is it possible to have two diplomas from two high schools

Hi,

Does anyone know whether there is a downside to have two diplomas from two different high schools?

the background is that a kid is going to get a high school diplomas from his public high school, say in 2016, but planned to attended PG in a private school in 2016-2017, the private school suggested him to just repeat 12th grade and take the diploma from the private school…
Also it is possible that for the 2015-2016 school year, the kid would be missing one course for the graduation requirement for the public high school, hence the kid may not graduate in 2016, but will do an online course in the summer of 2016 to fulfill the public high school’s requirement, hence gets his diploma in 2017. it will mean getting a diploma from the public school and the private school separately in 2017…

Is it possible? is there any downside?
thanks

There are rules for being ‘in high school’ when you have graduated. Public schools do not allow it. It would be up to the private school if they allow someone with a diploma to register. Post grad year is common, but I’m sure many of those schools have rules about what courses the students can take, if it is a boarding school what dorms they can live in, etc. Students who take the GED exam cannot then go back to high school and finish that degree.

Think about it. If you are a private school, would you want the responsibility and liability of a 19 or 20 year old to be hanging around with the 13 year old freshmen? I already think there is enough of an age range without adding a year or two on the upper end.

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Check with the private high school. A number of prep schools here have post grad years…and yes…this means that a 19 year old might be in the same campus as a 14 year old nineth grade.

If the private school is suggesting that this student repeat 12th grade, I don’t think they woild be doing so with the expectation that the student is actually going to graduate the first time around.

Your public high school transcript will clearly state when the student gets his HS diploma.

The private high school has a PG program, however, it is opened to whether it is PG or 12th grade, but suggested the student to do 12th grade… and told the student that the transcript will show courses from the private school as I think it is common… therefore does it mean that the student will have two different transcripts? each pointing to a different date of the diploma?

If my kid were repeating 12th grade for sure at a different school…I would not have him graduate from the first school. I would have my kid transfer to the new private school to complete his HS diploma work.

Why do you seem to want him to graduate from school number one…and then again from school number two?

Just my opinion.

Not sure this is a factor considering the public school system I attended and several private/boarding schools I know of had no issues allowing 19 or 20 year old students enrolled as regular 9-12 grade students or as PG/super seniors. In fact, my graduating HS class had a few 19+ year old super seniors…including at least one who spent 2 years as super seniors.

In fact, one only “ages out” of public high school in my city upon turning 21 unless they changed that rule within the last few years.

I would guess that the law has changed since my H graduated; he has two high school diplomas. He graduated from a boarding school but his parents weren’t happy with his grades so they had him do a second senior year at the local public school. Somewhere or somehow he finally caught on to the process of education because he eventually got a doctorate from CMU.

The private school gets to decide who is eligible to enroll and as what.

I’d have the kid graduate from the public HS. Then if the kid & family still feel that the extra year of HS is a good plan, he can enroll as a senior or as a PG at the private school based on what the guidance office there believes to be the best option. And with the public HS diploma already in the bag, the kid & family will have the option to not go the private school route, or to allow the kid to leave the private school without finishing a semester or year, if that is what they decide is best.

I believe that any college is going to want to see the transcript from all high school work. My kids went to 3 high schools but only have one transcript. The first two schools sent the information to the new school. The college will not just take the courses from one year and only consider that.

Do the PG schools give a diploma for just one year,and if so, what is on it? Is it a high school diploma? If the diploma is under a state authority, it is going to have to have to have the correct number of courses on it like 3-4 history courses, and English, and PE if required. It would be up to the school if it decied if the prior gpa is included in its gpa , but a college is certainly going to figure out the correct gpa by looking at the entire transcript.

I know some high schools and even boarding schools have students over 18, and the legal cut off is 21, but most public high school kids who are 20 are special needs, not kids still working on a regular diploma. I’d hope at a boarding school they’d not put PG students with the youngest, who are often in 6th grade. My daughter was 10 in 6th grade, and I didn’t even like her being with 8th graders, many of whom were 15. That first day was very scary when I dropped off a 50 pound 10 year old and saw some 200pound MEN waiting by the 8th grade door. The school did keep each grade separate. The first day my D came home and said ‘Mom, there are boys in my class with mustaches!’ The second day 2 girls were expelled for fighting in the bathroomand hitting a teacher. Public school was an eye-opener.

@cobrat What exactly is super senior? is it the same as PG?

@lotsofquests it is exactly the same question here… @twoinanddone the kid will graduate from the public HS with a diploma, then the kid will go to a private school to attend PG or 12th grade, the courses and grades will be sent from the public HS to the private school… The public school suggested that the kid “repeat” 12th grade, so that the kid will get the diploma from the private school…and the transcript will include all courses and grades from the public HS… I assume the kid does not need to send the college her transcript from public school, but only use the transcript from the private school… However, I am just not sure whether it is possible for a kid to bave two transcripts before going to college… the kid will be 18 when the private school begins, hence it is not that “old”…

A super senior is a HS student who repeated his/her senior year of high school because he/she failed to fulfill all graduation requirements.

A few sometimes repeat senior year more than once because after the repeated senior year, he/she still failed to fulfill all graduation requirements despite the extra year. Some kids at my HS would add an extra “senior” prefix for each repeat of senior year.

Example: If one repeated senior year twice, some would dub him/her a “super super senior”.

@cobrat thanks. Is PG considered super senior?

Usually, it’s applied to folks who are forced to repeat senior year at the initial high school due to not fulfilling graduation requirements.

Not really applicable for someone doing PG as I’m presuming most have fulfilled graduation requirements from their original high school and are voluntarily repeating 12th grade as a PG for personal enrichment, more time for maturing, and/or enhancing one’s undergrad application.

My son is currently doing a PG year. It’s been a great year for him. He has definitely matured, improved his grades, etc.

The problem he had with applying to college was that the colleges didn’t understand his combined transcript. I don’t know if it is because he applied to state schools in areas of the country that may not see too many PG kids. All of the schools had him in limbo for a long time, listing missing transcripts or just marking his application as under review for months. One school was sent his transcripts 3 times and still listed his transcripts as missing. My husband spent one afternoon calling every single school to figure out what the problem was. I think they were all expecting transcripts from both schools instead of the combined transcript.

Also, the boarding school weights classes differently than his previous high school. That made his GPA from his high school look lower than it was.

I would ask the private school why they think repeating senior year would be better than a pg year. I would guess it’s not much of a difference. Just be prepared to explain the transcripts.

Many, many, colleges and universities will require that all secondary schools attended send their own original transcripts. Just like they require separate original transcripts from every single college/university that a transfer applicant has attended. It does not matter if all of the coursework is listed on the final institution’s transcript, they still can ask for all of the secondary school originals, and definitely will require all of the college-level originals.

Oh, and other than for framing-and-hanging-on-walls purposes, no one will give a rip if your kid has multiple HS diplomas. What matters is that the transcripts all get there, and that your son has a solid explanation for choosing to spend an extra year in high school.

here, if one is a super senior and are in good academic standing, they walk with their class, but the diploma is dated the year they finish their super year.

in our district one has the ability to start a vocational program in any year, and that’s usually a 2 year program so we have more of these super seniors than you’d think. its usually a Senior who starts VOtech and finishes their academic year on track and then the second year they only go to VOtech, not HS since they have satisfied grad requirements. the district is still responsible for associated costs and transportation to their program.

but as I said, the diploma is held and dated when the whole process is over.

im not quite clear how you think yours will have 2 diplomas regardless if he is a credit short for grad to begin with–or why you’d want him to. seems to me that credit would be a good reason to retain HS status at the private school and part of why he’d repeat the year, hence ending up with the PS diploma.

My kids went to 3 high schools and no college required anything but the official transcript from the final school that isued the diploma. The NCAA required an original transcript from each school showing only the courses from that school and I believe a gpa from that school alone.

There was a high school here where the principal encouraged students, especially undocumented ones, NOT to graduate. As long as they were under 21 and had no diploma, they could register as high school students and take college courses for free. He’d then issue a high school diploma when they were either about to graduate or they turned 21. The state put a stop to that. The high school was getting the state and federal money for each student and paying the college for the classes (high scholarship kids can dual enroll at no cost to state schools).