<p>it seems that for law school, failing to complete a course of study in 4 years can hurt the application.
the GPA apparently is seen as slightly less valuable.
Would anyone know if the same applies for most Masters or PHD programs??</p>
<p>I know nothing about law school admissions, but this is most definitely NOT the case for Masters or PhD admissions.</p>
<p>Here's another question related to time. My parents would like me to graduate in three years, for financial reasons, and I easily will be able to. However, I'd also like to graduate with my class, and spend the normal amount of time at college. If I essentially finished all of my coursework after three years, but then spent a final year only doing an Honors thesis, auditing language classes and history (my major) classes (auditing for the financial reasons, minimizing the cost of tuition since I'd have the credits to graduate), taking the GRE, and doing my graduate school applications, would that be acceptable? Or would grad schools wonder why I didn't just do a normal fourth year?</p>
<p>I can't speak for all grad schools, but I would wonder. I'd see all the audits on your transcript, and I'd guess that you didn't think you could handle classes / languages while writing your thesis.</p>
<p>Perhaps you could try doing a co-op program as a way to take up an extra year and make some money on the side?</p>
<p>Well, it's really several issues bundled into one:
-I'd like to graduate with my class, and spend the normal amount of time in college.
-I'd like to have a slightly less stressful year before grad school.
-I need a little longer to work on my language proficiencies.
-I won't be able to afford the tuition for more than a few credits.</p>
<p>Is that something that I would be able to explain in an interview/personal statement? I know that it could appear that I wouldn't be comfortable doing other work along with my thesis, which isn't the case at all.</p>
<p>Fanatic517 - I can't speak to how history adcoms will view it, but in my field (Classics) you can't go wrong pumping up your language skills. </p>
<p>If you can afford it, definitely register for the language courses for credit and ask the professors if you can "sit in" on a history class or two so you get some benefit but won't have the audits show up on your transcript.</p>
<p>The rule of thumb (at least as Ive been told) is unless you have some really compelling story, never explain anything in your statement. </p>
<p>Agreed with William C. (As usual!)</p>
<p>This is completely off-topic but somewhat relevant to this thread:</p>
<p>This is hypothetical: How do you explain a one-year gap between the end of your senior year and final conferment of your degree on your transcript (takes you 5 years instead of 4 years to graduate) because you needed one more class to graduate or you just got burned (suffered a nervous breakdown) and needed to take a break from classes on the personal statement?</p>
<p>Anyone have an answer?</p>