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<p>I’m a lawyer without either a GED or a high school diploma (I went to college after my junior year of high school), and I agree that this is a non-issue once you have a bachelor’s degree. As a result, the main issue is whether the colleges in which your daughter is interested will accept her.</p>
<p>The problem with the GED (am not familiar with the California version) is that it always raises a critical question for a college admissions officer or employer: “Why the hell couddn’t you graduate high school in four years llike everybody else?” </p>
<p>Sometimes there’s a good answer for that, like extended illness or home-schooling. But when there isn’t it will raise questions about the kid’s “socialization,” that is whether he/she can show up on time, do work even when doesn’t like it, work with authority figures, and the like. At best that will mean extra work for a kid to convince some employers or school he/she isn’t a screw-up. My take is that its best to avoid all that and get a regular high school diploma. I think its telling that even in a time of war the service limits (bans?) recruits with a GED.</p>
<p>In our state a HS age student cannot take the GED until after the date they would have graduated HS with the rest of their class. I don’t know if that is the case in your state, but something to be looked into as it may impact college applications.</p>
<p>The most important thing is how her prospective colleges will regard it. Not only for acceptances but for any potential scholarships.</p>
<p>My kiddo HAS a GED. She was booted out of her elite private HS in May, after her junior year because of excessive absences due to health issues. She took the GED & got 4000 out of 4000 in July, just after receiving the news. She started CC in August. After her 1st semseter, where she got a 3.8, she applied to her dream competitive private U, where she was accepted as a transfer & where she attends & will graduate with her HS buddies at the same time they do, transferring most of her CC credits. She has just been admitted into her dream school within that U and couldn’t be happier!</p>
<p>To date, I don’t think the GED has harmed her one whit–would definitely have harmed her to contort herself by enrolling in a new HS as a HS senior & trying to complete arbitrary graduation requirements (honestly, I don’t think she physically could have ever received her HS diploma because of those same health issues that would keep her from physically being able to attend classes). They assumed at CC that she was dually enrolled in HS & college (she looks very young & they have some dually enrolled kids all around campus anyway).</p>
<p>You may wish to contact the admissions offices of schools your child would likely attend as well as the guidance counselor at her HS about these issues.</p>
<p>I honestly believe that once my D (or anyone) gets a bachelor’s degree from her dream college, people will NOT hold it against kiddo where prior education was obtained and whether it was a HS diploma or GED.</p>
<p>Just to add a heretical thought…</p>
<p>My kids didn’t graduate from high school and also didn’t take the GED. One is at the honors college of our Flagship State Univ. and the other is at Amherst College.</p>
<p>The thing is that kids apply to college while they’re still high school seniors. They submit their transcript and test scores and all the other required things --teacher recs, essays, etc. Then they get their acceptances from the colleges, decide where they’ll go, pay a deposit, and that’s it. In June the college they’re attending will want their final transcript with course grades. The college will not ask for a copy of their high school diploma. They do not care.</p>
<p>Some people worry that not having a high school diploma will hurt their employment prospects, but that isn’t really relevant for students who get a college degree, since that will be the pertinant credential - not high school.</p>
<p>I know this is heretical to people who were brought up thinking a high school diploma was some kind of baseline requirement for being a respectable member of society. </p>
<p>It’s not really the situation in this day and age when a BA is effectively the new high school diploma. For example, lots of students start college early (my daughter started when she was 16) based on SAT scores or other measurements. They often do not have high school diplomas, nor do they take the GED.</p>
<p>As long as they do get that college degree. I had to take the GED in my 50s because I do not have a HS diploma (we don’t get diplomas for finishing school in the UK). I was thinking of applying for a job at a call in center (for a large cell phone provider) and could not even apply there unless I took the GED. (Took it, passed it, and decided to go to college instead).</p>
<p>My kids took Health on line through this program:
[Online</a> High School Courses | Diploma | MU High School](<a href=“http://cdis.missouri.edu/high-school-subject-courselist.aspx]Online”>http://cdis.missouri.edu/high-school-subject-courselist.aspx)</p>
<p>[Distance</a> & Independent Study Online Courses | MU - CDIS](<a href=“http://cdis.missouri.edu/health]Distance”>http://cdis.missouri.edu/health)</p>
<p>I’d ask your school counselor which on line classes would count for the needed credits. I bet some of the Family and Consumer Science classes will cover whatever is needed.</p>
<p>“My kids didn’t graduate from high school and also didn’t take the GED. One is at the honors college of our Flagship State Univ. and the other is at Amherst College.”</p>
<p>^^ This is not uncommon at top schools, where students often enter “early” (not having completed hs), but the absence of a diploma or GED can be a problem at some state or to other public schools. In NY, for example, even the public community colleges (SUNY and CUNY) require a diploma or GED. OTOH, in CA, a student need only be over 18 and deemed capable of benefiting from the course work.</p>
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<p>“In June the college they’re attending will want their final transcript with course grades. The college will not ask for a copy of their high school diploma. They do not care.”</p>
<p>^^The college may not want the diploma per se, but the college will want evidence that the student has completed hs, usually some certification from a gc - - not just a transcript demonstrating that the student completed enough credits to graduate.</p>
<p>I am in the high school counseling office in my town all the time working with students on college apps, and I have never seen this:</p>
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<p>If you have, then I’m not questioning you, but the OP might want to ask a few of the colleges to which their student plans to apply and see if it’s the case there. My guess is that almost always the answer will be no.</p>
<p>I agree, however, that there are a few states (I know NY is one) that have very restrictive conditions for their public higher ed.</p>
<p>I’m the OP, and it’s very odd to see this thread rise Lazarus-like from the dead. 
D1 is a senior and still hasn’t taken Life Skills or Health, like several others in her graduating class. Our school district is persnickety about these classes, and won’t accept online versions. Or, at least won’t accept online versions that indicate they are online. I’ve never been so tempted to hack into the school database and alter things as I am in order to get rid of this (<em>#$(#</em># requirement.</p>
<p>Schools do have some interesting requirements. Didn’t notice that this was an old thread and that someone got it revived.</p>
<p>Good luck with working out whatever needs to be done. Your kiddo can contact the relevant Us & see what is really needed rather then our speculation. Our CC required D to have a GED or HS diploma so she could enroll, but as other have stated, mileage varies.</p>
<p>As a practical matter, not sure that any college actually cares but don’t know whether your kiddo may if she’s prohibitted from walking at graduation with her buddies because she didn’t complete requirements X & Y. Her call & need to figure it out.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’ve gotten a lot of interesting opinions here. D definitely does not feel she has been harmed by not getting her HS diploma and has moved on. If the CC would have accepted her w/o one, we may have done that instead, but she didn’t find it that difficult to study for 2 months & excell on the GED (at least she didn’t grumble about it).</p>