[PokerGod]

I'm not ripping on the GED. I thought about it myself. I could have gone to college at 16. But I know that employers DO in fact prefer high school diplomas to GEDs. Maybe it's not correct, maybe it's not fair, but it's the truth.

[Kevin OMalley]

".... But I know that employers DO in fact prefer high school diplomas to GEDs. "

***Would most employers prefer an 18 year old with a straight HS diploma or an 18 year old with an AA degree? Assume the same GPA in both cases.

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

City Journal printed a fascinating piece several years ago, which essentially validated that line of reasoning.

While, from a purely technical standpoint, there's little difference between a General Equivalency Diploma and one acquired through the traditional route-in fact, I believe that most noncompetitive colleges consider their relative merit to be equal, in most regards-there is a world of difference in practical terms.

Someone who has been out of the classroom for years is going to have a much harder time adjusting to routine college-level courses than someone who has recently graduated from high school.

[Max Combined]

"But I know that employers DO in fact prefer high school diplomas to GEDs."

You "know" no such thing. You may know of some employers who prefer high school diplomas to GEDs. You may correctly surmise that most employers prefer high school diplomas to GEDs when the applicant has only a high school education. But you cannot know what every employer in the country prefers. I dare say that there are more than a few employers who have a GED themselves who quite prefer to hire workers who also have a GED rather than a high school diploma.

I cannot believe that many employers care one way or the other about high school diplomas when the applicants have a college degree.