I am going to graduate next year in a private American high school and receive my graduation diploma there. However, since I had lived and studied in Canada for ninth grade and part of tenth grade and have taken a lot of online classes offered by high schools in British Columbia, I am also on track for graduation in BC. There is a possibility that I can also get a BC graduation diploma once I fulfill all of its graduation requirements. The hard part is that I would still have to take a few classes to meet the credits requirement, but that would mean I will have to go back to Canada and attend 12th grade there for one more year after I graduate from 12th grade in an American high school. Does getting two graduation diplomas from different countries increase my chance of being accepted to a very good college? Does it worth the effort of repeating twelfth grade in a different country? Is this a good idea?
Why doesn’t it help? Colleges will see that you have a diverse education background, right? And it is kind of unique because it is rare for students to have two graduation diplomas.
It’s rare for students to graduate from two high schools, but many will take courses at a local community college once they exhaust their HS’s offerings. If you graduate from high school once, with a rigorous courseload, doing so again won’t tell colleges anything. Is it unique? Yes. But many things that are unique - building a 10 m tall sand castle; eating an airplane (true story); running for president while promising to build a big, beautiful wall that Mexico will pay for - won’t matter in the application process. Like those things (well, a little less), going to school in two countries just makes for a good essay topic.
A diverse educational background will never hurt an applicant, but it’s hardly rare. Students with that profile include Americans who move abroad to work in the private sector, kids who grow up in military families posted abroad, and international students. Americans living outside the US number about 8 million, and are extremely qualified academically due to their relatively high SES. International students make up about 10% of the class at highly selective colleges, and a larger percentage still of the applicant pool.
In short, you have some unusual experiences, but taking a year to graduate from high school again won’t help you in the application process. You’ll be better served by taking a gap year, or heading to college now and putting the time to good use after you graduate.
The only way I could see it possibly being worth it is if you wanted to go to Uni in Canada and having a diploma from Canada would significantly make your life easier.