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Yet 3 out of 10 students dropped out of high school I hate this statistic. I've known several people that dropped out of high school to get a GED instead. (It

Yet 3 out of 10 students dropped out of high school I hate this statistic. I've known several people that dropped out of high school to get a GED instead. (It was faster for them and they were sick of school.) Others had to drop out of school because their family kicked them out of their house at 18. Both of them got GEDs later.

stellar678 17y ago
I'm among those students who dropped out of high school to accelerate my escape. I guess the phrase drop out hasn't dropped its negative connotations, so the author was using it to grab attention. But the essay is really about alternative paths to life goals, which is what many 'high school dropouts' are after.
- rdl 17y ago
  I also dropped out of high school (and never bothered to get a GED; I went to college for a while and then dropped out to do a startup, so I've ended up with neither diploma). It's kind of fun being able to put "high school dropout" on forms, while not being a deadbeat.
  - stellar678 17y ago
    I'm impressed you got a college to accept your application without some kind of high school equivalency certification. How'd you manage that? A few years out of school, however, and it's become very clear to me that "I just worked on this project for 6 months where we learned XYZ, had some hard times and eventually failed/succeeded/moved on." is much more attractive to the kind of people I want to work with than "I graduated cum laude from XYZ special university."
    - rdl 17y ago
      I was 16. MIT doesn't really care about high school diplomas. I'd already done 1580/1600 SAT and had a grad student and associate prof at MIT write letters of recommendation based on performance in a summer program (social engineering...)
thefool 17y ago
Somehow i'd think that this is the exception rather than the rule. There's quite a few inner city schools where kids drop out because people just generally do other things when they are able.
angelbob 17y ago
I dropped out, then got two bachelor's degrees at Carnegie Mellon. I could have gotten a GED, but in that case, why? I can't be drafted either way, and I don't particularly want to manage a McDonald's.

stellar678 17y ago

I'm among those students who dropped out of high school to accelerate my escape. I guess the phrase drop out hasn't dropped its negative connotations, so the author was using it to grab attention. But the essay is really about alternative paths to life goals, which is what many 'high school dropouts' are after.

rdl 17y ago
I also dropped out of high school (and never bothered to get a GED; I went to college for a while and then dropped out to do a startup, so I've ended up with neither diploma). It's kind of fun being able to put "high school dropout" on forms, while not being a deadbeat.
- stellar678 17y ago
  I'm impressed you got a college to accept your application without some kind of high school equivalency certification. How'd you manage that? A few years out of school, however, and it's become very clear to me that "I just worked on this project for 6 months where we learned XYZ, had some hard times and eventually failed/succeeded/moved on." is much more attractive to the kind of people I want to work with than "I graduated cum laude from XYZ special university."
  - rdl 17y ago
    I was 16. MIT doesn't really care about high school diplomas. I'd already done 1580/1600 SAT and had a grad student and associate prof at MIT write letters of recommendation based on performance in a summer program (social engineering...)

thefool 17y ago

Somehow i'd think that this is the exception rather than the rule. There's quite a few inner city schools where kids drop out because people just generally do other things when they are able.

angelbob 17y ago

I dropped out, then got two bachelor's degrees at Carnegie Mellon. I could have gotten a GED, but in that case, why? I can't be drafted either way, and I don't particularly want to manage a McDonald's.