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Long answer - Whether or not you plan on getting a certificate/degree from a college, a GED is way better than nothing and it's easy to get. I went to two 4 hour classes and that was it... got my GED in the mail. I hear of people going to classes for months just to get their GED.. don't do that. If you get a college certificate or degree, employers will usually look right past your highschool/GED education.
high school diploma is useless. get a GED and go into community college or a trade school. you can even go to law school as a high school dropout. same for becoming a doctor. start off at comm. college and then move up or just get a real life skill instead of becoming a pencil pusher who will soon be outsourced.
The GED is a big red flag for SOME employers and/or schools that screams "This kid is a screw-up who couldn't sit still for four years and take direction like everyone else, so why do I want to deal with that?" That's especially true if you're young and have no job experience in lieu of an education.
If OP is young enough to get a regular diploma then go back and get it. If not, the GED is certainly better than being a dropout.
And as someone posted, a GED with an associates or bachelors is the way to open even more doors.
This person makes some very good points and I would follow their advice, if possible.
That said, if you are almost 18 and have a very good grasp of the education you did receive, you should have no problem passing the GED. I passed the GED back in 1980 with one year of high school, but it was much easier back then. Usually, the community colleges offer classes for GED prep. Our community college offers them for free.
After I passed it, I enrolled in a trade school that would not have accepted me had I not had either a HS diploma or a GED. Years later, I decided to go back to college and started at the community college and had to take classes that were, well, remediated, so that I could fill in the missing foundational material so that I could be successful in college.
With life experience and a whole lot more maturity under my belt, I was able to have great success in college.
Go to an alternative high school. A diploma is going to be looked at more favorably than a GED.
Depends on the state. In Florida, those who get a GED are awarded a diploma, there is literally no difference. I was told when my BIL was going through this that a GED is actually looked at more favorably b/c it takes more effort to go back and get the GED at a later point in life.
IMO, I would definitely get the GED. It's a bare minimum for almost any job these days, unless you are a skilled tradesman of some sort. Best wishes.
I dropped out of high school because I didn't like that school... I wasn't learning anything whatsoever there, lousy teachers, etc. A lot of the kids actually threw away their homework they were given as they walked out the door after the bell rang, right in front of the teacher!
Anyway... I left there when I could. However, I'm noticing a lot of jobs saying they require a high school diploma or GED, while some don't. Now unless I check the high school diploma box even though I don't have one, I can't sign up for those jobs.
Should I take a GED test? It seems like a great option for me.
The difference between a GED and a High School Diploma vanishes after just a few years. It comes down to time and effort. Get the one that gets you where you want to go the quickest. Then immediately sign up for a college class, beit traditional (could be a JC) or on-line. Here is what happens:
Once you enter into a higher learning environment (the college) no one cares about what you did in high school or if you have a GED, you are now able to say you are in college. Plenty of people continue college well into their very mature years and many often go back to refine or upgrade knowledge after being secure in their employment.
If your goal is to stay with GED/High School levels of education, well, that is something else and you'll find yourself rather limited anyway.
Being able to say you are in college means more than any GED or High School diploma. Just one course will accomplish that for you.
If I were an employer and I had to decide between someone with a high school diploma and someone with only a GED let's say for a fast food job, I would go with the high school diploma definitely. Anyone can pass a test, but showing that you went through high school and really developed yourself as a person is quite different.
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