College

COLLEGE

  • Faithful Scholars encourages you to call your colleges of choice to determine which maths and sciences to include in your child’s high school plan. By SC Option 3 law, we are able to set graduation standards for FS which we keep as close to college requirements as possible while allowing math and sciences options for students more gifted toward the trades or business.
  • Specific math and science courses are required by most colleges.
    • The 4 typical maths would be Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, and Pre-Calculus
    • The 3 typical sciences would be biology, chemistry, and physics, all including labs and lab reports
  • Colleges admissions personnel admire students who contact them with questions.  If they have a specific interest, begin this journey early, attend events/camps, get to know and get to be known.
  • Do not fear being noted as one who does not know/understand as that is a huge part of a registrar’s job. It may feel counter-intuitive but registrars appreciate hearing from interested students full of questions.  Parents are okay but students rock!
  • Isn’t that what college is all about?  It indicates (to them) that you have the level of maturity and the self-propulsion that is necessary for a successful college experience.
  • More and more colleges offer a specific-to-homeschoolers application. This should be one of your student’s first questions when talking with an admissions officer.
  • You, the parent-teacher, are the guidance counselor and are responsible for all areas normally handled by this position.
  • Smaller colleges will grant personal interviews in which your student can dazzle them with his/her thoughts, views, dreams, portfolio work, DVD, or CD.
  • Coaching in the area of how to answer probable questions is wise and readily available in all areas.  Rates vary, so do your HW and locate affordable rates.  If you cannot locate someone affordable contact a private school and see if any of their high school teachers would be willing to walk your child through a mock interview.  Elizabeth Hartley at Scholarship Gold is exceedingly thorough on the East Coast while Lee Binz of The Home Scholar is equally gifted on the West Coast.  All have their own flavors, goals, personality type, manner of communicating, etc.
  • College Letters of Recommendation are common requests. Traditionally this is completed by teachers, coaches, but you, the parent-teacher should certainly complete one; however make sure to have other letters completed by mentors, coaches, and outside teachers. Locate a sample College Recommendation Letter within your High School Records Notebook which was linked in the auto-response following your application/renewal.
  • Letters of Appeal (for more money) cannot be over rated.  Larger colleges do not give them much attention nor response, but you may save $500/year, be granted $50,000 over 4 years, have out of state tuition waived.  These are our personal experiences.  A sample Letter of Appeal is found in the High School Records Notebook included for all of our high school students as a link within the attachment to our F.S. Welcome email.

IVY LEAGUE

GoGrad.org  Recognizes that there is a lack of accurate information about ivy league schools that will actually help students.  Their team curated a series of guides for folks with ivy league aspirations to reference and use to their advantage.

SPECIAL NEEDS

God special-made and delivered a different thinker to your home because He designed you to be the best parents for His special delight.  Now your Different Thinker wants to attend college.  There is nothing stopping him/her.  Check out this list of options!!

GAP YEAR BETWEEN HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE 

The American Gap Association defines a gap year as “an experiential semester or year ‘on’ typically taken between high school and college in order to deepen practical, professional and personal awareness.”

www.gapyearassociation.org/   has more information on gap years.

VoX Bivium is a nine month, gap year school located in Traveler’s Rest, SC.

BRIDGE PROGRAMS

Bridge Programs are becoming increasingly popular for a variety of reasons, but the main two reasons are that most of them do not base entry on SAT/ACT scores and they are a great “side door” to the college of choice which may be a reach to enter via the traditional “front door.”

SC INDEPENDENT COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES GUIDE

Direct Link HERE

COLLEGE APPLICATION CHECK LIST

See if they offer a homeschool specific application.  We do not wish to compete with public school applicants as your education of your child has been far richer and deeper.  Blend that education with the life skills that have been mastered, and colleges need to be aware from the start that you are applying with a positively different background.

GPA:  Is based upon a 10 point grading scale.  It is weighted on your transcript according to the SCUGP- South Carolina Uniform Grading Policy.  This grade conversion sheet and this website will assist in calculating into an unweighted scale.

TRANSCRIPT:  Send contact/physical address to Faithful Scholars requesting it be mailed to college here.  Upon selecting your final college, request a final senior year transcript be mailed here.

**find out if hey require rank listed upon the transcript or simply need to know that we do rank our students.

**Note that we ask that you note it can take  up to 3 weeks to prepare a transcript as there is often communication going back/forth between Faithful Scholars and the parent(s)/student to assure that all is correct.  Days and weeks are lost as it sits in ours/your computer waiting for checks/changes.

ESSAY:  Many colleges are returning to the college essay.  Make it about something unique that you have experienced or accomplished.  An example can be found here.  Note the balance between tooting your own horn (very important) yet showing that your point of view is outward toward others while being confident in your own strengths.  This is a delicate balance and you would be wise to have others read over your essay before submission.  Sample here.

LETTER(S) OF RECOMMENDATION: (college letter).  Select a teacher other than parent, youth leader, pastor, employer, etc, and remember to give them ample time along with reminders as the deadline creeps up. Sample here.

PORTFOLIO:  For larger colleges it is mostly about the numbers, but if you are applying to a specific ‘school’ within a large college a portfolio can still be utilized to set you apart.  This can be a physical pen/paper collection of academic/non-academic work in your area of passion/specialty, or it can be a DVD, and/or CD.  Make the entries poignant, brilliant, and to the point.  Overly full will lose their attention.  Sample here.

INTERVIEW:  For smaller colleges it is a great way to exhibit why they would want a student such as you to attend their college.  Absolutely go through some mock interviews beforehand.  9 of 10 students will answer their questions in the same manner.  Be that 10th student they are looking for.   Sample here.

LETTER OF APPEAL:   If your child receives a minimal scholarship offer upon being accepted to a college, research and consider a Letter of Appeal. Are a great way to say thank you, but…. financially we need more scholarship money, in-state tuition, or on campus work-study program in order to attend your college. This simple request for additional time to decided based upon financial hardship can increase the original scholarship offer markedly- I have heard of returns of up to 75% scholarship based upon one letter.  Sample letters are found within your FS High School Records Notebook (for members only).

SC LOTTERY SCHOLARSHIPS:  PFS, Life, HOPE

Palmetto Fellows Scholarship

qualification is based upon:

  1. class rank determined by cumulative GPA based on the SCUGP
  2. 1200 SAT or 25 ACT
  3. cumulative GPA of 3.5

Alternate Criteria not based upon rank:

  1. 1400 SAT or 31 ACT
  2. cumulative GPA of 4.0

Begin your research here for the basic rules and regulations of thePalmetto Fellows Scholarship    (may download directly to your computer rather than open as a page)

Intention to compete for the PFS must be received by October 1st of the current academic year.

Application for Palmetto Fellows will be submitted for the Early and Late Award periods.

We accept the highest standardized test score from any high school year, but they must be mailed direct from College Boards to:  Faithful Scholars, 1761 Ballard Lane, Fort Mill, SC 29715.  If your student qualifies, you must follow up by sending scores electronically (to CHE) using the code provided by Faithful Scholars.

Only students who have been with Faithful Scholars by or before 11th grade will be eligible to apply through Faithful Scholars unless they have previously been nominated and accepted as a PFS qualifier through their previous school or association or have moved to SC from another state.

Each guidance counselor (primary-at-home-instructor– that is you mom/dad) must be up to date and familiar with the current PFS guidelines and requirements and be willing to work with Faithful Scholars in compiling the necessary documentation needed for us to complete your student’s PFS application.

You must also have standardized test scores mailed directly to us as well as CHE (Palmetto Fellows), numerical grades by or before June 10th of each year, and all necessary legal information required to compile a formal transcript, personal documentation, etc. handed in upon request.  The application process is conducted directly, and only, from Faithful Scholars to CHE.

If you have a basic question that personal research nor we at Faithful Scholars are able to answer, we will contact CHE on your behalf.

This process requires an average of 4 hours of office time and continuing education with CHE for which we charge a minimum fee of $100.  If, for any reason your child’s application is denied, we will refund your monies regardless of office hours accrued.

SAT and/or ACT scores must be mailed directly from the School Boards to Faithful Scholars: 1761 Ballard Lane, Fort Mill, SC 29715. Copies or opened originals will not be accepted.  Upon qualification an additional (electronic) copy must be electronically sent from College Boards to CHE using the code provided through Faithful Scholars.

Bestcolleges.com offers an SAT prep guide for college applicants and is a provider of comprehensive information about majors, college degree programs, financial aid, student issues and so much more.

LIFE and HOPE

Both of these scholarships are open to students completing high school within the typical 4 year period and selecting to attend a South Carolina state college.  Have your student contact his/her colleges (of consideration) admissions personnel to gain all necessary details.  This scholarship is done directly from the college to Commission on Higher Education (CHE).  Faithful Scholars ranks our students and will send a ranking report if requested, calculates cumulative GPA using the South Carolina Uniform Grading Policy (SCUGP) by June 15th of each academic year (and is, as are all schools) switching to the more widely used 10 point grading scale year by year following the system implemented by CHE.

Scholarship Services

There are many services that will help you locate and/or compete for scholarship monies.