Is getting a GED worth it?

<p>I'm currently a sophomore in high school right now and I'm considering to just get a GED and transfer after 2 years. The reason why I'm considering is because I don't really have a strong GPA at this point (3.4) and I also don't have many leadership extracurricular activities. It isn't because I'm not smart or anything, but it's because I have ADD and I'm struggling in some of my classes. </p>

<p>I understand that many colleges like Harvard or UC Berkley would accept someone with at least a GPA of 3.0, but that person would have to have a very high SAT score to actually be admitted. I don't know if I do have a chance of receiving an SAT score above 2000 and anyways, I think my chances of getting accepted into a college like Harvard with a 3.6 GPA and a 2000 SAT score would make me have a reasonable position on getting accepted. </p>

<p>Would I have a higher chance of getting accepted if I just get a GED, work really hard and be active in extracurricular activities, etc?</p>

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There are plenty of applicants with very high SAT scores and very high GPAs, and lots of them get rejected too. </p>

<p>

You posted this in a forum full of teenagers who don’t really know about this stuff, but not as far as I know. Getting into a selective college as a transfer student is harder than getting in as a freshman applicant. I would recommend looking for colleges you can get into and afford, and graduating from high school the regular way. </p>

<p>Gonna stereotype for a minute here.</p>

<p>Generally, people who drop out and get a GED don’t do very well in school. As in 2.0 or below GPA, not 3.4. 3.4 is NOT a bad GPA at all, and if you ask kids who have an actually low GPA, they’d look at you like you were crazy for saying a 3.4 was low.</p>

<p>Just my .02.</p>

<p>Realistically, if you’ve performed much worse than the average Harvard or UC Berkeley student did in high school up until this point you need to start shifting your goals to somewhere more realistic. Unless you have a profound hook that you’re not telling us you should probably accept that you almost certainly won’t get into Harvard. </p>

<p>Getting a GED isn’t going to solve that problem but it’s also not as big of a problem as you think. With a 3.4 GPA and a 2000 SAT (or even a much lower SAT) you’ll have a lot of college choices and you shouldn’t be too upset by the opportunities you won’t have.</p>

<p>Here’s the deal…Harvard (and to a slightly lesser extent) and UC Berkeley are looking for people that are in the 3.85+ Range, have a rigorous schedule, and good ECs etc. The whole package I guess you could say, generally speaking. The internet is filled with info about their average statistics…</p>

<p>I’m not sure how much a GED would help/hinder, cause we’re just high schoolers and are really unaware of how schools would analyze it. But also consider that they’ll be asking themselves why you got a GED. And I don’t really know how a GED could be a beneficial thing, and theyre usually for people with true difficulties & horrible GPAs (a 3.4 isn’t horrible at all).</p>

<p>Lastly, if you’re sitting at a 3.4 in High School and say yourself that you are struggling and maybe cannot handle the load, what makes you think you’ll be able to handle Harvard’s load, and what makes you want to go through all of that? It seems like a waste imo. I’d focus on schools that you could excel at and manage yourself at rather than schools that it will be A) Difficult for you to get into and B) Difficult for you to manage yourself at.</p>

<p>Just my $0.02</p>