<p>from what i have heard on college confidential, in general it is not a good idea to take 5 years to complete a degree.</p>
<p>does anyone know how true this is? how much would your application be affected by that extra year of school?</p>
<p>what if that degree included not just a major, but 2, or perhaps a major and two minors? would the fifth year be justified then?</p>
<p>Also, I wonder if admissions officers have understanding if a student attended undergrad for 5 years due to playing a sport?</p>
<p>Also, would anyone know if it is more a matter of how many semesters are needed to earn the degree? it would seem to me that if one took 5 years to get a degree, but the extra year was due to withdrawing from school for a year (and so really only need 8 semesters to finish the degree), then that wouldn't be an issue. but then again maybe thats just as bad.</p>
<p>If you graduate in five years, I can't imagine that it would hurt your application for admission to law school if you needed that additional year to work on a second major, another minor, etc. I also can't imagine how it would hurt you if you took a year off sometime during the course of your studies for a personal or academic reason (though you may have to describe that reason). </p>
<p>However, if you take five years to graduate in a program that should only have taken you four years, and if the reason why you don't graduate "on time" is your failure to take sufficient credits each semester or having to retake classes in which you did poorly, it may certainly hurt your chances of admission to law school. Playing a sport would be a tough justification for an additional year of school as many college athletes successfully graduate in four years, unless there is good reason why you may have been red-shirted as a freshman athlete.</p>
<p>"However, if you take five years to graduate in a program that should only have taken you four years, and if the reason why you don't graduate "on time" is your failure to take sufficient credits each semester or having to retake classes in which you did poorly, it may certainly hurt your chances of admission to law school."</p>
<p>Ditto. </p>
<p>Moreover, I know of double and even triple majors (yes 3 full majors, with no overlapping coursework) who graduated in 4 years. An extra year will likely hurt, esp. if you end up being compared to those more-machine-than-human type people.</p>
<p>Law schools don't care if it took you 4 and half, five, or even six years to complete undergrad. All they care about is that during your time in college you kept a high GPA and that you killed your LSAT.</p>
<p>I am aware of several people who took five years to complete their undergraduate studies and are attending UCLA Law.</p>
<p>No worries...take some GPA booster classes during that fifth year too.</p>
<p>"Law schools don't care if it took you 4 and half, five, or even six years to complete undergrad. All they care about is that during your time in college you kept a high GPA and that you killed your LSAT."</p>
<p>Really? Where do you get this from? ("got it from my mama," like the song, won't do by the way.)</p>
<p>"I am aware of several people who took five years to complete their undergraduate studies and are attending UCLA Law."</p>
<p>Well, let's hope the OP applies there AND that the OP has the same exact profile as they did. Just for the record: UCLA is not in the very top of elite law schools. So while may be, just may be, that is true for UCLA, I wouldn't rely on it.</p>
<p>err ucla's #16.. I know thats not t14 but thats pretty close. I have come to the conclusion that going to law school is really abt luck. I don't think it rly matters how long you took to grad, what UG u went to, etc.. I don't know how accurate law school numbers is.. but I was just browsing the site a few wks ago and there were ppl w/ 3.6 who got rejected.. yeah some had low LSATs but some didn't. And ppl with like 2.7 got in and their LSATs were in the 150s. soo bizarre.</p>
<p>Look, if you take seven years to graduate because you only take eight credits per semester and get incompletes on a fairly consistent basis, then you are probably setting you up for some questions to be raised by the admissions folks when you apply to law school. </p>
<p>Anything else that appears unusual -- a really rocky semester, an extra year to graduate, one class where you got a grade way below your overall grade trend -- should be explained in an extra statement accompanying your law school graduation. No, there is no hard and fast rule as to what is "acceptable" and what is not. If you took five years to graduate because you were a big time college athlete and you were red-shirted freshman year, then that may be okay (depending on the school, the perspective on athletics versus academics that a particular law school has and what else you bring to the table). If you took six years to graduate because you had to take a year off to help support your family or to care for a sick relative, that may also be okay. You simply need to explain yourself. In every case, the admissions staff will consider both your specific reason for taking longer to graduate, as well as your overall "package".</p>
<p>If you have good reasons for taking extra time to graduate, and if you can justify those reasons without sounding defensive, then taking extra time to graduate generally will not hurt you.</p>