Though the destination may be the same, students take various paths to arrive at college.

One such deviation from the traditional path is attending schools with alternative programs of study. While the definition of an alternative school varies by state, this option is generally recognized as a departure from the standard K-12 curriculum.

Thousands of alternative schools exist throughout the U.S. with various approaches and missions. Alternative schools tend to fall into two camps: those offering a unique curriculum and those that focus on behavioral issues.

Schools With an Alternative Curriculum

Alternative curricular options vary. In private educational settings, what's emphasized is up to the school. One example of an alternative curriculum is a school that has gone gradeless by replacing traditional marks with a narrative assessment provided by teachers, which offers a synopsis of the work completed and skills learned in each class. In these schools, the focus is not on earning a letter grade but instead on mastering class content by working with teachers to achieve competency on a subject.

"I think that giving students the opportunity to go gradeless has huge implications. Not just in high school, but beyond because it gives them the opportunity to really think about what they're interested in and what they're not interested in without the pressure of a grade," says Lindsay Arado, a social studies teacher and co-coordinator of the Integrated Global Studies School, a small, gradeless alternative program with about 70 students that is part of New Trier High School in Illinois.

While not all alternative schools are gradeless, proponents of the practice say it is growing.

[Read: How Home Schooling Affects College Admissions.]

Schools With a Focus on Behavioral Issues

Some alternative schools have a specific focus: serving students with behavioral or emotional issues. These schools can be part of public school districts or private, stand-alone institutions. Students may be sent to alternative public high schools with a behavioral focus for a variety of disciplinary reasons, such as truancy, making threats, being disruptive or breaking the law or school policies.

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Private therapeutic boarding schools are another option. Both the curriculum and the programming may vary at a therapeutic boarding school. Websites for such programs offer a range of options , from tightly controlled and monitored facilities to open campuses. These schools also range in focus, offering educational programming that ranges from religious schools and military-style academies to outdoor programs and beyond.

Judi Robinovitz, a certified educational planner and founder and co-owner of Score At The Top Learning Centers & Schools in Florida, says accredited therapeutic boarding schools can help kids overcome the issues they're facing and boost their future.

"It has a positive impact on college admissions rather than negative because the schools tend to be ... very successful at motivating kids to make healthy choices, helping them become much more introspective and understand their actions, and give them the tools to fight the triggers that may send them into anxiety, depression, oppositionality or parental conflict," Robinovitz says.

Making Sense of Alternative School Transcripts

Transcripts from an alternative school may differ from the traditional format, particularly for gradeless institutions. In place of letter grades or a grade point average, schools may offer a narrative written by a teacher assessing classroom performance.

For example, at IGSS in New Trier High School, students are listed as deficient or masterful in subjects denoted by a sliding scale. Short narratives offer teacher feedback on matters such as writing, research and analysis, presentation skills and scholarly habits.

Arado argues that the format is more informative, suggesting it offers colleges a more in-depth glimpse of a student: "There is no way for an admissions counselor to have any idea what a grade means. Whereas the narrative document that our students get attached to their transcript is really clear about what that student's strengths are, what the student's weaknesses are academically."

Jill Madenberg, principal at Madenberg College Consulting in New York and co-author of "Love the Journey to College," agrees with Arado's assessment. She feels gradeless transcripts better showcase a student's intellectual curiosity and engagement.

"You don't have the quantitative piece of it," says Madenberg, referring to the missing GPA, "but as a former admissions counselor, I love that because I think it forces the colleges to look at an application in the context of the school."

One drawback to a transcript from an alternative school is that admissions officers may be less familiar with the contents, says Steven Mercer, founder of Mercer Educational Consulting in California. Because of the unfamiliarity, he says it may take admissions officers longer to verify the transcript. Gradeless transcripts also move away from what most college prioritize.

Mercer says that "most admissions offices are weighed very heavily towards objective academic measures," such as GPA, standardized test scores and rigorous courses. In the absence of a GPA, Mercer says a strong ACT or SAT score may help admissions officers make sense of the applicant's potential: "If the test scores come out strong, that alleviates a lot of the uncertainty about new types of information that a college might be considering from a school that does grading differently."

[Read: What to Do If Your High School Doesn't Offer AP Courses.]

For families worried about how colleges will perceive applications without letter grades, there may be options to add those even if it isn't part of the curriculum. For example, to assuage concerns about gradeless transcripts, IGSS will convert the narrative summary into letter grades upon request. "We translate that feedback into a grade," Arado explains.

Arado says about 30% of the student population of IGSS requested the narrative be converted to a letter grade last year. When the program launched 10 years ago , parents were worried about the absence of grades, she says, but that anxiety has lessened. Looking at 10 years of graduate data and college placement, Arado says the lack of grades poses no problems for admissions.

Telling Your Story in the College Admissions Process

The alternative school experience may be worth exploring in college application materials, college counselors say. For students who attended a school in a unique educational setting, colleges will want to know how that shaped them as a student and person. Students can address their alternative school experience in an admissions interview or essay.

Ben Mason, principal of Mason Associates in Vermont, helps families with therapeutic boarding school placements and college consulting. He feels the stigma around attending a therapeutic school has faded and colleges are open to hearing about the experience. His advice to students is to show that they have the "academic horsepower" to do the work and be transparent.

Mason urges students to be open about their experiences but to consider how much they wish to share when discussing trauma.

"If the child is self-aware and honest, it's a very appealing story to admissions offices," Mason says.

[Read: What Admissions Officers Think of 3 Common College Essay Topics.]

Robinovitz strikes a similar tone. She particularly cautions students not to get too dark in essays. She feels that colleges are concerned with mental health issues and suggests students steer clear of discussing severe depression or illegal drug use in admissions materials. If a student does get into emotional or behavioral issues, she believes they should communicate what they've learned and how they've changed.

"I think the important thing for a college to know is that this is a child who has examined her previous behaviors, recognized the things that needed to change, and absolutely made those changes and is now leading a fuller, more productive life. She has put these things behind her and has become an excellent role model for her peers," Robinovitz says.

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