Anyone here in a position to, ever take a GED applicant over a high school graduate? What real value is a GED? Would you take a 9th-grade dropout with a GED over an 11th-grade dropout without?
Hi!
I have actually been in the position to hire a person with a GED over a high school graduate. I chose the GED, and I didn’t look back. Why? Well, for one thing the person with the GED actually had to pass a standardized examination. We all know at least 10 dipsticks who picked their noses through high school and somehow managed to graduate.
Now, the person with the GED was tested in: Writing, Social Studies, Science, Reading and Mathematics. Furthermore, in order to pass the GED exam, the taker had to score higher than 60% of high school graduates nationwide; that means that if the taker had stayed in high school they would have graduated in the top 40%.
Academic achievement aside, the person I hired had been the oldest daughter of a single parent: her mother. Her mother had gotten ill, so she dropped out of high school to care for her and her little brother. You’ll pardon me, but I found that admirable. Also, as soon as everything was back in order, she joined a GED program, took the exam, and (as you know by now) passed it.
This person was a very good worker (it was a cafe). She worked her way up to shift supervisor or something. All this happened about 15 years ago, so I am not clear on the details, but I had heard that she had gone on to college and got a degree.
That’s about all I have to say on the subject, but I will point out to all of you that might look down on a GED candidate that such a person has managed to pass a rigorous exam (that many high school graduates wouldn’t be able to pass). Furthermore, it says something about a person who has managed to get a GED: they set a goal, worked hard and bettered themselves. I think that counts for something.
Yours,
DQ
From what I understand, the GED program is pretty underrated. In most cases, it’s actually more rigorous than many peoples’ typical high school curriculum. Not all employers are aware of that, though, and may look upon GED candidates as loser dropouts.
That said, if you’re concerned about putting a GED on your resume, why not just say “High School gradudate?” It’s true, and avoids the stigma, if you’re worried about that. (Unless they ask where you went to high school.)
Don’t look down on GED’s, there are a lot of reasons to get a GED, anything from being home schooled, to dropping out of High School due to being a big fuck up when younger. As D. Q. Dauthier said, a person has to make the effort to pass a GED test. It is a hard test, and I’m sure most high school graduates would have trouble passing it. Either way, it shows a desire to better themselves vs. someone who just goes because they have to.
For the record, I have a GED, and I will be graduating Pharmacy School in only a year and 3 months (not that I’m counting).
So, no big deal actually going to school then?
The only real difference between the GED and an ordinary high school diploma is the presumption that the GED guy somehow screwed up in high school and needed a 2nd chance, whereas the other guy had his act together enough to get it right the first time. If so, then you’d have a preference for the high school grad since he doesn’t already have a track-record of screwing up. In some cases, that presumption may be true, but of course there are plenty of circumstances that might make it less clear-cut (like maybe the GED guy was an honor student who dropped out of school to get a job solely because his family needed the money).
In terms of education, though, the GED vs High School Diploma really doesn’t matter for any job you’re hiring for. There’s plenty of jobs that require the skills of a college graduate, but once you take those away, there’s very few remaining jobs that actually require the skills of a high school graduate. High school is not vocational training. If the job requires extensive writing talents or math more complicated that 8th grade basic algebra, then chances are you probably are looking at only college grads anyway. Do you actually need a diploma to be a janitor or to work at mcDonalds? Doubtful.
I’d have a preference to hire a guy with a college degree; but when choosing between GED, high school diploma, or nothing, then I would simply go for which ever guy has the best attitude.
Exellent question with very interesting answers, This is why I love the SDMB.
I have a GED and an honorable discharge from the U.S Navy.
I have a GED. Dropped out of my worthless, good-for-nothing high school in Bumfuck, Texas as soon as I was of legal age (17). After a few years, I settled down, got a bachelor’s degree at a major university, then later a master’s at another major university. I’ve been a few places and always consider it funny to think I’m a high-school dropout.
(I don’t advocate dropping out of high school. Mine was a unique situation.)
Funny you should mention that. Way back, when I attended the University of West Florida (the first time), the head of the psychology department was ex-Navy who got his GED after his service, and went on to a Ph.D.
I hired someone with a GED for a technical support position. He worked his way up, went back to school (though never finished his bachelor’s degree) and went on to work as a software developer. This was fine and dandy until he figuratively shot himself in the foot by engaging in some unrelated criminal activity that landed him in jail for the better part of a year.
I have no idea what he’s doing now that his resume essentially looks like that of someone who got a GED and is a felon, though that betrays his talents.
I know a young girl who was going to an ‘alternative’ school, which in her own words consisted of bare basic bonehead courses and weekly field trips to the zoo, the park, a tour of the box factory…whatever. Headstrong type, she dropped out of that to do more fun things with her life. She could have graduated with ease from that school, and here I read getting a GED is not the breeze everyone assumes…oh oh…
When I read job applications I usually skip over people’s schooling. I don’t care where they went or how well they did if they have real life work experience that they can convince me with.
The only time I ever check academic credentials is if they are required to be employed.
Because that would be lying, and lying on your resume often has worse consequences than having a “mere” GED.
Please explain how it would be lying. A GED is a high school diploma for people who didn’t graduate before they became a certain age. (I believe it’s 20 in most states.)
Yes, I used to do hiring for a call center and a high school diploma or GED was a requirement. It did get fudged in a few minor incidences involving kids who had not yet graduated, but who could provide grades. However, anyone who came in who was a high school dropout was flatly denied, and invited to work in our hot, dangerous warehouse instead.
I had no bias against people with GEDs. In a call center, you’re looking for someone who is willing to do the job for awhile. Someone with a GED has shown commitment far more than being a high school seat-warmer. People with GEDs were also typically a little older and more experienced, with a longer job history, which was even better.
A lot of people got their GED and would use call center work as a stop-gap for a year or two (that’s a long term worker, in a call center - our turnover was something like 280% per year) and then move into another office job. I liked those people - they were working towards something, and that means a better employee than someone drifting from one crap job to another every few months.
The GED programwas created to address the needs of veterans who had left high school before graduating in order to enlist. At a time when most people didn’t attend college, a high school diploma - or proof of equivalent achievement - was a necessity.
Family anecdote: My sister left high school for medical reasons, and opted to get a GED instead of returning to class afterward. She’s been hired (and re-hired) over other candidates with a traditional high school diploma.
Since the OP is seeking opinions, this is better suited to IMHO than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I have a GED and Diploma, and I guess I’ll be the first to say that getting my GED was a hell of a lot easier. I don’t look down on anyone who got one or the other, but in my case the GED was a whopping 2 weeks of commitment (prep-course I had to take and didn’t learn anything) followed by a couple of hours being tested on basic knowledge, while my diploma was another YEAR of classes and tests.
I briefly mention both on my resumes, because you never know when you’ll come across someone that just thinks graduates are seat-warmers or GED recipients are drop-out losers.
At the college where I teach, we get quite a few students who have a GED - for the most part, they are better than average students.
One reason some of them took the GED is that they were TOO good in high school, getting an “A” in every subject and bored out of their minds by their Junior or Senior year, so simply took the test to get out of a high school that didn’t meet their needs.
BTW, that is why I am starting to get more and more 17 and 18 yr old freshman at the college - and again, they are often the best students in the class.
As mentioned, others with GED’s were home schooled, and one came from a family that had some issues and were moving a lot so, he never stayed at one school more than a couple of months.
Besides, in the “old days”, a high school diploma was all you needed for most jobs - today, it is rarely a deal breaker in the type of jobs that don’t require college degrees or additional vocational training.
It’s NOT a high school diploma, it’s the equivalent of one. If you claim to have graduated from a particular high school and they check and you haven’t then you are in deep doo-doo. “Equivalent” is not the same as “equal to”.
And there’s no age limit on a GED - you can take it well past 20, and some people do. Nor was it invented for people who dropped out or didn’t complete high school prior to age 20 - it was created for veterans returning from WWII, many of whom (including 5 of my 6 uncles) gave up their high school years to fight in the Pacific and Europe and North Africa and were well past 20 when they came home.