<p>So I love my college, I definitely made the right choice to come here, and I think it's a great school. However, the environment is...bearable, but I don't want to stay in it longer than I have to. I realized that I could, potentially, graduate in three years. (I just finished my first year, so I could take a "middle year" next year, and graduate in 2013 rather than 2014). But I also really want to go to law school. I don't know if I could get in to law school with only two years of grades (and the highest my GPA could possibly be is 3.6). I could take a gap year, but then why wouldn't I just do college in 4, and go to law school right after? The other thing is that I'm one of the younger kids in my grade. I will be 20 years old in may 2013. </p>
<p>Pros: out of college faster, longer career/start career sooner, tuition $$, no desire to stay in college for a long time anyway
Cons: shorter college career, heavier course load, more pressure to bring up gpa, law school admissions, may have to change from double major to major/minor</p>
<p>It depends on a lot of factors. For example, what your majors are, how much more it would cost to stay the extra year, if you’re working on campus, and how well you think you’ll be able to get to know your professors in that time (for recommendations). Also, will you be ready to take the LSAT at 20? These are all things to consider. I had a ton of credits from testing out of things and dual enrollment, so I did my degree in 2 years, graduating at 19. It was worth it in terms of saving money, but now I’m having a hard time finding a job (whereas I had 3 good ones on campus). Luckily, I was able to take 6 classes from one prof and 4 from another, so that gives me two solid recs even though I wasn’t there very long. Also, I was an English major, and taking all upper-level English credits my last year was hard. I had to write an average of 25 pages a week on top of all my homework, classes, work, and extracurriculars. Your GPA is the one thing that makes me think a fourth year might be good for you. It’s not too hard to keep up a GPA in lower level courses, but the classes get harder in a hurry. If you don’t think you can get higher than a 3.6, you really don’t want to risk pulling it lower with the stress of rushing to finish.</p>
<p>Why don’t you just study abroad for a year? That way, you’re still only spending three years at your college, but you get the experience of going overseas.</p>
<p>My majors are philosophy and economics. If I did it in three years, I’d do a philosophy minor instead of double major. I think I can take the lsat at the end of next year-- again, a challenge, but I still have the rest of this summer as well haha. Also the teacher recs are not a problem-- my school is small, and I don’t have a problem getting to know teachers. I know that if I take a gap year between college and law school, it will end up being longer than just one year-- or I won’t go to law school at all. And I do want to go to law school. Also, I have no desire to study abroad, never have, because I am terrible with foreign languages. </p>
<p>I really just want to get out of my school environment. It’s a wonderful place, but like i said, a place that I need to spend any more time than I have to. Do you think it’s worth it?</p>
<p>We can’t really tell you if it’s worth it or not. This is the kind of thing you have to be really sure of for yourself. However, as someone who’s been through this, I almost always encourage people to take the extra time if they can afford it financially. You only get to be an undergrad once! </p>
<p>Also, studying abroad doesn’t mean you necessarily have to learn a foreign language. I spent a month touring a country whose language I never will be able to learn, but it was one of the coolest experiences ever. You could also study abroad in the UK, like do a semester program at Oxford (many unis have exchange programs like that). With a philosophy major/minor, you’d probably get a lot out of it. Also, I’ve been told that a lot of employers look for people with international experience.</p>
<p>Finally, I completely get your not wanting to be in the college environment for longer than you have to – I was the same way. Everyone’s different, but you may find you miss it more than you realize after you leave. Anyway, just some things to think about it.</p>