High School Graduation United States
Using This Tool
The tool above is based on the United States education system where children start in September and finish in June the following year.
Enter the grade and year in which you started to calculate the finishing year. It assumes you finished high school 12th grade.
Graduation Age
In the United States, children graduate high school at the age of 18 years on the completion of 12th Grade / Senior Year.
High school includes 4 years from Grade 9 (freshman), Grade 10 (senior year), 11th Grade (Junior Year), 12th Grade (Senior Year). Students can graduate early if all requirements are completed.
Graduation Requirements
Graduating students are awarded the High School Diploma or High School Degree after completing Senior Year. This is issued by the students’ high school.
Each state and territory in the US sets their own minimum graduation requirements and usually include a combination of coursework and minimum grades from the state exit exam.
Course Requirements
States have a combination of number of credits and pre-requisite subjects that must be completed to be attain the High School Diploma. Subjects required in almost all cases math, english, history and sciences.
Credits are based on Carnegie units, a standard measure of course hours. Most states require between 20 to 24 course credits to graduate, including Texas and Florida with 24 credits and New York with 22.
Other states require fewer overall credits to graduate, such as California with 13 and Michigan with 18, but still have similar overall requirements in to pass.
Some states offer a standard and advanced diploma options. Most states offer endorsem*nts which indicate that additional requirements were met, such as STEM or technical education requirements.
As an example, in California students need to complete 3 years of English, 2 years of Maths (including Algebra 1), 3 years of social science amongst other and well as various other requirements for science, physical education, foreign language or visual performing arts.
In New York, the high school diploma is known as the Regents Diploma which is awarded on passing the Regents Exam. The Regents exam has a standard level and an advanced level.
There are various subject requirements which include English, Maths, Sciences which must add to 24 overall credits.
Non Course Requirements
A small number of states have non-course requirements to achieve the high school diploma. These include District of Columbia that requires 100 hours of community service.
College Bound Students
Many schools offer a more advanced selection of subjects for students aiming to go to college. College entry requirements vary by institution by usually include Core Units, which are minimum subjects such as English, Maths and Sciences.
In addition, colleges have minimum test score requirements and require students to take the SAT Reasoning Test or the American College Test.
