GED vs. diploma

[Ngikhona]

Can anyone tell me some honest, as unbiased as possible opinions about the differences between the value of a GED and a diploma? All I've been hearing are biased opinions about how either GEDs are the worst thing you can get for yourself or how having a diploma versus a GED really doesn't make any difference. I'm hoping maybe there are some people here with some input on how their value differs in the real world? I'm not planning on going into anything that necessarily needs high levels of any school courses, I'd just like to do hair and make up for a while and then after I get some money I might go to a little university to get into doing some things in psychology.

Also, I'd love it if someone could verify something I've heard. I am planning on going to college in a while (like 5-10 years, if not more) for psychology. I've heard that with a GED, you can get in pretty easily into less prestigious colleges and then if you do well in college, you can get into a pretty good graduate school without too much fuss over the GED.

[OMFG!You'reActuallySmart!]

Graduate schools don't care about what high-school you went to or whether you earned a diploma versus GED because it's irrelevant, the focus is on your undergraduate performance. Usually, they look at only the last 2 years of university or in rarer cases, your entire transcript. Instead, getting a GED may affect your chances of getting into a university that has a high reputation and requires high marks for entrance requirements, or it may be viewed like a high-school diploma. Whether you have a diploma or GED, getting into a university heavily depends on your marks. A GED won't make it easier simply because you have a GED. Some people may view GEDs as less than a diploma and this could be reflected in university admission.

Technically, GEDs and diplomas don't differ. However, in reality, there is a very large difference because GEDs have a negative stigma. It is often viewed that the person dropped out of high-school (i.e. teen pregnancy for girls, arrest or academic difficulties for boys), briefly became a societal parasite but then got your act together and got the GED. In other words, there's an association with the person being deviant or criminal.

[I'm-moving-on]

From most of what I have heard from the people I have been around with one or the other, they are just as effective. Diplomas show that you stuck with school and finished it, but GEDs show that you were willing to make the effort to go back and finish it. I would say they are pretty much equal.

[Rise]

Like what "The Man And XX Master" said, if you're looking at colleges that aren' prestigious of any manner; having a GED or Diploma will not make much (if any) difference at all with their admission diploma. Graduate Schools also look upon your work as an undergrad student.

However I would like to add; that if you were looking to get any scholarships, having a GED v.s Diploma does make a difference, many scholarships chairs often times have preference to people who have obtained their diploma v.s GED.

--Hope this helps!

[escape_thereal_world]

I received a GED and I keot hearing how hard it would be to get into college or get a job...

I can get into any college I want, besides ones like Yale, Harvard, Princeton, etc. I can go to state colleges, community colleges, and even some private colleges. And no job has yet to say "Oh, you have a GED?" No. They say, "Tell me about why you got a GED?" So I explain and I explain how quickly I got it. And it usually impresses them because I didn't go to classes, I studied on my own, and I graduated before my class.

And once I'm in any college, I can transfer to a prestigious college if desired.

As long as you can study on your own, then getting a GED isn't as horrible as people make it.

[Revolution]

If you're thinking about going to beauty school, and then going to college/university later, I don't really think it'll matter much. To be honest, I go to a wonderful university, and they accept people with GEDs as long as you didn't just fail in life in high school, and did well on your GED test, my university accepts people with GEDs. A lot do. So, do well on your GED test, and you're fine. Keep caught up, because a lot of schools require ACT/SATs for acceptance, and if you do well on these, so what if you got a GED? It's not the most important thing in the world. I grew up in a household where it was "unacceptable" as well, but a family friend of mine got it, and he's doing fine. It really doesn't matter that much.