Thoughts and advice on keeping a portfolio for college admissions?

Question

Hello Homeschoolers!

Many colleges want a "portfolio" for college admissions for a homeschooled student.

I have searched and searched and searched but have not found any guidance on this at all. And, I am not just talking about having a well documented transcript (we have that covered because we are under an umbrella school and our son will graduate with an accredited hs diploma from a private Christian school - even though we are the teachers). Plus, we do a good job tracking grades and such with excel and reporting them to our umbrella school.

I am talking about something to give guidance on what else should go in and maybe something to help keep it organized. I don't want 3 years from now to be scrambling to find that certificate or award or letter or whatever.

Besides basic transcript info, what should go into a portfolio? Any products available - please don't point me to the grade keeping sites. Anyone turn in a portfolio to a college for admissions?

Answer 1

Our umbrella school (HomeLife Academy) offers a portfolio option on their grade reporting site where you can enter all of their extracurriculars and volunteer work. Our children will be issued transcripts and diplomas from our umbrella (in Tennessee) but our umbrella is not accredited.  We are still eligible for scholarships, and students don't have issues getting in to college with these diplomas and transcripts. As to paper portfolios, I would keep examples of writing, perhaps tests, and examples of anything that reflects special interests like artwork.

Answer 2

I am a product tester for homeschooling curriculum.  I received a special report on how to prepare homeschooling portfolios, including a college admissions portfolio.  If you would like a copy of this PDF report, please e-mail me off list, and I will be happy to e-mail it to you.

Answer 3

I attached to my transcript:

-List of all awards and honors accomplished in high school.

-List of internships and mission trips.

I used an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to keep up with awards and honors, you might want to add this to a separate sheet with the grades.

You can also attach a specific list of volunteer hours, or work toward the Congressional Award.

Don't be afraid to call a college and ask what they want in portfolio.     :)

Answer 4

A typical BRICK schoolers portfolio would include examples of their art from art classes.  Pictures of their choir or band or orchestra dates, programs from those dates, a listing of where they performed.

Their work on the year book or student newspaper.

Their work in STudent Government

Letters of Recomendation from their Voullenteer work outside of school

Pictures of them on the air or mixing at the student radio station

Samples of their published writing in the student newspaper.

These are things HOMESCHOOLERS miss out on UNLESS they do field trips and unschool.

For a homeschooler showing pictures of them at the Field Museum in Chicago working with some device that demonstrates science.

Pictures of them at the playground watching over pre-schoolers as a voullenteer

Church Choir and Choir performances

Maybe the Church put on a Musical Show.  I did a thing called "It's Cool in the Furance" at a church and we did several shows including at other churches and there were mroe than two dozen of us, playing and singing and I wasn't even a church member.

A picture of that show

A program from that show with your name in it.

A letter from the Minister thanking you for your work in it.

I unschooled in computer programming and I got letters of praise from 10 year old students, teachers and ministers because I helped them put information on the internet with my software.

Those are aspects of a portfolio

Colleges of high calibre want to see students WHO DO THINGS ON THEIR OWN.

They don't just want a Penn Foster of Calvert graduate

That want to see the fact that at the age of 16 I got published in Sky and Telescope, so I xerox that page, highlight my area and put it in my portfolio

A portfolio is a resume of your accomplishments.

Passing Algebra is NOT an accomplisment, it is EXPECTED

Tutoring students in ALGEBRA in your spare time is a PORTFOLIO entry.

Good You Tube movies you made is a PORTFOLLIO entry

Screen capture it and give a link to it, they might even go there and see for themselves.

When I was 14 I built my own first photographic enlarger with a magnifying glass and shoe box.  A picture of that is a PORTFOLLIO event, along with a sample picture you have enlarged.

Colleges want EXCEPTIONAL people, not the mundane.

They go to CCs and State Colleges.

A college WANTS to see what you have done with the first 18 years of your life.

In PArochial school I submitted a book I wrote at the age of 8 and it got panned, but it is a PORTFOLLIO issue, becuase I did it.  AT 8 years old.

I wrote a little book and drew the pictures bad as they were.

I was making animation films at the age of 16 in 8mm.  That is a portfollio issue.

Some kids submit them to Kodak and other contests.

A letter thanking you for your submission, even if it didn't win anything, is a PORTFOLLIO issue.

At my job we have Girls Scouts in once a year and teach them to process film on $250,000 of Fuji equipment and we take pictures, their parents take pictures, they get merit badges.

That is a portfollio issue.

A picture of a little 10 year old girl putting her film into a Frontier 360 printer and pushing the buttons to print her pictures is a PORTFOLLIO issue.

It says SEE WHAT I DO AND EXPERIENCE

If you write poems, pick the best

It is a portfollio issue

If you write reports, pick a good one, it is a portfollio issue

If you play on little league, in soccer if you got a Blue Belt in Karate it is a PORTFOLLIO issue.

In 6th grade a friend and I did a science fair project on Space Communications Satillites with slide show, pictures, drawings and a model.

We have a picture of us doing the presenations.

THAT is a portfollio issue.

Homeschoolers who NEVER LEAVE HOME and NEVER do anything "extra curiicular" will have problems in this area.

Homeschoolers who participate in CHURCH things and get pictures and letters have a PORTFOILLIO potential.

That picture of you in girls softball sponsored by some Real Estate company IS a portfollio issue.

Answer 5

If you're in the US, visit this page of an admission counselor:  http://www.matthewktabor.com/category/ho...

I've found his site to be EXTREMELY informed and specific from the perspective of the other side -- the person who has to read all these things. :)

He has written a three-part series specifically for homeschoolers applying to college, and describes in great detail what you should be submitting.

Answer 6

I was a professional illustrator before the kids came along. My portfolio was my means to getting freelance illustration jobs. The idea is to demostrate that you can do the job they have need of. For college, you have the same goal. You want to show you are capable of being a successful student.

Because grades can be subjective, colleges often want to see for themselves what skill the student possesses. Most will be looking for a solid progress and ability in math and writing. Depending on the college and the student's declared degree plan, other examples will be weighted heavily. For instance, if a student wants to pursue a fine arts degree their portfolio needs to demonstrate artwork showing mastery of the basic skills and some hint of a developing personal style. Breadth and depth of skills can be an important criteria. If the degree plan leans toward the sciences, then the student's portfolio becomes and important tool to show that they pursued lab and research skills in addition to book knowledge. Because of these factors, the portfolio's content and form may need to flex and specialize over the coming years to best match the student's career goals and the college's selection criteria.

My oldest son is in college now and never was asked for a portfolio. My daughter graduates this year and has an arts and creative writing-oriented portfolio since she leans that way as a career option. Hers is in paper form and is hard to share online.

However, over the last few years we have had fun playing around with some online capable electronic portfolio options for one of my sons. He is only in the eighth grade now, but we wanted a few years head start to play around with the portfolio idea before getting to the critical high school years. Since we are pretty sure he will go into some form of computer-based career area ( he has eaten, breathed, and lived computers as a passion since he was 2 years old), the electronic format fits his style and best demonstrates who he is. The idea will be to give admissions counselors a web-address to access his porfolio. We have spent a few pre-high school years exploring e-notebooking and last year we explored a concept map-oriented portfolio design.

Feel free to browse his completed portfolio for 7th grade (the concept mapping version) at http://cmapspublic2.ihmc.us/servlet/SBRe... . You just click the icons at the bottom of the nodes to navigate.

You can look at various examples of e-notebooking examples at http://www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com/co... Use the guest access option and browse down to the examples section. These examples would be compiled into an online site if we go with this method for a portfolio.