making it short, bored to oblivion in highschool, had a pretty shit gpa (think its in the 2’s region), dropped out in 2014 as a senior…
got my ged right after, honors ged diploma. just got my sat and act results back.
30 composite act with 10 on writing and 1800 on sat.
And that was going in blind, so I’m testing again this month but actually studying.
I’ve talked to my old high school guidance counselor and she told me its a waste going to a CC, especially as money is not an issue with me (I’m a freelance programmer), and that my SAT and ACT will more than make up for the bad gpa.
I’m planning to apply for a couple of schools for cs, mainly ones in arizona as it’ll be instate. Maybe if I actually get perfect on sat/act, I might apply to some of the more competitive schools like ut Austin, as my guidance counselor said it wasn’t out of reach with a good essay.
However I don’t know anyone with a ged who actually went to a 4 year, even though admissions in most state schools accept them. I just want ask did anyone else go through he path I did, and did you have any issues? Do I even need to send in my highschool transcript? Even the people I called at admissions were confused. Really interested in hearing your stories and experiences.
I dropped out mere months into my 9th grade year and got my GED when I was 17. In my state, it seems to be impossible to get a GED any younger than 17 or else I would have tried going to CC. I don’t fit the criteria though because I actually did attend a CC (I pretty much had to because I had no real high school GPA). I got into UC San Diego last year for computer science, but I chose not to attend because it was somewhat far from where I live (silly reason I know). Again, I don’t think this really answered your question though =\
I did but it was a long time ago and there weren’t any issues except with myself and my poor study habits. So if you don’t have good ones, and it sounds like you don’t based on that gpa, take heed to turn a new leaf, it is horrible when people let it get away from them and bomb in college. I suggest you start off slowly and not be over ambitious with your schedule.
There is no need for perfect scores for any school and it isn’t that meaningful actually. But there are some good SAT tips in the subforum called SAT-prep, they are in threads pinned to the top of the forum.
You’ll need high school transcripts. My worry for a student in your case if if you were bored with the material in high school, less than 12 months ago, I’d be concerned if you’re going to be as interested in your college courses as you think you will be. Of course not all GED recipients are bottom of the barrel, I scored well over 3200 and top 90 some odd percent. But it was only when I turned 25 that learning, real learning became important to me, and I’d had my try at college once around already. Maybe what you needed, like me at the time, was to have a few experiences and live a little, explore.
I would posit a few benefits to community college. If you can stick in one-two semesters and hold up a 3.5-4.0 GPA, you’ll have a chance at Phi Theta Kappa and to get basic courses out of the way, and when the four year college sees your performance, they’re likely to offer you money in the form of transfer merit scholarships.
It probably pays off in the long run if you go that route. But if that’s what you want to do, then settling for something less may wreak havoc on you in other ways.
I got accepted into every school I applied for so far , still waiting on my reaches. (u t austin and purdue cs)
Really I just called in admissions and they told me in the case of ged students they value test scores/ged score over gpa. (In my case they didn’t even consider it)
so if there are any ged students in the same situation i am in, just call in and ask admissions for how they evaluate ged students and what you need to send.