Many people equate a high school degree as a status symbol of someone who is smart, talented and destined for great things in life such as owing their own company. Then there are those that look at high school dropouts as potential lifelong burger flippers and believe that there isn't very much upside to their career potential.

Just because somebody didn't graduate high school doesn't meant they're going to be spending their whole lives working as a receptionist at the Hamilton law firm of Shlaw.ca or driving a Vancouver Translink city bus. Take a look at the following names of high school dropouts and tell us that they didn't become successful in their respective fields: Avril Lavigne, Jim Carrey, Simon Cowell, Quentin Tarantino, Ray Charles, Cher, Peter Jennings, Alfred E. Smith, and Tommy Lasorda.

Each of the people we just listed had very successful careers in their chosen professions and none of them graduated high school. Yet, that doesn't stop those out there that believe you have to have a high school diploma to your name in order to be deemed a success. Graduating high school is a very vital part of growing up but sometimes things get in the way of life that force you to drop out of high school and get a job in retail or the fast food industry.

When such an occurrence happens there is the option of getting your General Educational Development certificate (see info. here). Commonly referred to as a GED, this series of tests is offered to those who for whatever reason never did graduate high school. The GED is taken for a number of reasons but is mainly done for the purpose to have the proper qualifications to apply for certain jobs, go back to school, gain a promotion at their current workplace or become part of an apprenticeship program.

In order to take the GED you must be at least 18 years of age, not have graduated from high school, and be out of high school for one year. The GED is made up of five different sets on the subjects of reading, writing, math, social studies and science. The material on the test is used to gauge your skills and knowledge that most high school programs teach during a normal high school year. Once you pass your GED testing you're awarded with a Certificate of High School Equivalency certificate and you can show that to potential schools you want to attend or company you are trying to be employed by.

If you're embarrassed by the thought of taking the GED test don't be; over 18 million people have a GED and one out every seven Americans that have high credentials have the GED variety and the same goes for one out of every 20 college students. Taking the GED is something to consider whether you want to use it towards applying for a training program or getting a promotion at work.