Also, in California, at least, there is a GED-like exam that also gets you out of HS. It’s called the CHSPE. It’s not as extensive, cheaper, and there may be an age limit, but it is obviously lower than the GED limit - maybe 15 or 16. So there you go!
Oops, that was supposed to be a reply to the concerns of uforainier…
Anyway emilsinclair9, congratulations to you! I really enjoyed reading your story - I know so many really smart kids who have gotten terribly frustrated by sitting in their high school classrooms, and I have come to understand that there are different ways to do things!
me: so inspired.
cries.
Good luck! Go be awesome and ace all your classes at Berkeley, you hold the torch for all of us now.
Inspiring story. But what is troublesome is that at 17 you were in 12th grade after failing so many courses.
I think out of all the things i’ve spent months reading, this has been the most inspiring story I’ve read. thanks so much for writing this. This could have gotten you into harvard as a personal statement (prob i donno) It’s literally PERFECTLY written. Your incredible. thats all i have to say 
Im glad to hear about your success and wish you all the best in life!
I admire people like you who have the will and determination to make it past the circumstances no matter what and people like you tend to do well and make their own way in life no matter what the situation!
This is a very inspiring and insightful story! Thank you for sharing your experience with us!!
Very inspirational. Good luck at UCB!
Inspiring!!!
I had no idea…absolutely no idea that so many people had read and commented on this!! :). You guys have -ALL- made my day! I’d like to thank everyone for their kind words and input. The experiences and struggles you guys listed such as the Mom who wanted her child to take the GED instead of home schooling just confirms the drive we all maintain to be successful and seek out other avenues when necessary.
You all have inspired -me- through your appreciation and loving words. If anyone wants to talk about anything else, has questions or concerns, or just would like to talk about any current dilemmas in their life, all of you are free to PM me :). Thank you all so much again!!!
Fantastic.
Me and my brother also have quite a story to share, but we’re writing a book on it; it’s too long for one post. We lived all our life in the Netherlands and then we moved to Pakistan. It was a rough ride. We’ve both overcome our challenges as you did. I wish you all the best!
this is just amazing, such a wonderful success story, and I really hope parents learn from this as well, to help watch out for their kids, GED is not an option for everyone I’ll admit, and in NY it’s quite useless, but for the Cali folks, that sounded like a pretty nifty option, 
I personally found US to be very bureaucratic, while socialist countries such as Netherlands, Sweden, Finland to be amongst the most efficient nations in the world, but regardless I am not sure what socialism has to do with anything here? Perhaps the fact that it’s a publicly funded educational institution? Your posts were comical, especially if you truly are a parent, I hope your kids do not grow up as politically constipated as your posts insinuate, that aside, I take it back, before this turns into a wrath filled fight,
this is just amazing, such a wonderful success story, and I really hope parents learn from this as well, to help watch out for their kids, GED is not an option for everyone I’ll admit, and in NY it’s quite useless, but for the Cali folks, that sounded like a pretty nifty option,
I personally found the US to be very bureaucratic, while socialist countries such as Netherlands, Sweden, Finland to be amongst the most efficient nations in the world, but regardless I am not sure what socialism has to do with anything here? Perhaps the fact that it’s a publicly funded educational institution? Your posts were comical, especially if you truly are a parent, I hope your kids do not grow up as politically constipated as your posts insinuate you are, that aside, I take it back, before this turns into a wrath filled fight,
I’m glad you came through!
In the beginning of this year, my senior year, I came into school very depressed. My parents are very conservative Asians who immigrated and they felt that there was nothing wrong with me. They viewed depression as a weakness, one that needed to be ignored and hidden away. Of course these issues stemmed from social alienation. My parents and I never talked much-there are literally times where we can be sitting face to face at the dinner table and not one word can be said for an hour. This sort of emotional abuse, although not direct, affected me a lot.
I began to dwell on thoughts of whether I would be happy 10 years from now and not make the same mistakes my parents made-which was marrying for the sake of getting married and being generally dissatisfied with their lives. Its quite idiotic to say, but I wanted a job that would allow me to wake up in the morning, something I would enjoy, or else in my mind, I would probably be dead until I was 30 because of all the discontentment. I was so afraid of being unhappy that I didn’t realize that I was already unhappy. In this warped reality of mine, I was so disillusioned-seeing my parents’ failing marriage and endless bickering, the childhood affection that was not give, the help that I did not recieve, and the obvious imperfections that my family desperately tried to hide. Sometimes I would not go to school for weeks on end, I would cry myself to sleep everyday, sometimes when I didn’t finish homework (and I was so obviously behind) I would just not show up in fear of what people would think. My parents did not know how to deal with this, my dad while a biotech major and was extremely educated did not believe in mental illness and did not send me to a psychiatrist or therapist. They often told me I was worthless and threatened that I would be sent out of school and how I was dishonoring my family.
The fact was I really did not feel like I belonged in my school. I used to live in a poorer neighborhood when I was little and then moved into white suburbia into a wealthy-middle class school. I really did not feel comfortable and the fact that many of the kids, especially the Asians, who liked to conform to racial stereotypes (often proudly boasting that they were good Asian no-lifers who ate congee for breakfast, like <strong><em>?) and being somewhat total *</em></strong>**s for apparently knowing everything and worrying every shread about which colleges they would get in. This sort of behavior annoyed me, I know it might be hypocritcal of me saying, but there is a fine line between living your life and being what you might feel is happy than getting some career as a bioengineering major just to be ‘successful’.
Anyways, it was no surprise that I ended up in the psychiatric wing of a hospital after I confessed to a therapist that I wanted all the pain to go away and had thoughts about overdosing and kicking the bucket. Needless to say, after that, my parents started taking my condition more seriously and I decided to take what I do one step at a time.
I recently got accepted into UC Irvine as well as Riverside and things are going much better for me. I feel much more calm now, and also, I know what it means to be successful.
Success isn’t measured on what people think of you, what is deemed ‘respectable’, what your parents want you to become. It is simply something that makes you happy and makes you confident and makes you get up in the mornings. You could become some scientist in some insanely weird field of physics, but will that make you feel satisfied? Maybe, but if you’re not, then you’re not living your dreams. And even though some may say dreams are just dreams, dreams are the things that keep people going. Without hope, there is no life, no living. And without life…what position are we in exactly?
Your inbox is full, but here’s the message i was going to send.
Hello, I saw your post and I just wanted to tell you that it was extremely inspiring to me. It showed that if you have the brains and the work ethic, you can do whatever you want in this world.
Moving on, I had a question. Can I take the GED test as a freshman with no negative consequences? Like, can I take it just to see if I would pass?
OP, your story is truly amazing. I’m so proud of you for turning your life around. I can only imagine how hard it would have been for you, being stuck in the “cycle”. Your story is inspirational.
Wow! Thanks so much for all of this information. It really is very useful and informative. Peace Back.
LovesQuidditch, I am going to UCI on March 5th regarding the campuswide honors program visit, are you going to attend …
A very inspiring post :)! And I thought I had a rough high school life…but it just goes to show you, whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger!
Thank you OP! Many useful information and also very inspiring!