Homeschool Transcripts · College Applications
As the homeschool parent you are the counselor: your student invites you, and you submit the School Report with your transcript, plus a school profile, counselor letter, Midyear Report and Final Report as each college requires. The sticking points are the same every fall: a gap-year student with no current courses, whether to sign a transcript that still shows senior courses in progress, where test scores go, and who can write the teacher recommendation when every teacher was you.
Your student invites you. In the Recommenders and FERPA section of the Common App, the student lists you as the school counselor, and you receive an email to create a counselor account. From there you complete the School Report for your student, which includes extra questions written for homeschool supervisors, and upload the transcript and other documents.
Those homeschool questions ask about your homeschool association, if any, the homeschool experience and setting, your grading scale or other evaluation method, outside coursework that is not on the transcript, and testing beyond what the Common App collects. Draft them in a document first; the written answers can run up to 1,000 words.
The School Report is the only form required of every counselor. The counselor recommendation, the Midyear Report and the Final Report are required or optional college by college, and an Optional Report lets you send updated grades or correct an error once a year. Check each college's requirements screen in your counselor account, not a general checklist.
| Form | When | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| School Report, with transcript | With the application | Always |
| School profile | With the School Report | Optional attachment, but strongly worth sending for a homeschool |
| Counselor recommendation (your letter) | After the School Report | Depends on the college |
| Midyear Report | As soon as first-semester senior grades exist | Depends on the college |
| Optional Report | Any time, once per year | Optional; for updates and corrections |
| Final Report | After all decisions, only to the college the student will attend | Depends on the college |
Yes. Upload the current transcript now with senior courses marked IP (in progress), sign and date it, and sign the final transcript again at the end. The School Report asks for the current or most recent transcript including courses in progress, and the Common App treats an uploaded transcript as official once it is submitted.
The signature is not a Common App requirement, but it costs nothing and shows the document comes from the school's registrar, which for a homeschool is you. Our guide to making a homeschool transcript official covers the signature line and date. When first-semester grades post, the Midyear Report asks whether senior courses changed; if they did, attach a short explanation.
The counselor section is your school's voice. A public school counselor writes about one student among hundreds; you write about the only student in your school, so the school profile and the homeschool questions carry more weight than usual. Explain how you graded, where outside courses came from, and how the course load compares with a typical college-prep sequence.
Answer the question truthfully and give the college something to read. If the School Report asks whether current courses are on the transcript and your graduate has none, answer no, then upload a one-page statement that the student graduated on a given date and is taking a gap year, along with the final transcript showing the graduation date.
The Common App's public help does not cover this case, so treat this as practical advice rather than an official rule, and add a line to your counselor letter describing what the student is doing during the year. If a college's portal still flags the application as incomplete, email its admissions office; they handle graduates every year.
No. The counselor forms have no score field. The student self-reports scores in the application's testing section, and the Common App says self-reported scores do not replace official ones. Colleges that need official scores receive them from the College Board or ACT, and the College Board says colleges will not accept copies or transcripts showing scores.
Send scores officially when a college requires it, or when your student wants them counted and the college does not accept self-reported scores. The College Board gives four free score sends with each weekend SAT registration, usable until nine days after the test. The homeschool questions do let you mention testing the Common App does not collect, such as CLEP exams.
It depends on the college, and most prefer someone outside the family. Stanford, William & Mary and Barnard ask for recommenders who are not the parent. Brown accepts parent letters only if every instructor was a parent or relative. Boston College expects the parent to submit the academic recommendation and recommends adding a non-family letter.
If you need an outside teacher, look at everyone who taught or graded your student: a dual enrollment instructor, a co-op or online class teacher, a tutor, a research or internship supervisor, a coach. The Common App's Other recommender type covers mentors and employers, but a college may not count it toward its teacher requirement. When in doubt, email the admissions office and ask what it will accept.
Do not wait until October to find a recommender. Teachers outside your home owe you nothing and may decline, as the outside teacher did for one family we heard from this fall. Ask a dual enrollment or co-op instructor in the spring of junior year, while the class is fresh.
Use 970000, the code for homeschooled students. The Common App refers to the "Home Schooled CEEB code: 970000" in its school search, and the College Board tells homeschooled SAT test-takers to enter 970000 as the high school code. Your homeschool's name goes on the transcript and in the School Report, not in a code lookup.
Is the school profile required for homeschoolers?
The School Report form makes it optional, but send one. It is where a college learns how your homeschool works: grading scale, course sources, and any dual enrollment or outside classes.
Can I skip the counselor letter?
Some colleges allow it; the form has an option not to send an evaluation. Colleges that require it list it on their requirements screen, and for a homeschool it is one of the few places a college hears how the student learned.
When do I send the final transcript?
After all admission decisions, through the Final Report, only to the college the student will attend. Show final grades and a graduation date, and sign and date it.
Do I list the SAT score on the homeschool transcript?
It can appear in the transcript's commentary, but that does not replace an official score report for colleges that require one. Keep the counselor forms for the school's information.
FastTranscripts.com builds the transcript you upload to the School Report, with courses by year, IP for senior courses, a signature line, and weighted and unweighted GPA. Start free, no credit card.
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