<p>Squeezing four years of college into three is nothing new. I've known students for decades who have done it in order to save money or to move ahead quickly toward career goals (e.g., by pursuing 3-2 programs in fields like engineering). </p>
<p>I've always contended that--as with most things in life--earning a four-year degree in three years a wise option for some but not for others, and for myriad reasons. I'd be curious to hear from students (or their parents) who have gone through college in three years (or who are in the throes of doing so now). Pros? Cons?</p>
<p>I did undergrad and law school in 5 and a half years total. I don’t know what my big hurry was. I regret not studying abroad - I didn’t have the time. I regret being spit out into the world of work at barely 23 years old - I had no idea what I was doing or what a career was all about - just not ready for it all. And I regret the fact that I was so busy getting it all “done” that I didn’t take time to enjoy the time I was at school. I have encouraged my kids to take advantage of the time they have, a lifetime of work comes soon enough, no need to rush it. I guess I thought I was saving money for my folks, but in retrospect, I should have found a way to stay in school for the normal amount of time.</p>
<p>Thanks, fredmar. I think that in my original post, I was sort of fishing for a response like yours. I’ve known students who raced through college quickly and ended up with regrets. But, of course, saving a huge chunk of change has its pluses, too.</p>
<p>I have a friend who used to run a residency program in emergency medicine. He said that he and some of his colleagues were wary of newly-minted doctors coming from the accelerated BA/MD programs, because they found that these students were often not as mature and ready for a grueling residency when they were somewhat younger than the typical resident. He said that even a year or two could make a difference. (Not in all cases, of course, but commonly enough that the younger applicants got a lot of extra scrutiny.)</p>
<p>The daughter of a friend of mine seemed to find the perfect compromise. She used AP credits (and maybe a schedule overload? Can’t recall) to complete college in three years, but she actually graduated with her entering class. She took a year off and worked in China teaching English … where she got paid rather than requiring mom and dad to shell out for a pricey study-abroad program. She also spent some of that year working closer to home. Mom and Dad did spring for a January-term study abroad program, too. So the daughter was able to enjoy most of the benefits of a four-year college experience without the price tag. Smart!</p>
<p>I, like fredmar, don’t understand the rush. I took the full four years to finish undergrad. I could’ve finished in 3 – I had enough AP credits to, and I was finished with all of my general education requirements by the end of freshman year and was almost done with my major by the end of my sophomore year – but there were several reasons I decided not to rush and just to take my time:</p>
<p>-Electives. I got to take some interesting classes I wouldn’t have otherwise taken.</p>
<p>-The opportunity to fall down and get back up. See the following. It happens sometimes, to a lot of kids.</p>
<p>-Study abroad. The fact that I took AP classes and selected my major early in the game meant that I had what was essentially a “year off,” or a year that I didn’t have to earn ANY classes that counted towards my major. I had planned to do a domestic exchange at Dartmouth first semester and study abroad the second. For some reason, the DE fell through and I stayed at Spelman and did TERRIBLY that semester – I failed a class and withdrew from two others, essentially earning no credit for my major that semester. The second semester, I studied abroad and had one of the best experiences of my life!</p>
<p>-I graduated with MY class – my friends, the ones I came in with freshman year. That may not be a big deal to some, but it is at my school, which is a small women’s college that is big on sisterhood. We have all kinds of fun traditions tied in with graduation and I wanted to do it with the class of 2008.</p>
<p>A year really is not all that big of a deal in the long run to spend extra on school…I mean, honestly, what are you going to do at 21 that you can’t wait a year to do at 22? But a year CAN be a lot of time to study abroad, domestic exchange, one more summer/two more semesters to score an awesome internship, develop relationships with professors who will later write you recommendations, take a class that will change your life, etc.</p>
<p>I’ll be the first voice for the pro side…I graduated in 3 years and do not regret it. While I totally enjoyed my college experience, I was anxious to get out into the “real world” and make my mark. I still managed to take many electives, join in a business fraternity, volunteer, date, work, and party. I would not have studied abroad anyway as this wasn’t as common in the good old days (lol) plus my family could not afford it. I saved my parents a lot of money and did not feel rushed at all. My friends ranged from 2 years ahead of me to a year behind me, so I didn’t feel like I wasn’t graduating with “my class”. </p>
<p>I have always been kind of inpatient so it fit right in with my personality. </p>
<p>NOTE: I started college at 16 and graduated at 19. There were a couple of cases where being under 21 was a little inconvenient in the work arena, but that passed.</p>
<p>I graduated in three years (had some credits from a dual enrollment high school program going in and put in a full summer term and tough senior year schedule), and was still able to study abroad etc. Wouldn’t have done it differently, took tons of electives, participated in ECs, partied way too much. I was able to “justify” taking a gap year before grad school with the argument that I wasn’t falling behind.</p>
<p>My husband got out in 3 2/3 years (quarter system) and used the extra time to build some professional experience before heading to grad school.</p>
<p>We’ve never pushed our kids to do the same, but were delighted to learn that our oldest has decided to push his schedule this year and will graduate in three years. Financially, it’s not that much of an advantage, since he’s done summer and winter terms, but psychologically he’s more than ready. He’s a year older than his classmates due to our decision to hold him back a year in early elementary due to dyslexia issues, and is plenty mature. At some level, his decision to graduate early is helping him balance some of the self-esteem issues he faced as a young kid with learning issues. He has also managed to pick up great professional experience and he’s ready to leave the nest … now if the economy will just cooperate and put some job opportunities in front of him, we’re all set.</p>
<p>For D2, now a first year college student, on the other hand, I think the full 4 year experience will be better. She’s less focused and has zilch professional experience. She wants to study abroad and is intrigued by offbeat electives. She needs the time to find herself…and her dorm keys. There’s no way she’s ready to be out in the real world!</p>
<p>It worked out well for me–CLEP tests gave me a full year of credits. I loved college, but my brother was three years behind me and my parents couldn’t afford to have both of us in school at the same time. I joined the Navy right after graduation, and my division thought it was a hoot that their ensign hadn’t even turned 21 yet!</p>
<p>I have an unique perspective on this. I attended a school as an out of state student (meaning that the tuition was substantially higher than it would have been for an instate student) with the solid belief that I would finish more quickly than average and be ready to move on. I came in with college credits, retrocredits and AP credits and it looked as though it might have been possible. However, I realized midway through that to pursue the career I wanted, no amount of retrocredits could make up for an extra year of lab experience and the kind of relationships that I built with faculty through those experiences. I chose to take four years of college and found that I was able to squeeze in classes that weren’t required but have been of immense value in my professional career. All in all, I think that graduating a year earlier would have been detrimental to my career and development.</p>
<p>Three-year bachelors degrees are marketing ploys by colleges desperate to attract students. Standards should not be compromised. You learn less in three years than four. I think electives and the Liberal Arts core are sacrificed. That is the bottom line. It is a watered-down degree. Summer courses are watered-down courses.</p>
<p>collegehelp, I teach at a university. While it is possible that some professors water down summer and/or winter session classes, I do not and neither do any of my colleagues. In fact, we make it a point to provide equivalent learning experiences to those in a “regular” semester.</p>
<p>I do have an issue with the time frame of some of these classes, however. My institution has begun offering one-week classes, clearly a money-maker. Students like them because they can get a class done in a week. Some profs like them because they can get paid for a short period of work. The college likes it because they can make buckets of money over a summer vacation. </p>
<p>I taught one once just to see … and sure enough, while it was a “good” course, I feel strongly enough about the lack of time to digest conceptual information that I refuse ever to teach one again. But a six or ten or twelve week summer term? Same number of classroom contact hours? Shrug. Little to no difference. </p>
<p>Son can graduate in 2 1/2 years.
He is a sophomore with enough credits that instead of being a second semester soph he is really a first semester senior will finish up his minor in the fall. Currently studying abroad.</p>
<p>We are encouraging him to stay for spring semester next year and graduate then. 2 /12 years is not only short, but he will need to wait until the following fall for grad school. Maybe they’ll let him take graduate level classes next spring???</p>
<p>He loves study abroad so much he wants to see if he can do it again!</p>
<p>I graduated in 3 years from an OOS public “back in the day”. While I enjoyed college, my school wasn’t the best fit for me. I made the best of it, but given the cost, etc., there wasn’t much point in taking the full 4 years. My son was planning to get through his college (an Ivy) in 3 years by going to summer school and he started on that plan. However, there were classes he wanted to take and then he wanted to add a minor. We supported this and encouraged him to take the full 4 years, even though it resulted in some unnecessary summer school tuition. I support a 4 year plan for most students- there is just too much to do at college to try to rush it.</p>
<p>If I could afford to stay forever I would, and unless it’s an extreme financial burden I can say that graduating early would have been a severe detriment on my own development as a person, both socially and intellectually.</p>
<p>My D graduated in 3 years and did not sacrifice anything in the process. She took a heavy course load of 17-18 credits a semester, went overseas her freshman summer and took courses for credit there, did a semester abroad her second year and an internship her third year. She was able to graduate with both a major and a minor. Graduating early saved us $35,000 and gave her a chance to work for a year before grad school, which is helping her refine her graduate school decisions. It was absolutely the right decision for her.</p>
<p>I have often wondered if certain majors could be done in less than 4 years. Why does every course of study last exactly 4 years? Seems kind of arbitrary.</p>
<p>I realize the core liberal arts classes make for a more well-rounded student, but some may just want to learn their business and get on with it. 3 years would be a nice compromise between the 2-year associate’s degree and a 4 year bachelor’s.</p>
<p>I went through college in 3 years (with a double major). I took 18 or 21 credits a semester and also took 7 credits during “intersession” in my 2nd two years; in my first year I worked 40 hours a week so I could only do 15 credits a semester, but I took 6 credits in the summer. I did this solely for financial reasons. I didn’t qualify for financial aid and didn’t get any help at all from my parents, so I was paying for everything on my own. I was planning to go to law school also. I probably missed some of the college experience, but I was missing a lot of it simply because I had no money at all to do anything extra. I did have fun in college and I got into and did well at a top ten law school. I probably didn’t do a lot of intellectual exploration during undergrad, and in retrospect that’s unfortunate, but frankly most people I knew in college weren’t doing much of that either. I have no regrets, although I wish I could have had some of the money I’ve made over the years when I was in school.</p>
<p>If the student is very mature and very convinced he/she knows the path they want to take, then fine-if money is tight and the extra year wouldn’t help along that path in an obvious way, so be it. But so long as they aren’t completely wasting their college years in terms of partying etc., it isn’t necessarily a good choice to speed things up. A student who is trying to figure out what direction to take could really benefit from more time. I remember having to quickly decide at the end of freshman year what my major should be and, although pragmatic at the time, I think having more guidance and more time to experience other classes would have been beneficial. Of course at today’s prices that is a bit of a luxury for many students, so unless financial aid is generous then perhaps the extra money spent on a year of college could be used for used for doing what others have suggested - a year abroad working/teaching, or simply doing some productive internships…</p>
<p>Let’s not loose track of time. Nowadays kids are rushed through kindergarden to high school. You see kids learning to read at an early age of three and being rushed to activities all day long. Why rush college too, there will be plenty of time to work (and who wants to enter the work force right now). College should be enjoyed to its fullest, the joys of taking an elective art history class or music class are part of learning culture. Forming friendships and getting to know your professors is part of what college is all about. If not for the financial benefit of less one year, enjoy college, for work you will have all your life.</p>
<p>Right now I’m a senior in high school and have considered whether or not graduating early is worth it. My school actually has articulation agreements with public colleges in my state, so I could stay in-state, get credit for many of my classes, and graduate early. I was told by one school that I could get up to three semesters of credit! By taking on an extra courseload and maybe a few summer classes, I could earn a bachelor’s degree in just two years.</p>
<p>The idea of a degree in two years sounds attractive, but like others have said, I think it would be a lot tougher to get hired as a twenty-year-old. And an employer might look negatively upon a college that lets its students get out in two years. </p>
<p>I don’t know where I’m going to school yet, but no matter where I go I will most likely test out of a lot of entry level classes. Instead of trying to leave school early, I think it would be much more advantageous to double major, study abroad if possible, and enjoy myself. In my case, I plan on doing international business and Spanish. If finances play out well enough, I’ll spend a semester or two overseas.</p>
<p>I know of one student from my school who went through my state’s flagship school in two years. I just can’t imagine doing that. While I may be intellectually able to handle it, I don’t want to give up my social life. Between that and the added scrutiny at a job interview, I’d much rather just get a second degree and stay with my friends.</p>