GED in interview?

[sephora89]

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What is the likelihood that a GED will be brought up in an interview?

I was not the best student in HS and got a GED. My college GPA is much better and I would really prefer to not talk about my HS experience and explain why I had to get a GED.

 

[NVWolfPack]

Why sweat it? If you did premed and you're a shinning star, just make sure you have an answer as to why and move forward. Nothing to be embarrassed about.

 

[f4reignbeauty]

I would consider the lessons you've learned as you transitioned from high school to college. Did you learn time management? What was the deciding factor that changed how you viewed and approached your studies?

 

[sephora89]

I was pretty much kicked out of hs and not allowed to get a degree…something I'd really not mention to interviewers.

 

[DokterMom]

Surely there's something positive you learned from your experience if you were able to transition from a rough HS career into a highly successful college one. Analyze what you did differently -- what you learned in order to do it, then SPIN.

 

[SufiPoet]

One of my friends in college got a GED because he fooled around in High School. He then totally reinvented himself and became a great student in College. He talked about this rough start in his early life, and reinvention in his personal statement and was greatly respected for it.

I think people can't look down on you for making gains in your life, just find inspiration from it.

 

[kraskadva]

What is the likelihood that a GED will be brought up in an interview?

I was not the best student in HS and got a GED. My college GPA is much better and I would really prefer to not talk about my HS experience and explain why I had to get a GED.

Why would you have to mention it at all? AMCAS doesn't require your HS info, so you don't have to say anything about the GED if you don't want to.
The only HS things you would have to put are college credits taken during HS, which I imagine you don't any have to worry about if you went the GED route.

If you want to bring it up in your personal statement. that's a different matter (and @DokterMom 's advice would definitely be applicable in that case), but as far as I'm aware, no you don't have to mention it.
And if it's not in your AMCAS, an interviewer would never know.

 

[sephora89]

Hi everyone.

The thing is that there were a number of things that lead me to get my GED…it wasn't my first option by any means.

I'm not sure how to explain it without revealing too much about myself but the thing is I do have a HS transcript but not a HS diploma. But to go to college, I needed my GED so I got that instead. I was on probation, suspended, etc. --again I was a really bad student in HS but fortunately no legal trouble or anything like that -- but the straw that broke the camel's back is what ultimately lead my hs to decide to not grant me my diploma.

My worry is I do NOT want to tell them why I pretty much almost got kicked out of HS. It would only hurt me and I'm certain of it.

Fortunately I did realize my mistakes and what was holding me back from doing well and I got good grades in college for the most part 🙂

I'm just depressed currently though about having to explain why I got a GED.

@DokterMom I know I can say I got my act together and realized what I have to do differently but I'm mainly worried about addressing why I had to get a GED.

@kraskadva On AMCAS you do have to state what HS you went to. Or for me, I'll have to state I got a GED.

 

[Keladry]

It's extremely unlikely any of your interviewers will bring it up at all, for the record. You have to put it on AMCAS; they really don't look/check.

 

[sephora89]

My main question is what are the chances of them even asking why I got a GED instead of a regular HS diploma?

@SufiPoet did they ask your friend?

@NVWolfPack I got over the fact that I had to get a GED long time ago but I'm more mortified about having to explain why to medical school admissions members…

 

[medic86]

If they ask, just be honest.

If your college track-record and MCAT score is good, I can't see any sane person holding this against you.

*shrugs*

 

[sephora89]

You really don't want to know why I got kicked out of HS… @medic86

That's why I'm really worried about them asking.

 

[Scribblers]

On my interview day at Duke we were told about a student there that had never completed secondary education of any kind high school, GED or otherwise. They ended up skipping straight to a college degree. As long as your post secondary record is good, I'd imagine you won't have any issue.

 

[sephora89]

On my interview day at Duke we were told about a student there that had never completed secondary education of any kind high school, GED or otherwise. They ended up skipping straight to a college degree. As long as your post secondary record is good, I'd imagine you won't have any issue.

They didn't bother asking him why…?

 

[sephora89]

Would I seem evasive if they asked why I got the GED and I said I wasn't doing well so I got my GED and matriculated to college?

Rather not explain the ultimate reason I wasn't granted my diploma if you know what I mean…

 

[sreautwyh]

I was pretty much kicked out of hs and not allowed to get a degree

 

[sephora89]

I was pretty much kicked out of hs and not allowed to get a degree

Yes. I can't really explain my situation as it will easily give away who I am. I did attend HS, but I did not graduate from one. So I got my GED and moved on with my life.

 

[SufiPoet]

@@SufiPoet did they ask your friend?

Sorry I'm not sure about the interviews, but it was definitely mentioned in his essays! And he was talking on an admissions meeting with the main admissions officer, so I'm sure he spoke to them about it at some point...whether that was on his interview, I don't quite know.

 

[kraskadva]

@sephora89
Ok, so you put that you got a GED on AMCAS. You don't have to explain it any further and, as others have said, you won't be the only applicant with a GED, and so long as your college record is good, I still don't see why they'll care.

However, you keep hinting vaguely to whatever awful thing you did to get kicked out of HS, which is the real reason why you seem to be worried.

Yes. I can't really explain my situation as it will easily give away who I am.

Unless your HS antics made national news, I would have no clue, and don't care to find out. You don't have to share details here, I'm not asking for that, but the only reason I can see Adcoms caring what you did or didn't do in HS is if it resulted in something that would appear on your criminal record. And if that's the case, then you have a whole other issue aside from whether you got a GED or not, which everybody here is telling you is fine, in of itself.

 

[PreciousHamburgers]

"I ended up getting my GED because of [insert very broad reason like 'academic' or 'personal/family' problems], but I have grown a lot since then and I am a better student having gone through that." Next question.

However, I would highly doubt they even ask about this. If you don't bring it up, they won't bring it up.

 

[C@lidoc]

They probably won't even care....seriously!

 

[DokterMom]

However, you keep hinting vaguely to whatever awful thing you did to get kicked out of HS, which is the real reason why you seem to be worried.

Unless your HS antics made national news, I would have no clue, and don't care to find out. You don't have to share details here, I'm not asking for that, but the only reason I can see Adcoms caring what you did or didn't do in HS is if it resulted in something that would appear on your criminal record. And if that's the case, then you have a whole other issue aside from whether you got a GED or not, which everybody here is telling you is fine, in of itself.

Or hypothetically, suppose it was something notorious, but something that couldn't be proved in a court of law or that wasn't technically criminal -- again, there's got to be something you learned from it. Maybe what you learned was that actions that seemed to be 'adolescent fun' had the potential to cause serious and permanent harm to someone else, and as a result, you've learned to really think through your actions and not take foolish chances or act in a short-sighted or deliberately cruel way.

Even though you may never be asked in the med school application process -- be prepared for it in the event you are, and if you're 'notorious', be scrupulously honest about it. Put yourself in the shoes of a medical school dean having to explain and publicly defend his or her decision to admit "The Notorious Student" in the press. If s/he is going to need evidence supporting how you've grown and changed, make sure you provide that evidence before you matriculate, because if s/he is blindsided, you're in deep trouble.

Clearly, your actions are causing you distress and anxiety now, even if only for 'What if someone finds out?' reasons. I'm going to suggest that you get some professional help coming to terms with whatever it was that you did, identifying whatever it is that you learned, and coming up with a way to live with that and explain both your mistake and your redemption in a 60-second sound bite. If you can't do that, I'd suggest you're not yet ready to move into medical school --

 

[sephora89]

Hahaha no, it wasn't anything related to legal issues. Let's just say private schools are allowed to make whatever decision they please…

This is not what happened but simply an example. If someone posted something on social media and it violated the school's rules for whatever reason, they could deprive me of my diploma. Surely it wasn't the only reason why. I was doing bad in school and had other in school infractions and that was simply the straw that broke the camel's back.

Or let's say I was rude and talked back to a teacher (again, another made up example), that would be another thing that could be classified as the straw that broke the camel's back.

My final "violation" was something that only affected myself but the school took away my diploma cause of it.

I know medical schools won't know about it unless I tell them.

Also, I realize a person can make up and say they were homeschooled and that's why they got the GED but I will not lie about it. People get a GED for multiple reasons.

I want to be and will be honest with them but as generally as possible. I don't want to state the specifics.

I can own up to it but I don't want to give information that they don't need to know. I think that is understandable, right?

If they were to ask "So, why did you get a GED instead of going to HS?" would it be ok to say "I did attend HS but was not doing well academically so I got the GED as an alternative and matriculated to college."

I've moved on from the situation a long time ago but I just hope it's possible to be generally vague about my answer. I would prefer if they didn't ask me at all. And I don't really want to them about the situation that I refer to as "the straw that broke the camel's back." As I said, I want to be general and said I wasn't thriving in school and so I got my GED as an alternative and moved on to college.

Will they be okay with me being fairly general about it?

@DokterMom @PreciousHamburgers @kraskadva

 

[kraskadva]

If it wasn't anything illegal or news-worthy, and you can both say and show that you learned your lesson, than I can't imagine any possible conversation being more than...

Why did you get a GED?
Well, I had some (general adjective) issues in high school, and chose to go that route instead. I then matriculated to college and turned (general issue) around, and look here are my wonderful grades and other stuff to prove it.
Ok. Next question...​

There are a lot of reasons why someone might get a GED, most of which are not at all shameful , and I'm sure adcoms see all of them represented in any given app cycle. I wouldn't stress out about them reading too much into it.

Though if you're going to be paranoid, then google yourself and make sure nothing shows up. If no, you're good to go.

 

[DokterMom]

Private school -- Perhaps a bad fit? I think @kraskadva is on the right track with a vague explanation of the nature of your issues and a realization that the particular school you attended wasn't the right place for you, hence the GED. If pressed, you could acknowledge that your decision to leave that school "was probably mutual".

 

[Mad Jack]

It's all about the way you spin it. I left high school because I was an underperforming student and the school didn't have the resources available to help me, since it was a really poor school district. A significant part of my narrative was talking about how I had to overcome being educationally disadvantaged care of my poor rural background and starting from a baseline that was far lower than my college peers.

Think about how you can spin it- there's no such thing as a negative, if you can only spin it right.

 

[sat0ri]

You're adding diversity. You've overcome a lot. You started at the bottom, now you're here.

 

[Goro]

0% chance. We don't care about high school.

What is the likelihood that a GED will be brought up in an interview?

I was not the best student in HS and got a GED. My college GPA is much better and I would really prefer to not talk about my HS experience and explain why I had to get a GED.

 

[caffeinemia]

If someone asks you about your GED or gives you a hard time for it after you've proven yourself in college, I'd just nope the heck out of there. You don't want to be a petty program that allows that kind of baloney to fly. At my institution, interviewers that pulled that kind of silliness got sacked pretty quickly and were generally disregarded. That said, I doubt you'll ever need to discuss this, unless you decide to raise the issue somewhere.

 

[medic86]

You're adding diversity. You've overcome a lot. You started at the bottom, now you're here.

Get out of here, Drake! (sorry, I couldn't resist).

... I can't stop listening to your new mixtape, damn it.

 

[MaybeDr]

What is the likelihood that a GED will be brought up in an interview?

I was not the best student in HS and got a GED. My college GPA is much better and I would really prefer to not talk about my HS experience and explain why I had to get a GED.

Spin that ****! I'm the same boat. I was literally told by my vice principal that I have too many absences to graduate. I went to 4 different high schools. I've been told by many to approach it from the angle "this is where I came from, this what I've overcome, and this is the knowledge I've gained." To me it looks like you also gained some work ethic and some value experiences. Use that in your favor. Do you have any idea how different we are compared to most applicants? A lot people applying have been studious since day one. A lot of those kids lack life experiences and significant struggle.

You can make this part of your story and make yourself a more interesting applicant. It's part of who you are why neglect that? It made you who you are today.

And honestly, that was so high school anyways.

 

[sephora89]

If it wasn't anything illegal or news-worthy, and you can both say and show that you learned your lesson, than I can't imagine any possible conversation being more than...

Why did you get a GED?
Well, I had some (general adjective) issues in high school, and chose to go that route instead. I then matriculated to college and turned (general issue) around, and look here are my wonderful grades and other stuff to prove it.
Ok. Next question...​

There are a lot of reasons why someone might get a GED, most of which are not at all shameful , and I'm sure adcoms see all of them represented in any given app cycle. I wouldn't stress out about them reading too much into it.

Though if you're going to be paranoid, then google yourself and make sure nothing shows up. If no, you're good to go.

Okay thank you! You're right. I know for a fact it's not on the internet as it was a school matter. I don't think they have access to school records.

Private school -- Perhaps a bad fit? I think @kraskadva is on the right track with a vague explanation of the nature of your issues and a realization that the particular school you attended wasn't the right place for you, hence the GED. If pressed, you could acknowledge that your decision to leave that school "was probably mutual".

Do you mind if I message you when I'm applying on how I can best articulate my past and future ambitions? I definitely intend on saying no more than it was a bad fit so I got the GED instead.

 

[sephora89]

It's all about the way you spin it. I left high school because I was an underperforming student and the school didn't have the resources available to help me, since it was a really poor school district. A significant part of my narrative was talking about how I had to overcome being educationally disadvantaged care of my poor rural background and starting from a baseline that was far lower than my college peers.

Think about how you can spin it- there's no such thing as a negative, if you can only spin it right.

So you did mention your GED? I was not disadvantaged, I was just a poor student in HS.

Did interviewers ever bring it up?

 

[sephora89]

0% chance. We don't care about high school.

That's so great to hear. Are you an interviewer?

If someone asks you about your GED or gives you a hard time for it after you've proven yourself in college, I'd just nope the heck out of there. You don't want to be a petty program that allows that kind of baloney to fly. At my institution, interviewers that pulled that kind of silliness got sacked pretty quickly and were generally disregarded. That said, I doubt you'll ever need to discuss this, unless you decide to raise the issue somewhere.

Thank you for your support. I hope they don't ask. I don't have the courage to "nope the heck out of there" as getting in is more important to me. I do plan on addressing it in a general context that I was a poor student who had a turn around in my essay perhaps. But I'm not sure how to go about that as I feel that will have them a reason to ask me about my GED.

 

[Mad Jack]

So you did mention your GED? I was not disadvantaged, I was just a poor student in HS.

Did interviewers ever bring it up?

My story stretched a bit beyond my GED, so it was brought up. I had a very unusual story compared to most of my peers, we'll just put it that way.

 

[sephora89]

Spin that ****! I'm the same boat. I was literally told by my vice principal that I have too many absences to graduate. I went to 4 different high schools. I've been told by many to approach it from the angle "this is where I came from, this what I've overcome, and this is the knowledge I've gained." To me it looks like you also gained some work ethic and some value experiences. Use that in your favor. Do you have any idea how different we are compared to most applicants? A lot people applying have been studious since day one. A lot of those kids lack life experiences and significant struggle.

You can make this part of your story and make yourself a more interesting applicant. It's part of who you are why neglect that? It made you who you are today.

And honestly, that was so high school anyways.

Yeah I was definitely not a good student. But I'm glad I fixed that problem in college. I do plan on spinning it in the sense that I used to have a poor work ethic which in a way lead me to get my GED but I'm come far and now have a good work ethic as you can see from my grades. Do you plan on saying the same?

If interviewers ask would you really say that you got kicked out because you had too many absences?

 

[caffeinemia]

That's so great to hear. Are you an interviewer?



Thank you for your support. I hope they don't ask. I don't have the courage to "nope the heck out of there" as getting in is more important to me. I do plan on addressing it in a general context that I was a poor student who had a turn around in my essay perhaps. But I'm not sure how to go about that as I feel that will have them a reason to ask me about my GED.

If you did well as a college student, I seriously would stay away from mentioning the GED. Just absolutely don't even mention it, except as it is in your transcript. In the law, people try to avoid incriminating themselves and opening the door to cross exam. You should be wary of doing the same. Just let the adcoms figure out if they really need to ask (which they won't). Personal statements are a place to discuss far more important things than why you made some bad choices as an adolescent. Unless you plan to discuss re-invention as a critical part of your decision to become a doctor, I'd say mentioning the GED is totally irrelevant and will detract from your statement.

(The personal statement is not a catch-all of miscellany, folks!)

 

[meander]

I have to disagree, I think it's possible it could come up. Anything on your AMCAS printout is fair game IMO -- I had an interviewer ask me about the town where I was born, for example (a place I have never been to since, for that matter).

Whether you intend to volunteer the information or not (and you seem set on "not"), you need to be 100% prepared to comfortably and confidently discuss the fact that you earned a GED and the path that led you to do so. Medicine is a career that demands constant self-reflection and self improvement; interviewers are looking for you to honestly assess mistakes in your past and demonstrate the ability to learn and grow from that in an interview. No one expects you to be perfect. It is a red flag to schools if your instinct is to simply hide something and forget about it forever rather than learn a lesson and grow from it.

 

[Keladry]

I have to disagree, I think it's possible it could come up. Anything on your AMCAS printout is fair game IMO -- I had an interviewer ask me about the town where I was born, for example (a place I have never been to since, for that matter).

Whether you intend to volunteer the information or not (and you seem set on "not"), you need to be 100% prepared to comfortably and confidently discuss the fact that you earned a GED and the path that led you to do so. Medicine is a career that demands constant self-reflection and self improvement; interviewers are looking for you to honestly assess mistakes in your past and demonstrate the ability to learn and grow from that in an interview. No one expects you to be perfect. It is a red flag to schools if your instinct is to simply hide something and forget about it forever rather than learn a lesson and grow from it.

Sure, but it's almost certainly not going to come up, as Goro said. Yes, be prepared to talk about it; no, don't call attention to it. If they ask, be able to articulate what you learned/how you moved on, but chances are they won't unless you draw attention to it yourself. You don't have to bring their attention to any/every mistake you've made just to show you've learned from them; there are much better ways to show who you are as a person.

 

[MaybeDr]

.

 

[Goro]

Yes, with > 10 years experience.

That's so great to hear. Are you an interviewer?



Thank you for your support. I hope they don't ask. I don't have the courage to "nope the heck out of there" as getting in is more important to me. I do plan on addressing it in a general context that I was a poor student who had a turn around in my essay perhaps. But I'm not sure how to go about that as I feel that will have them a reason to ask me about my GED.