Homeschool Students and the Common Application

Before plunging into the Common App 4 (CA4), as a home-schooled student you need to check with each college to which you’re going to apply to see if they have specific homeschool requirements, such as SAT Subject Tests or course descriptions sent from your advisor.

Now let’s turn to the CA4.

The Home School Supplement used to be part of the Common App, but it isn’t any longer. It’s now part of the School Report and is intended to be completed by your counselor, not you.

If your counselor’s unable to view the Home School Supplement in his/her school forms account, please ask him/her to ensure that he/she has entered the correct school information on his/her Profile. The CEEB Code for college applications for Home School Students is 970000.

Parents serving as counselors should plan to report pertinent information on the School Report. If you indicate “homeschooled” as your school.on the CA4, your counselor will be prompted to enter information about the homeschool in the School Report.

In a traditional school, the guidance counselor typically completes the School Report section, but for homeschoolers, it’s typically completed by the parent or the administrator of the independent study program. The School Report is the place to report facts about the homeschool, such as whether students are ranked, what GPA scale’s used, and if – and how many – honors or AP courses are offered. Some things on the School Report aren’t applicable for homeschoolers, but they should be completed to the best of the reporter’s ability and in a way that will be clear and understandable to the college.

A transcript of the high school courses will be uploaded along with the School Report, and it should contain all courses and grades to date. While previous versions of the School Report contained a section for listing senior year courses, now that information must show on the transcript or be attached separately.

There’s also a new “Additional Information” section for applicants who “wish to report circumstances or qualifications not reflected elsewhere in the application.” This is a good place for a brief explanation of a homeschool’s philosophy, for describing any unusual learning activities, or for explaining a semester of poor grades. It is not a place to brag; it should be used solely to communicate qualifications that didn’t “fit” elsewhere on the CA4, and shouldn’t repeat any information already presented elsewhere on the application.

For more information about homeschooling, check out our friends at A2Z Homeschooling.