The package I sent off in my DS’s college application was thick and a bit time consuming to put together. Actually time-consuming is a relative term. Putting together his package was an enjoyable task as I walked down memory lane. The documents included:
School Profile
Counselor Letter
Transcript
High School Activities & Awards
Course Description
Book List
Over the coming weeks I’ll describe in detail how I put each document together, resources that helped me along the way and suggestions on how you might do these yourself too.
Remember as you compile these documents that there are multiple approaches you too could take in reaching a finished document but there is one over-riding principle I followed and I suggest you do the same. These documents will paint a picture of your child, his homeschool years and it is up to you to decide what will be in that picture and how it will look.
BOOK LIST
This is one document that was not requested by any of the colleges DS #1 applied to. My point in providing the list was to help paint the picture of a student who reads for fun and enjoyment, one who is an avid reader and one not stuck on a particular subject matter, genre or author. The document was three pages in length, single space, one book per line—more on that later, 10 point font.
We did not keep track of books through the years and it sure would have made the task easier if DS had. Although I asked DS to track his books, he did not. Instead we used great book lists, 1001 books to read before you die, outstanding books to read before college, Amazon.com and other book lists to help DS spark his memory for the books he has read. It was not a complete listing. I know DS missed books that he read but that is OK. The book list was titled:
A Selection of Books Read for Fun and Enjoyment through the High School Years
Using the term selection I hoped would convey that this was not a complete listing. Since any books for a class were listed within the course description document this list just had the fun and enjoyable–by DS standards—books.
The list was organized by author’s last name. Listing by author permitted me to note where DS read numerous books by one author without listing each and every one. For instance the list has:
Terry Pratchett, Discworld Series, and 15 books by this author
Really, who would want to read all 15 titles. The point I wanted to convey was that DS liked Terry Pratchett enough to read 16 of his works and that this kid is an avid reader. Point made in one line in my opinion. Doing this also permitted me to shorten the document without cutting down DS’ immense list.
How you put together this list or even if you put together one, is really your call unless a college specifically tells you they want a book list in a certain manner. I’ve seen book lists by genre, by year published, by book title, by author and even in chronological order by when it was read. I had a hard enough time pulling this list together without trying to pin DS down to the time-frame of when he read the book.
I wanted the list’s appearance to be simple enough for someone to grasp the extent of books DS has read in the last three years. Who knows, perhaps the admission’s person also used the list to search for their favorite author, to see if DS liked the same author he did and gain a connection to DS. Maybe they didn’t even look at the list, but I doubt it. Many admission’s personnel told us that they read every piece of paper submitted in the application. Some colleges do request book lists from homeschoolers but do not expect or request such a document from non-homeschoolers.
And in the end, DS has for all time, a record for his keeping of the books he read for fun and enjoyment throughout his high school years. Nice little gift from me to DS.
