Hi Ben Gee, I dropped out of High School when I was 16 and now I have a Masters Degree and make decent money. I am married, expecting my first child, have good credit, and live in a nice neighborhood. Like you, I was bored in school. To me, anything beyond 8th grade, is mere repetition with few new concepts. To tell you the truth, I learned more from watching Jeopardy with my mom and grandma and reading the encyclopedias than I did from school–beyond the fundamentals.

The down side, it was a hard road. When I finished the GED (which by no means should be taken lightly, it does have a decent level of difficulty), I wanted to go to college right away. This posed a problem, as I was only 17 and had a mom with bad credit and no savings for me to go. I couldn’t secure a student loan on my own until I was 18 and my mom of course did not qualify for a PLUS loan. So I waited. When I first got to college (a rare two-year dormitory college in upstate NY), I didn’t focus on what I should have. I got high for the two semesters that I was there and ended up dropping out of that school. I did somehow manage to become an RA–probably because of my charm. Anyway, after taking two years off and working in various retail locations, I saved enough to buy my first car on my own AND become assistant manager of a local Aeropostale. I soon realized that I couldn’t maintain the lifestyle that I wanted on my own making a mere $9.50 and hour (this was in 1999), so I headed back to school. This time a four-year traditional institution. This time around, I focused, got awesome grades, had a ball and earned a scholarship to pay for my entire junior and senior years. I graduted with High Honors and was then offered a full-scholarship to pursue grad school at the same university. I did so and I am now contemplating pursuing the PhD.

This is my story and I hope I inspired you. Good Luck and think about all your options.

I didn’t really drop out of high school, as much as, I didn’t get enough credits my senior year. And I’m like you I HATED school, and I was NOT about to go to summer school, so a year and a half later I got my GED. Then I joined the Army, and now I’m in Iraq, and I plan to go to school when I get back. I think it was the right choice for me, but if you have friggin straight A’s, then just stick with it the rest of the way. You’re a junior, you don’t have far to go. On your resume it will look a LOT better if you have a high school deploma. Hell go for valedictorian, and it will look outstanding! Just stick it out, man, I know school sucks but it will be worth it in the long run, and your family will not look down upon you.

i was like you but dude, u have to stick it out! HS sucks, but it will look a lot better to colleges if u have Good grades than if u get a GED