Diploma or equivalency: which should you choose?

The difference in one sentence

An equivalency credential is issued by a testing service and says you demonstrated the knowledge. A diploma is issued by a school and says the school considers you to have completed its programme. Both are real; they are not the same document.

What each involves

An equivalency route is an assessment. You prepare, you sit the tests, you get a certificate of equivalency. There is normally no coursework requirement and no record of subjects taken.

A diploma programme is a programme. You are enrolled by a school, you complete work across defined subject areas for a set number of credits, and you sit the school's examination. What you get at the end includes a credit record and a transcript.

Where they are treated differently

For most jobs and most colleges, either is accepted. The differences show up at the edges:

• Some employers list "high school diploma" as a requirement and mean it literally.
• Colleges sometimes want detail — courses and credits — which a transcript supplies and a score report does not.
• Licensing boards and military enlistment vary; some specify a diploma, others accept equivalency.
• If you later need a transcript, a school can produce one. A testing service produces a score report.

Choosing for yourself

Take the equivalency route if you want to demonstrate knowledge quickly and do not need school records. Take the diploma route if you want the document to say "diploma", if you need a transcript, or if the credit record matters for where you are going next.

And if you are torn: either is far better than neither. The difference between one of these and none of these is much larger than the difference between the two.

Common questions