Hi,

I was wondering if it is possible to take high school over? I graduated in 1986 and only did the bare minimum to pass.
I am now ready to start credits for college. Am I better off only taking courses I need to brush up on? Or take the entire high school over to imporve my GPA?

Thanks,
Jim

What a great question!

Can you do a second high school diploma? Most definitely. There are certainly any number of online high schools that would take your money and provide you with a quality education.

Should you? That's less clear. There are several things you would need to look at:

1. What was your GPA from long ago?
2. What type of college are you interested in attending?
3. Would your long-ago GPA qualify you for that college?
4. Are you very deficient in particular academic areas?

If you would like my guess, I would think you could do well just taking the courses in which you actually need assistance. That could be determined by your high school transcripts, but also by your knowledge of your strengths and weaknesses.

As long as you can get into where you would like to go, I'm not sure I see any benefit in an entire high school diploma program.

However, if your GPA is very low from before, it may be worth the time and effort. There is the able-to-graduate-from-high-school GPA and then there is the able-to-go-to-college GPA and they are certainly not the same thing.

Thoughts?

Tom Nixon

Thanks for the response.
I think my GPA was most likely the able to graduate high school choice. I have been researching this online and think I will go the route of taking what I need to improve. I will then go for a entrance exam when I am ready. I am interested in a Health related field with an associate degree and if that goes well then down the road possibly a bachlors.
I know this will take many years, but I am determined

Thanks

I think you are choosing a wise course. Also and importantly, just because you did not receive a good grade in no way means that you do not know some of the material. Sometimes it just means you didn't go to class or didn't do your homework and that is very different.

Good luck and feel free to stop by and let us know how things are going. Success stories help everyone!



Tom Nixon

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is that there are colleges out there that treat adult students (say 25 and above) different than 18-year-olds. One way is to have different rules for admission.

Another option can be community college which typically offer courses at all levels. In my home state of California the only requirement for admission is that you must be 18. That can even be waived for current high school students (the 14-18 crowd).

In California many of those CC classes are offered online quite cheaply.


Tom Nixon