Yesterday, I officially became an adult. I registered with Selective Services today and my job at Domino's is being transferred to a delivery driver. So yay signing my own contracts and buying naughty CDs without a friend or parents help and drinking in Mexico.
However, due to my parent's financial situation, they're no longer capable of paying for my homeschool. And I certainly am not capable of doing so. So I have two options: get my GED, or go back to public school.
I really don't want to just settle for my GED. Granted, this is mainly because of the bias held against them and their holders. My reasons may not be great, but they're my reasons nevertheless.
So, it really looks like I'm headed back to public school. The problem with that, of course, is that my homeschool credits don't transfer to the high school. I left public school after the first semester of 9th grade. They do have tests available that you can take to get a credit for a certain class. They, however, are $20 per test whether you pass or fail (and that adds up to a lot of money), and from what I hear, are knees-to-nuts difficult.
I'm shaking in my skin. Even if I do pass the tests I take and somehow manage to be a senior next year (what I would be had I stayed in high school), it's still going to blow my life out from the comfortable region it was resting in. I don't like that, but I don't have a choice.
posted
Could you go to a community college instead? I bet you'd enjoy it more. If you are still high school age, you can normally get an exemption. Or pass the GED so you can go. Each credit you take there is far more valuable than high school credits, and if you get a good track record there, write up your own high school transcripts when you transfer to a 4 year college, that's what I did.
Looks like Yavapai is fairly reasonable. Yes you'd pay roughly $250 in tuition, plus probably another $1-200 in books if you took two 3 unit classes. But when you consider that you are investing in your future that is an extremely reasonable price.
posted
If you can get an associates degree, no one will care about the GED. In Virginia, if you get an associates at a community college, it is generally very easy to transfer to a public 4-year college. With luck, your state has something similar.
I would contact both a community college and a four-year program you would be interested in attending. They should be able to tell you what you need to do.
posted
I'll second that - definitely contact the community college as well as the four year institution.
Although without a high school degree or a GED, be prepared for a lot of explaining on job applications that may not necessarily expect a college degree.
posted
Does your state have a high school proficiency test (not the GED) like California does? In CA, you can take this (very easy for anyone who functions as well as you seem to) test on basic math, English, history, and science skills called the "California High School Proficiency Exam" (basically what they want all high school graduates to have mastered), and if you pass, you get what is basically a high school diploma from the state. It's a popular option for home schooled kids there; the only requirement is that you be 16 or older and pay the twenty-something dollar fee.
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posted
I had a friend who had his GED, because he had a lot of medical problems and didn't graduate with us. He found out a funny thing.....that if you have a college degree, even if it is from a horrible college like the one he went to, no one cared about the GED.
If anyone asked, all he did was say that he almost died (a slight exaggeration to be sure) and rather than repeat a whole grade he took the GED and went off to college.
It does make a difference until then, but like Dag said....as long as you get at least an ass. degree, who will care? Unless you are going into a specific field where it would matter....and I can't think of any field (other than the Secret Service and that sort of thing) where it matters after college.
posted
Here's the thing. You can graduate from high school even if you are homeschooled. I graduated from "Lodgewood Academy". I made my own high school transcripts on our home computer and printed it out on "Lodgewood Academy" letterhead. It may not be an accredited high school, but you can still say you graduated. On a minimum wage job app, they don't care if it was accredited. And by the time you'd want to go to a 4- year institution, you'll have enough college credits that no one will ask any questions about the accreditation of your high school because they will be evaluating you as a transfer student rather than as an entering freshman.
posted
In WA state, we have a program called "Running Start"; it's a publicly funded program that allows students ( public, private or homeschool) to take their first year or two of college and attain the HS diploma at the same time.All they have to pay for are books. You just have to pass entrance exams. Is there anything like that in your state?
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posted
Could somebody explain why there is a stigma against the GED? Why would other high-school equivelancy tests not have that stigma?
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Dagonee is correct. In Virginia, if you maintain a certain GPA during your first two years of community college (NOVA) then any state school has to except you if they have room.
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posted
AntiCool, for some reason, the GED is seen as something for people who "dropped out" or were too lazy to finish high school, then decided they needed the degree. Never mind that from what I've heard, it's more demanding than graduating from most high schools. It's a prejudice, they don't make much sense, right? Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
I say get the GED, go to community college. Apply for financial aid - you may get some grants and loans to cover the cost, that's not an option available to you in high school.
No one is going to care about the GED if you have junior college credits. And all I'd do, is on the applications, put "Homeschooled" where they ask for where you graduated high school.
You'll enjoy the community college classes more, and you'll be getting ahead - able to transfer to virtually any 4 year college if you keep up your grades.
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