Should I get a GED

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi, I have a few questions about receiving a GED. I’m a 17 year old, who has completed, transcript wise (I’ll further this point), only 1 and a half years of high school. Let me give you a bit of background on what little high school schooling I have received. I started high school, as a normal freshman with normal classes. I have severe asthma which for my first semester of high school basically kept me out of high school a lot of the time. I received multiple in school suspensions for my absences, even after multiple doctors notes clearing each one, and failed the majority of my classes. I passed Algebra 1, and an intro to engineering class. The majority of my teachers refused to assist me, and provide me with homework and late work so I could get better grades. So after the first semester, I switched to a hospital home care and worked with a teacher and finished my second semester with a 3.83 GPA, mostly A’s. I did work over the summer to correct my first semester, but for some reason the school refused to properly fixed it, and showed on the transcript that I still failed my entire first semester and made it up in sophomore year. So I remained on hospital home care for sophomore year, doing what I was again told a year of work. After it was over, and I received my transcript, it showed only a semester of sophomore year paired with the freshman repair. The GPA for this work is also 3.83 I believe. This has plagued me to no end. So I spent a year doing my own version of homeschooling, along with moving to a different state. After that, this year I tried to register for school. After waiting to hear back to the school past the school start date, I finally was contacted to discuss my standing in the school (should be a senior at this point) and was told they would not accept homeschooling as real schooling. So I decided I’d take the year of waste, and start as a junior. After going to the school, they told me that not only would I start as a junior, but I’d require to be partly in sophomore classes, while doing competing junior classes. I was not happy with this statement, and it is when I learned what my previous district had done to my transcript. So now I have a question as to what to do, I have done mountains of work that has been unaccounted for now, and I’m quite tired of competing with schools. I can capitulate in doing the sophomore classes with the junior classes. Both my father and mother have brought up the idea for not putting up with the school and just getting my GED, and going into community college. This sounds both appealing and frightening as I don’t want to mess up whatever I choose to do in life. I would like to go to a good college (I don’t really know which, UCLA and others come to mind), however I have seen that getting a GED somehow lowers your ability to get financial aid? I’m not sure how that would affect it, as it doesn’t change our current financial state. Our financial state isn’t the greatest, I would need financial aid to get into college. Up until this point I have excelled in school and have always had good grades. I don’t want to fight with schools, because I feel like this has all wasted precious time. I don’t know what would be the better and smarter situation. I probably would do fine in a community college, and the thought of going to a community college does not intimidate me. My main issue is what happens after, what would happen if I tried to apply for a good college. I would like to go to a good college, not just any run of the mill college that anyone could go to. I don’t currently know what exactly my studies would be in, most likely something science or political based. So if I get a GED and go to community college, and try to apply and a nice college/university, does that cripple my chances of getting accepted? I have seen mixed opinions on this subject, I have never left school for anything other than health related issues, with the exception of the first freshmen semester my grades have been good, but if I get a GED what will that look like to a college? I don’t want to look like a run of the mill high school drop out, who struggled freshman year, and decided to drop out sophomore year and got into things he shouldn’t have, because this is not the case at all. So I have two options currently, attempt to continue in high school, doing a difficult load to hopefully still look decent to a college, OR stop trying to pursue the high school, and go into a community college, then go to whatever university. I hope someone could please help me, and sorry for the giant novel I have written.

Thanks,
Watts

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I suppose this isn’t necessarily a “What Are My Chances” thread, however it was intended to be a question as to what my chances were to getting into a decent college on the GED/Community College route. That’s the question I would like answered first, then it would help me make a decision, but I am open to all forms of opinions. I don’t know this would help, but some of the prospective colleges I have been looking at: UCLA, USC, UCSD, WashU (St. Louis), University of Pittsburgh, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), Stanford, Northwestern, and University of Notre Dame. Its more-so a dream list, rather than prospective but if I did have the chance then all of them would be on a prospective list. I would most likely qualify for in-state on all the UC schools.

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Bump, don’t want the thread to get lost too far down.

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Also, if a moderator, or something would like to move the thread/restart the thread in a different location, or just attempt to shorten the thread, please let me know.

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Your chances of going to a good university won’t be destroyed if you get a GED. GED -> cc -> 4 year university is a very viable option and makes a lot of sense for you. You’ll need to make really good grades at cc though. In terms of financial aid, yes, merit aid is very light for transfer students. However, if you qualify for need based aid I’m fairly sure they can’t deny that. Don’t quote me on that last part because I’m not an expert on financial aid.

Also, when applying to the vast majority of 4 year universities as a transfer, you won’t need to give them your high school transcripts and you won’t need to take the SAT or ACT. That’s a big plus in my book. I dropped out when I was 17 like you, but for very different reasons. I got a GED when I was 21, graduated with an AA 2 years later from a CC, then got into every school I applied to (including texas A&M and UT Austin). The fact that I had a GED had absolutely no effect on my application and I probably outperformed a lot of people that went from high school diploma -> cc. Colleges are well aware that people drop out for a variety of reasons, the really important part is that you get amazing grades once you go to CC so you have lots of options.

People transfer from ccc’s to ucla and Berkeley every year, so just work as hard as you can to get a stellar gpa before you transfer and your chances of acceptance will be pretty much as good as anyone else.

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That you very much for that information, it gives me a lot more confidence for the future. I’ll be going and speaking with someone at the nearby community college to see their take on it as well. I am still opinion to any more opinions.

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Bump v2

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One more bump for good measure, even though I basically have my mind made up.

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Paragraphs are your friend.

Checking for clarification: You were absent a lot your first semester due to health issues and failed because your teachers refused to provide you work even with a doctor’s note, you did home tutoring the 2nd and passed, and made up the 1st semester work over the summer? Then you homeschooled for sophomore year and junior year? That all happened in the first state, right? What state is that?

Now you’re in a new state trying to register as a senior? What state are you in now?

Your family needs to find out the homeschool regulations of both states. If you were homeschooling for 10th & 11th grades, how your transcripts are handled and who assigns the grades on them depends on the law. But if you filed as a hospital/home care program the laws may be different. In NYS, students are either homeschooled or enrolled in the public school; they can’t do both at the same time. You need to know how you were classified.

I’d recommend homeschooling this year instead of taking the GED/TASC or enrolling in public school. Study for the SAT/ACT, take time to create a transcript, and maybe take the GED/TASC if you need to show high school completion when you’re finished with 12th grade.

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@austinmshauri Yeah I didn’t realize at the time how poorly I wrote that whole post.

You’ve got it mostly understood. I was in California for Freshman-sophomore. Sophomore I was on the same system I was over the 2nd semester of Freshman. I homeschooled in Illinois for Junior, and didn’t really keep a whole lot of anything from it as Illinois basically has 0 regulation on homeschooling. California was all done with a school district so it should be up to regulation.

I’ve pretty much decided on the whole thing, optioning to GED. I actually contacted some of the colleges I would like to attend, and asked if the process would be different from someone with a GED or a high school diploma. They all told me that they’d only focus on the associates degree I plan on getting after getting the GED. I’m not sure how much I’d actually retain during home school as I don’t have too many outlets of actually teaching. We’re relatively poor and can’t afford a whole lot to do on our own.

I’d plan on studying for and taking both the SAT/ACT in case a college/university would require the results or if it would improve my chances at the university. Back to my other point about the California school district, to make this point a bit more clear, the school district did not credit me for work I completed, therefore the school in Illinois not only won’t honor it but requires me to retake all those courses, on top of not honoring Junior year. So overall it would be a giant mess, and I would rather further my education than continue to be stuck in the mud.

Thanks to everyone for all your help.

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That’s okay, @10000watts. What state were you living in for GR9-11? Did your parents have you enrolled in public school all that time?

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@austinmshauri Failed typing the first post, edited now with all the answers. 9-10 was enrolled in proper school, just at home with a district teacher. 11 was self taught.

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@10000watts, If you attend community college after you take the GED/TASC, you’ll be a transfer at 4-year colleges. Transfers generally don’t get much aid. That’s a problem if you’re low income.

What’s your SAT/ACT score? If you can get a ~32 ACT you may qualify for merit aid. I’m not sure what SAT score you’d need. @mom2aphysicsgeek is also a homeschooler but she’s put a couple of kiddos through college already, so she may know. There’s a guaranteed merit thread pinned to the top of the financial aid forum that tells which colleges give aid for certain stats. You may want to read it. If you can get a good score, you may want to do a year or two of homeschooling in IL so you can (a) make sure you’re ready for college and (b) have a record you could use to apply to 4-year colleges if that’s what you want. It doesn’t have to cost a lot to homeschool. The internet has SO much. If you decide to go that route, PM me and I’ll direct you to some resources.

Your other option is the GED/TASC route to cc. Is there a 4-year college you can commute to from home? If not, think carefully before you take the GED/TASC and close the door on high school.

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I don’t know anything about IL law, but here are a few thoughts. I would look to see if dual enrolling as high school student attending a community college is an option. You can the DE for either 1 or 2 yrs (I didn’t quite follow what your actual transcripts have for credit. If 9th and 10th was really only 9th and 1 semester of 10th and your transcripts for 11th are weak, I would merge 10th and 11th and make them 10th. I would the. DE for 2 yrs. That way you can apply next fall for the following fall. I would have a parent write a counselor letter detailing the serious health issue that caused your poor grades, withdrawal, and home health education.

If you can do well in CC classes this yr, you could salvage your transcripts, graduate with lots of transferable credit, and have a strong application.

If you don’t like that route, I have no knowledge of GEDs.

The advantage of DE for 2 yrs is that you can still apply as a freshman and qualify for freshman scholarships.

Fwiw, I would give up the idea of any CA publics. You are now out of state and they will not be affordable.

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@austinmshauri I am low income, so I’ll have to look into that. I haven’t taken the SAT/ACT yet, its something I plan on doing. I’m not sure how well the home schooling aspect of things would go over, as I have a difficult time retaining information when I’m self taught. Since I live with my mother who never had the ability to go to college, and doesn’t remember much of high school, she’s can’t really help me a whole lot (asked for assistance before and that was the response I got). There are about 3 decent 4 year colleges nearby that I could commute to. However, I’d only really be okay going to one.

@Mom2aphysicsgeek They do offer dual enrollment, for particular classes, none of which could apply to me or assist me. My transcripts are just a mess. I don’t feel as though I could properly convey how I mean, so the cut and dry is, my first semester of 9th is failed, I continued with decent grades in the second semester. I redid those classes during the following summer and they only appeared as me taking them during 10th which isn’t true. I did both Semester 2 of 9th and all of 10th on hospital homecare, where I’m assigned a district teacher, who only comes to pick up any paper work I do, the rest I self teach/complete online. I hated the system with all my heart (got decent grades still hated it). They only gave me 1 semester of 10th grade, for a year of work. And that’s where my high school transcript stops. I did 11th grade on my own home school in Illinois, and didn’t retain a whole lot. I went to register as a senior the next year, as I didn’t like home school and they refused to honor 11th grade, so I said I’d capitulate and do Junior year. They informed me of the issues with my transcript so both of my parents suggested I just receive a GED and start community college.

We’ve discussed, wrote to, and fought the school, to no end. Both schools refuse to do anything about the broken transcripts, or assist me in any fashion. I personally feel my high school transcripts are not salvageable. About the CA public schools, my father still lives in CA and I would go stay with him in order to receive in state tuition. I’m not worried about that.

It is really difficult to want to continue at a high school or home school as, one has failed me, and the other I really disliked. There’s just so many issues as far as the high school route goes, as the new high school even is trying to block my 504 that I have in place for my on-going health issues. I don’t believe I would get a proper education on home school, nor do I believe it would go over well. Overall, I’m pretty much plagued with limited choices, each one with their own caveat.

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Also, I don’t know if this will help information at all but for the semesters I did complete, other than the first, both had a 3.83 GPA and I’ve always had great grades. My point is that I’m not worried about my ability for community college, and since they’d look at the college I’ve done rather than high school, I believe it would show more of my actual ability. I have no doubt about my intellectual ability, its just a matter about how my transcripts look and the refusal from the schools to help. And I don’t want to spend time putting myself through a massive load of work at high school, to turn around and have to redo just as much of the same work in community college because my high school transcript looks less than stellar.

I also don’t want to continue to get the shaft from schools and whatever else, and end up short selling myself. This is something I’ve been pursuing since I was a little kid and have always had extremely high aspirations. I understand limitations, but I do not want to limit myself, and I will not allow that to happen. I don’t think I have too many unrealistic expectations, my college list were mainly dream colleges. I believe some on those list though, I could feasibly get into academically if I could show it properly. I’m trying to find the best way to solve a bad situation and looking for a way to show my academic ability.

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I don’t understand the issue with DE. If you can take the courses after getting a GED, what is preventing you from taking them as a DE student? Most CCs will let you take the Accuplacer exam on their campus and let you enroll in basic gen ed courses. You can usually take composition 101 if you place into it, whatever math course you place into. You can usually enroll in FL, history, econ, etc.

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The high school only does dual enrollment on select courses, most likely because the community college only has a small satellite office in town. I’d be driving about 30 minutes to attend the actual community college.

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@gumbymom might be able to tell you if you’ll qualify for in-state rates in CA if you live with your mom in IL while your dad lives in CA.

I think dual enrollment in cc is a good idea. It allows you to take time for the SAT or ACT.

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You don’t do it through the high school. As a homeschooler (at least in the states I have lived in) I have never had contact with a ps for courses my kids take. I have only ever interacted directly with CCs or universities.