UK equivalent of high school diploma

[axa]

Does anyone know which UK qualifications (and how many) would be evaluated as equivalent to a high school diploma? 

For those unfamiliar with the UK system, we don't get any kind of school leaving certificate. Instead, we take subject-specific qualifications: GCSEs at age 16 and A Levels at age 18. 

I've Googled around and not sure if I'm looking in the wrong place but I can't seem to find a concrete answer; one person said it'd be a Level 3 qualification (i.e. A Level), another said three GCSE passes equate to a high school diploma, everyone seems to have a different idea.

Considering some US colleges offer credit for A Levels, and that school-leaving age was 16 when I did my qualifications, I'm guessing it's more likely to be GCSEs / Level 2 qualifications, but not sure how many.

Reason for asking: I'd like to pursue a degree through UMPI, and it looks like they need a high school diploma? For personal reasons it's looking like getting my hands on my GCSE and A Level certificates for evaluation will cause so much bother that it might be much quicker and easier to just get a new qualification for the sake of having a high school diploma equivalent.

[rachel83az]

I think the problem with your searching is... it depends on the school! I think some universities accept one number of GCSE/A levels and another accepts a different amount/configuration as a minimum. If you want to attend UMPI, your best bet is probably going to be to contact the school itself. Do not fill out the form on the site - that form leads to sales and they cannot help you. I would try the YourPace address listed on this page first; if they're not able to answer, email the main admissions address. https://www.umpi.edu/admissions/how-to-a...ernational

[Johann]

I think the problem with your searching is... it depends on the school! I think some universities accept one number of GCSE/A levels and another accepts a different amount/configuration as a minimum. If you want to attend UMPI, your best bet is probably going to be to contact the school itself. Do not fill out the form on the site - that form leads to sales and they cannot help you. I would try the YourPace address listed on this page first; if they're not able to answer, email the main admissions address. https://www.umpi.edu/admissions/how-to-a...ernational

For what it's worth, here's what Google says. "5 GCSE passes at grade C or higher  are considered the rough equivalent of a US High School Diploma (without Honors or 'Advanced Placement' (AP) classes). This will be sufficient for a student to gain entry to less selective US colleges and universities."

There's also  chart for what constitutes a Canadian High school diploma - how many years etc. Someone who leaves UK school at 16 usually has the equivalent of Canadian Grade 10 or 11. Can't really see any difference from US. Standard number of years for graduation gives a usual graduation age of ~18, in UK Canada and US, unless grades are skipped.  

[sarahmac]

Does anyone know which UK qualifications (and how many) would be evaluated as equivalent to a high school diploma? 

For those unfamiliar with the UK system, we don't get any kind of school leaving certificate. Instead, we take subject-specific qualifications: GCSEs at age 16 and A Levels at age 18. 

I've Googled around and not sure if I'm looking in the wrong place but I can't seem to find a concrete answer; one person said it'd be a Level 3 qualification (i.e. A Level), another said three GCSE passes equate to a high school diploma, everyone seems to have a different idea.

Considering some US colleges offer credit for A Levels, and that school-leaving age was 16 when I did my qualifications, I'm guessing it's more likely to be GCSEs / Level 2 qualifications, but not sure how many.

Reason for asking: I'd like to pursue a degree through UMPI, and it looks like they need a high school diploma? For personal reasons it's looking like getting my hands on my GCSE and A Level certificates for evaluation will cause so much bother that it might be much quicker and easier to just get a new qualification for the sake of having a high school diploma equivalent.

It is GCSE. It depends on the equivalency evaluator how many, but most base it on 3-5. WES, who are one of the biggest, state on their website they evaluate a minimum of 3 GCSEs as equivalent. Most people do around 7-9 at least, so well over that bar.

A Levels (which each have several classes inside for those Americans who are unaware, they are not like single class APs) align closer with Associates-type study. It depends on the college how many credits they award, but when I looked at a couple before it varied between 30 and 45 for me.

That said, content-wise someone who has sat GCSE Bio and Chem recently and scored decently could easily pass the CLEPs for those subjects. There's also a CLEP for Precalculus, which is the focus of the GCSE in Mathematics along with Trig/Algebra/Geometry since A Level Math starts with Calc 1. People stationed at the US bases in the UK regularly have kids graduate from local schools with GCSEs and go to college at 16 (which is what a bunch of my friends did), and some of the kids sit the corresponding AP tests using the on-base HS as a test center.

So YMMV with how much you actually get out of your GCSE level knowledge.

[nyvrem]

it's GCSE. I've got my GCSE and As.

BUT BUT BUT.. Unis in US are abit funky in their admissions in this aspect.

Some universities, like Purdue or University of Minnesota only need 5 - 6 GCSEs for admission purposes. However, other places like Penn State or U of Washington uses A levels for matriculation. So it really depends. You gotta ask UMPI.

Here's more info about what I was saying.

https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/I...on-usa.pdf

There is also a database of which US schools accept which (GCSE or A Levels)

https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/r...on-search/

Oh ya, and A levels grants you about 32 sem credit hours even tho it's used for matriculation as a freshmen.

[bjcheung77]

@axa, It really depends on the institution you're planning to attend, each institution has their own regulations or rules for admissions and transfer to their respective degrees. GCSE's are generally used for admissions, A-Levels are generally used for transfer credit, that's how I've been seeing things, for those members who are in the US, you can think of these A-Levels as CLEP/AP, international students can think of them as equivalent to IB programs... In brief, GCSE's don't seem to generate any transfer credit, A-Levels do have an option for exemption or transfer credit into the first year of an institution.

[elcastor21]

Does anyone know which UK qualifications (and how many) would be evaluated as equivalent to a high school diploma? 

For those unfamiliar with the UK system, we don't get any kind of school leaving certificate. Instead, we take subject-specific qualifications: GCSEs at age 16 and A Levels at age 18. 

I've Googled around and not sure if I'm looking in the wrong place but I can't seem to find a concrete answer; one person said it'd be a Level 3 qualification (i.e. A Level), another said three GCSE passes equate to a high school diploma, everyone seems to have a different idea.

Considering some US colleges offer credit for A Levels, and that school-leaving age was 16 when I did my qualifications, I'm guessing it's more likely to be GCSEs / Level 2 qualifications, but not sure how many.

Reason for asking: I'd like to pursue a degree through UMPI, and it looks like they need a high school diploma? For personal reasons it's looking like getting my hands on my GCSE and A Level certificates for evaluation will cause so much bother that it might be much quicker and easier to just get a new qualification for the sake of having a high school diploma equivalent.

I recently made a thread on this: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...-in-the-US

There are also Level 3 Foundation Diplomas for each career path you can take in the UK, but I would expect their acceptance in the US to be rather poor.

[axa]

Thank you everyone, I’m still a bit unfamiliar with how things work in the US so your responses are very helpful!

Will contact UMPI and go from there (and cross my fingers that I can get my hands on my GCSE / A Level certificates since I took plenty of them ?)

[bjcheung77]

Yes, apply, get an evaluation, transfer as many credits (max of 90 towards the degree), or unlimited if you're just sending them everything you've got, only 90 will go into the degree anyways. Once you know where you stand, you can then complete the remaining requirements at UMPI to finish off the degree.