Can you get into a bachelor’s degree program with a GED

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• GED col­lege accep­tance rates are grow­ing, mean­ing more oppor­tu­ni­ties for high­er edu­ca­tion are available.
• Prepar­ing for the GED exam can open doors to high­er edu­ca­tion and bet­ter career prospects.
• Earn­ing a GED along­side oth­er cre­den­tials increas­es your chances of being accept­ed into a bach­e­lor’s degree pro­gram.
• Don’t for­get to apply for finan­cial aid, as it can help cov­er the cost of col­lege even with a GED.

With the glob­al mar­ket­place becom­ing more com­pet­i­tive, many peo­ple are seek­ing ways to earn a bach­e­lor’s degree. How­ev­er, not every­one has the time and resources for a high school diplo­ma. As a result, more and more peo­ple are pur­su­ing the GED.

The ques­tion is, “Can you go to col­lege with a GED?” Well, YES!

While the US has some of the most selec­tive col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties in the world, it also has many schools that are open to a wider range of stu­dents. Some schools will focus on your over­all poten­tial, your GED scores, and oth­er fac­tors like your per­son­al state­ment, test scores, and any addi­tion­al course­work you might have completed.

Relat­ed:

• Can You Get Into a Bachelor’s Degree Pro­gram With a GED?
• Flex­i­ble Online Bachelor’s Degrees for Work­ing Adults With GED
• Top Schol­ar­ships for Busi­ness and Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion Students
• Best Under­grad Busi­ness Degrees
• Best Self-Paced Online Colleges

What is a GED and How Does It Compare to a High School Diploma?

GEDs and high school diplo­mas both serve as edu­ca­tion­al cre­den­tials. How­ev­er, they’re not entire­ly the same.

Many ask which is bet­ter: GED vs high school diplo­ma for col­lege? We would­n’t say that one is ulti­mate­ly bet­ter than the oth­er. Each cre­den­tial car­ries its own unique set of ben­e­fits and challenges.

The GED, or Gen­er­al Edu­ca­tion­al Devel­op­ment, is a set of tests that shows you have high school-lev­el skills. It cov­ers four areas:

1. Lan­guage arts
2. Math
3. Social stud­ies
4. Sci­ence

Unlike earn­ing a high school diplo­ma, the GED offers a flex­i­ble and con­ve­nient method of earn­ing cre­den­tials. Fur­ther­more, you don’t need to study for four years and spend a lot of mon­ey; the GED costs $120 for all four tests.

One of the most com­mon mis­con­cep­tions of the GED is that all high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tions in the Unit­ed States do not accept it. This is not true! In fact, accord­ing to the GED Test­ing Ser­vice, 98% of Amer­i­can col­leges accept the GED certificate.

How­ev­er, even though many schools accept GED cer­tifi­cates, they might still pre­fer a tra­di­tion­al high school diplo­ma. You might need to make up for oth­er require­ments, such as expe­ri­ence, com­mu­ni­ty involve­ment, per­son­al state­ments, and more, to stand out.

Applying to a Bachelor’s Degree Program with a GED

So, can you go to col­lege with a GED? Def­i­nite­ly yes!

Accord­ing to the Nation­al Cen­ter for Edu­ca­tion Sta­tis­tics, 43% of peo­ple with a GED start col­lege with­in six years. How­ev­er, GED col­lege admis­sion require­ments and process­es may often dif­fer from the reg­u­lar admis­sion process. Nev­er­the­less, the most com­mon require­ments may remain the same, including:

• Stan­dard­ized Test Scores. As a GED hold­er, scor­ing high on these tests will fur­ther prove your col­lege readiness.
• Let­ters of Rec­om­men­da­tion. You’ll also need strong let­ters of rec­om­men­da­tion. These can come from high school teach­ers or, if you’ve been out of school, from a job man­ag­er, com­mu­ni­ty leader, sports coach, or vol­un­teer coordinator.
• Per­son­al Essays. This helps col­leges get to know you bet­ter and under­stand your inter­est in their program.

Those with high school diplo­mas will be eval­u­at­ed based on their Grade Point Aver­age (GPA). On the oth­er hand, GED hold­ers will be eval­u­at­ed based on their scores:

• Pass­ing Score: 145 to 164.
• Col­lege Ready: A score of 165 to 174 shows you’re ready for col­lege-lev­el cours­es and might skip place­ment tests or reme­di­al classes.
• Col­lege Ready+: A score of 175 to 200 demon­strates advanced skills. This will poten­tial­ly earn you up to 10 col­lege credits.

Besides get­ting high GED and test scores and sub­mit­ting strong rec­om­men­da­tion let­ters and per­son­al state­ments, rel­e­vant extracur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties and work expe­ri­ence in the field are also impor­tant. GED hold­ers and bach­e­lor’s degrees can go hand-in-hand if one’s will­ing to go the extra mile.

Types of Colleges and Universities That Accept GEDs

Community colleges

It is gen­er­al­ly report­ed that all com­mu­ni­ty col­leges accept the GED. Beyond giv­ing you a boost in the admis­sions process, this will also help you save time and mon­ey earn­ing your bach­e­lor’s degree. Choose com­mu­ni­ty col­leges with trans­fer agreements.

Public universities

If you want a more afford­able learn­ing expe­ri­ence, pri­or­i­tize in-state pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties. Beyond low tuition rates, they may also offer var­i­ous schol­ar­ships for GED recip­i­ents. Some of the rep­utable pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties that accept GED hold­ers include:

• Texas A&M, Col­lege Station
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Cen­tral Florida
• Rut­gers University
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Florida
• Ohio State University
• Ari­zona State University
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois, Urbana-Champaign
• Flori­da Inter­na­tion­al University
• Geor­gia State University

Private colleges

If you pre­fer small class­es and per­son­al­ized learn­ing, choose pri­vate schools. How­ev­er, keep in mind that pri­vate col­leges usu­al­ly cost much more—often two to three times as much as pub­lic colleges.

Online degree programs

Online degrees have surged in pop­u­lar­i­ty for their flex­i­ble options and gen­er­al­ly high­er accep­tance rates. If you’re opt­ing for online edu­ca­tion, how­ev­er, you should care­ful­ly eval­u­ate the online school and check if they:

1. Have prop­er accreditation
2. Pos­sess top-notch fac­ul­ty members
3. Offer essen­tial stu­dent sup­port ser­vices like career coun­sel­ing and tech support

Some of the top online col­leges accept­ing GED cer­tifi­cates include:

• Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas Austin
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Florida
• South­ern New Hamp­shire University
• Ari­zona State University
• Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty Global
• Lib­er­ty University

Steps to Improve Your Chances of Acceptance

Boost your academic background.

Get­ting an asso­ciate degree, trade cer­ti­fi­ca­tions, or adult edu­ca­tion class­es can boost your aca­d­e­m­ic record. It shows you’re seri­ous about learn­ing and ready for a four-year col­lege’s chal­lenges, which can help with your accep­tance chances.

Gain relevant work experience and engage in extracurricular activities.

It shows how mature and respon­si­ble you are, whether you’re a good team play­er, and how seri­ous you are about your future career. Admis­sions offi­cers will be impressed by any part-time job, sum­mer job, or intern­ship you’ve done.

Engage in extracurricular activities.

Accord­ing to NCES, 70% of col­leges review appli­ca­tions based on vol­un­teer work and lead­er­ship roles. They want stu­dents who are strong aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly, have lead­er­ship skills, and can pos­i­tive­ly impact the campus.

To gain more ideas on how to improve your chances of going to col­lege with a GED, we sug­gest read­ing GED to bach­e­lor’s degree suc­cess sto­ries. Great sources for these sto­ries are often found on LinkedIn, edu­ca­tion­al blogs, and per­son­al websites.

Financial Aid and Scholarships for GED Holders

Did you know that apply­ing to col­lege with a GED can also qual­i­fy you for tai­lored finan­cial aid? Here are a few easy steps on how to find finan­cial aid for GED students:

FAFSA and federal aid eligibility

Apply for finan­cial aid through the FAFSA. This form helps you access dif­fer­ent types of finan­cial assis­tance to sup­port your education.

Scholarships specifically for GED recipients

You should max­i­mize free search engines like Fast­web or Scholarship.com to find oppor­tu­ni­ties tai­lored to your needs. Con­sid­er these tips when applying:

1. Meet all appli­ca­tion deadlines.
2. Don’t lim­it your­self to one scholarship.
3. Spend some time refin­ing your writ­ten statement.
4. Make the appli­ca­tion per­son­al, but keep it relevant.
5. High­light what sets you apart and why you deserve the scholarship.

State and institutional grants

You can also apply for state and insti­tu­tion­al grants. First, com­plete the FAFSA and speak with your school’s finan­cial aid coun­selor. Grants may need repay­ment if you don’t meet the agreed conditions.

The Benefits of Earning a Bachelor’s Degree with a GED

Career opportunities

Going to col­lege opens up many doors by intro­duc­ing you to a net­work of peo­ple like pro­fes­sors, advi­sors, and fel­low stu­dents. Con­nect­ing with indus­try lead­ers and new oppor­tu­ni­ties is vital to your career.

Increased earning potential

Gov­ern­ment data shows that peo­ple with a bach­e­lor’s degree earn over $11,000 more a year than those with only a high school diplo­ma or an asso­ciate degree.

Personal growth and fulfillment

Earn­ing a bach­e­lor’s degree also offers sev­er­al non-finan­cial ben­e­fits. High­er edu­ca­tion allows you to:

1. Devel­op your key skills like com­mu­ni­ca­tion, team­work, and leadership.
2. Man­age your emo­tions and empathize with others.
3. Become flex­i­ble and resilient as you face aca­d­e­m­ic and life chal­lenges, prepar­ing you for future obstacles.
4. Instill a curios­i­ty and dri­ve for ongo­ing self-improvement.
5. Chal­lenge your beliefs, expand your per­spec­tive, and empow­er you to make informed deci­sions and take con­trol of your life.

Conclusion

Not all stu­dents have the priv­i­lege of pur­su­ing the tra­di­tion­al way of earn­ing cre­den­tials for col­lege. The GED is a great option for stu­dents who want to pur­sue high­er edu­ca­tion but don’t have the time or finan­cial capac­i­ty for a high school diploma.

The GED col­lege accep­tance rate is increas­ing. Get ready for your GED exam and oth­er cre­den­tials to open up more oppor­tu­ni­ties for both high­er edu­ca­tion and future careers. Don’t for­get to apply for finan­cial aid!