i have my sat score 1430 and 9 ap scores all above 3. i wanna skip my senior year of high school by taking GED. Will that work?
It is possible, yes.
However, if you’re trying for selective colleges then you are better off completing the fourth year.
For some schools. Sections C3 and C6 of the CDS may indicate whether a school accepts a GED.
CMU Example:
Q: Iden?tify your high school comple?on requirement for degree‐seeking entering students:
A: High school diploma is required and GED is accepted
However, the criteria for earning a GED are not high. Not having the coursework under your belt that a student typically faces Senior year will be restricting when applying to better schools.
How old are you? My understanding is that in order to take the GED you must be over 18 and be a high school drop out, though the actual rules probably vary by state.
“ Test takers must be at least 16 years old before they can sit for the GED exam, though many states require examinees to be 18 years of age or older unless they undergo an approval process and receive an age waiver. Testing fees and retake policies could also vary from one state to the next. Individual requirements are available on the GED Testing Service’s directory of state policies at GED.com, and on state websites.”
My personal opinion is that getting a GED instead of an actual senior year of HS would greatly reduce your attractiveness to colleges unless you are on the upper extremes of performance/capability.
Why? The students you’ll be competing with for spots will have completed 4 years of high school courses.
We call my brother-in-law “GED, PhD.” Mind you, this was thirty years ago, but he dropped out, passed GED a year or so later, was admitted in-state to UVA and later received his PhD from another flagship state university of like caliber. In both cases, he was in-state. Why not call the Admissions Office to inquire?
I teach GED exam prep. The exams are not easy to pass, and a student in your position will probably need a year to prep for and take the exams. So if you just want to do the GED instead of slogging through another year of high school, I don’t know if the trade-off is worth it. You can take mini versions of the four sections of the exam at this link https://ged.com/study/free_online_ged_test/ and see what you think about the exams’ content.
You also can take the GED Ready practice tests at this link. https://ged.com/study/ged_ready/ They are half as long as the real exam, and the scores are quite good at predicting your final scores on the exams themselves.
It is important to know in advance that the essay portion of the Language Arts exam expects a seven paragraph essay. You need to support your argument using quotations from both of the texts in the reading. You get to choose which of them is correct (there isn’t a right or wrong choice), so I tell my students to just pick one of them and then build their essay around that decision. You need to be able to type quickly and accurately because of the time limit. Lots of my students are English learners and do poorly on the essay because they just can’t type fast enough.
All that said, before you stop attending high school, find out what your own state’s rules are about this. Where I live, students aren’t allowed to drop out of school, or to take the GED until they are 18. In other states, they can leave school and take the exams sooner. Also, in some states there is the option of completing an Adult High School Diploma. For that, the student only needs to take the classes that are specifically missing to finish up high school, and they have lots of choices (online, in person at a night school, by exam for that subject, with a special project or paper, etc.). If you are really close to being able to graduate, that could be a better option than a GED.
You can absolutely do this. Consider why. Some schools do not even require you to take the GED, you just apply as a Junior. The question is why - get clear on this. I can imagine very good reasons; make sure you are clear on yours.
PM sent.
@formerfirstgen - You are correct that many places will admit students who they consider to be “college ready” who have not completed high school. However, students who will need federally determined financial aid will need to finish the equivalent of a high school diploma (by GED, other state exam, adult diploma, etc.) in order to qualify to file the FAFSA. Students who wish to start college early and who need aid should have a specific conversation about that with the financial aid offices at the places on their application list.
It is certainly possible, but not a very competitive option for a lot of universities. I would not recommend it unless you have some big extenuating circumstances. Skipping your senior year is not one of them.