Many colleges nowadays pride themselves on getting their students in and out of school in four years, but for most students these “four-year plans” are completely unrealistic. It seems to me that these four-year plans are mainly for students who come in with a lot of credits, have only two-ish years left due to PSEO, or were able to get way ahead in their classes. What these four-year programs don’t account for are all students who either don’t know what they want to major in, students who have switched their majors one or more times, students who have literally one class left to take, or really just most of the student population.
When I started college I was set to graduate in three-and-a-half years, but due to some mix-ups when registering for my minor I am now set to be done with school in four-and-a-half, which isn’t bad, but isn’t that great either. I remember being so excited to graduate early but then as school was continuing on I realized that graduating in less than four years was probably not going to happen anymore because some classes that I needed were only offered certain years or semesters; beyond that, if I didn’t get into those classes, well, tough luck because then I’d have to wait until they were offered again.
I guess what I’m really trying to say is that if you have to be in college for more than four years, it’s O.K. Yeah it’s not ideal, but sometimes that’s how it works out. I’m bummed that I’m not graduating on time, but I am a little happy because once I have finished all the classes for my major next semester, I can use the rest of my college time to really focus on my minor classes and actually understand them. And honestly, most people in college are not going to graduate on time anyway. In fact, according to US News, only 19% of college students graduate on time.
It’s not that big of a deal if you’re a “super senior”; you’re at school to learn, and what’s an extra semester or two? And if you’re worried about what future employers will think about you being at school for more than four years, they really don’t care because all they want to know is whether you can put what you learned into your work.
Don’t get set on the idea of graduating in four years. I mean, you very well could graduate in four years or fewer, but there’s also a good chance that you will be there for longer. If you figure out during your time at school that you have to be there an extra semester, don’t worry; chances are your roommate, friends, and classmates might have to be too, and trust me, it will be O.K.