<p>I tried searching for this topic but I did not find one that would specifically answer my question. If this is a common question, I apologize. </p>
<p>Background:</p>
<p>I am a junior civil eng. major. Late in my sophmore year I changed my major from environmental eng. to civil eng. This put me 6 credits behind. In order to graduate in 4 years I will have to take 20 credits this spring semester. I would rather not take that much of a credit load, especially with engineering curriculum.</p>
<p>My Question:</p>
<p>How do grad schools look at the "four year plan"? Do they favor students who graduate "on time"? Do they consider students who take a longer amount of time to be poor students? Or do they simple not take this into consideration at all?</p>
<p>Explanation: </p>
<p>I would like to go to a decent grad school (CMU for example) so if switching to a 4.5 or 5 year plan will hurt my chances I will just man up and handle my load. If it does not hurt my admissions chances, I will go ahead and switch to a more comfortable schedule (roughly 16 credit semesters).</p>
<p>Any imput or similiar experiences would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>I can’t speak for engineering specifically, but I don’t think staying an extra semester would hurt in any way. The main issue I can think of is that if you stay 4.5 years, then you cannot apply to graduate schools your senior year and so will have to wait 8 months before starting your grad school (you would apply during the extra fall semester).</p>
<p>I think the only way your situation hurts is if you are not productive during that time or you take an extraordinary amount of time that ends up accomplishing nothing. My brother, for example, was part of the co-op program at Drexel and it took him 7 years to graduate because he was offered a full time position a year after starting. He has had no problems getting into schools, and in fact, he has gotten better recommendations out of it.</p>
<p>The time it takes you to complete your degree is largely irrelevent, unless it reflects other problems in your background. If you took extra classes, or a minor, or did research, or worked… these are all fine reasons to go beyond four years. If you took time off to follow your favorite band on the road, or had to wait a semester because you flunked a required course, or spent three months in jail… these are all bad reasons.</p>
<p>I do agree with Mace on the extra semester - those eight months are a real problem. It is hard to get a job for that time, but its a long time to crash with your parents, too…</p>
<p>Thanks a lot. This info is very helpful!</p>