I’m a U.S citizen, however, I was born and raised in Australia. I just graduated High School last October and I’m looking at attending a college in California. I believe I need to get my GED because I took very few classes at my HS here in Australia (I didn’t do math or Science of any kind). Is it possible for me to move over to Cali, stay there for a year (to be eligible for in-state tuition) get my GED, take the SAT and get in to a 4 year university? UCLA or USC would be awesome, but I know it’s probably out of my reach (not to mention insanely expensive). So I’m looking at entering the CSU system. Do 4 year Uni’s accept students who have a GED instead of graduating in the states and what kind of SAT scores will I need to have a chance? Will I need to be above the usual requirement because I didn’t graduate HS in the U.S?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
If you have a full Australian diploma that would qualify you for university studies there, you are not eligible to take the GED and you don’t need to.
What you do need to do is to contact the colleges and universities that you are interested in, let them know that you are a US citizen educated in Australia and that you have graduated from an Australian high school. Ask them what you need to do in order to apply for admission. Students from Australia apply to these places all the time. The admissions offices will know how to interpret your academic record.
Depending on the major that you choose to pursue, you may need to take some remedial coursework in math/science. However that would depend entirely on the place where you study.
You don’t have to struggle through all of this on your own. Read through everything at https://educationusa.state.gov/ then get in touch with the counselors at the advising center closest to where you live. There are three in Australia: https://educationusa.state.gov/find-advising-center?field_region_target_id=&field_country_target_id=284&field_center_level_value=All Given the number of US citizens in Australia who consider coming back to the US for university level studies, it is almost certain that the volunteers and staff at those offices will have experience with your situation.