point average, indicate if it is unweighted or weighted.
• Date of graduation - Schools often need an exact date including the day, month, year.

Secondary School Record

How you organize and arrange the information below is left to your discretion.

• Courses - Title of course and indication if it was AP, honors, dual-enrollment
• Year studied - grade level, i.e. 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th
• Credits earned for a course
• Grade earned for a course
• Summary of credits by subject: English, Math, History/Social Sciences, Science, Foreign Language (if applicable), Electives - Personally, I distinguish between "academic" electives and general electives and create 2 elective categories in this section. The reason is there are some subjects such as art history or humanities which do not fall into the above categories but are truly academic and are included in my student's GPA. Do not include subjects like drawing, driver's education or physical education in a GPA. *

Certification

At the conclusion of the transcript, you should create some sort of certification of the high school record presented.

• Certification statement - Something along the lines of "I certify this is a complete and accurate record of all high school level work completed by the above named student."
• Name/Title - Your name and title such as home education supervisor/guidance counselor/parent.
• Signature
• Date

Optional Elements

You may have reason to include some of these elements. Keep in mind that you do not want to overwhelm readers. If you are using The Common Application for college application submission there are two sections of the Common App which provide you the opportunity to explain and provide details of your home education program. The first part is the Guidance Counselor Recommendation which you will complete.  The second part is the Home Education Supplement.  So, be sure not to duplicate information on your transcript found elsewhere in the complete college application.

• Extracurricular Activities
• Awards
• Volunteer Work -
• Test Results - Some schools report standardized test results on their students' high school transcripts. A few colleges accept school-reported test results in lieu of score reports mailed directly by testing agencies (a service you may need to pay for). Most colleges require score reports from the testing centers. Including results on the transcript may or may not save you some money. You'll need to know if a college will accept this school-reported score.
• Detailed course description - Include curriculum used, books, etc.

Note:

If you are not using the Common Application or another application with specific supplements for homeschoolers you should also include the following components.

• Grading key
• Explanation of grading system - How was the student's progress assessed?
• Explanation of GPA calculation - How was the grade point average calculated?
• Summary of the home education program, philosophy, graduation requirements or other pertinent information.

Remember, the high school transcript is a final record of your student's achievements. Be sure to label it "Official".

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