Son graduated in three years then started law school. Working out great. This is his last year.
Consider it getting your law degree in 6 years rather than 7.
Keep grades stellar and get high score on LSAT.
I too graduated I less than 3 years. I found college courses not so hard, didn’t like my college life, and was eager to get out sooner rather than later. I took my GRE before leaving UG, worked a year while applying for grad schools.
This choice is very individual
Is it possible to apply to graduate schools at the beginning of your third year and then choose whether to graduate early based on the results? Or do you have to know your graduation date before applying?
@halcyonheather the only problem with that is that I am required to notify my department the semester before I plan to graduate. e.g. if I want to graduate at the end of my spring semester junior year, I must notify the university early on in the fall semester of my junior year, and this is a binding choice.
There are many factors that you need to consider. If you really want to save one full year of CoA, it may be a good idea. Nevertheless, it may or may not be possible even you got 30 AP credits. My D got 33 credits from AP and placement exam and finished near 100 credits after sophomore year, she cannot graduate in less than 7 semesters due to course sequence and schedule for her major. Note that one less year in college means much less internship opportunity. For some majors (e.g. engineering), it is critical to have internship experience to find a good job. You may also consider having one or two semester for exchange or Co-op. My D did consider double major but decided to add a minor instead.
@billcsho, for someone aiming for law school, it may not matter, but for someone in engineering who can graduate in 6 semesters (9 quarters or thereabouts), they could spread them over 4 years, which would still lessen costs yet leave plenty of time for internships or co-op.
I presume your freshman/first year classes will not change based on a decision to graduate in 3 or 4 years. If it matters go ahead and take the courses that will permit an earlier graduation this year. Postpone the decision until next spring when you have most of a full college year under your belt. A lot can happen this year.
Perhaps you will change majors and your new one will require more classes. You will know this in time to inform your college. Perhaps you will want to add the second major for your own interest, not because it looks good on your record. Perhaps you will decide you would rather go to grad school in your major instead of getting a law degree. If you plan on grad school a fourth year may be helpful in being more competitive/better prepared- both in courses taken and GRE preparation.
Relax about your decision for a few months. Go ahead and take the credit load needed to graduate in three years. You should be able to handle that if you intend of going to law school. Put law school out of mind for now and enjoy your college experiences- both academic and after hours. One year from now reevaluate.
There are colleges that have reciprocal relationships with unis, meaning you can take grad school classes that will count towards your undergraduate major. Sometimes you can bypass the GRE that way as well.
My brother got into dental school after 3 years (did not get an undergraduate degree, only DDS.) Saved a boatload of money and pushed his earnings along. He had a friend who was aiming for med school. That guy had a bunch of APs and graduated in 2.5 years, going to school year round. Yes, he did get into med school.
Another option that might be worth considering is graduating in 7 semesters instead of 8. This saves you significant money, and it’s considerably easier to schedule the classes you need in 7 semesters rather than 6.
There are some disadvantages, though. You may find that the job you want or graduate program you want is only available to people who can start in the summer or fall. If you graduate in December or January, you may have to choose between a less desirable job/graduate program or killing time for half a year, during which you may earn little or no money and still be financially dependent on your parents. (Remind them that at least they’re not paying tuition.)
I had a niece that graduated early, before she turned 21. That turned out to be a problem both at her job and personally. There are many things in life that they want you to be 21 for - hotel rental, car rentals, signing contracts (which her job required), becoming more independent from your parents.
While graduating early may not matter for law school admissions, it may actually matter for hiring. Student is younger than most of the other classmates vying for the same jobs will be older and may bring more work and internship experience to the table. It is not unusual for students to now take 1 to 2 years off in order to work, do TFA, peace corps, or gain legal experience.
When it is time for your child to apply, consider the deferral options
My son is graduating in 3 years and is in the process of studying for LSATS and applying to Law School. He was able to complete a double major in 3 years and still had available credits so he picked up a minor. He went to a law school forum this past summer and the schools he spoke to were not concerned with the fact that he was graduating in 3 years. They want you to at least have 6 semesters of actual college level work in a university as opposed to AP and dual enrollment credits. They don’t care about your degree, your major or how many majors/minors you have. Basically its your GPA and your LSAT score.
We weighed the pros and cons and he felt this was the best decision for him. He could have stayed another year and done a study abroad or Washington semester but in the end he didn’t want to waste more money taking unnecessary classes. He did an internship this past summer and took an LSAT prep class. Last summer he volunteered and worked for a local attorney. Just make good use of your time and keep your GPA up.
Some insight…
Lets say I were to transfer to my UC of choice, I could essentially graduate in 1 year after transfer for a total of 3 years. As a math major, this would be a very poor decision on my part for 1 main reason
A top tier Math graduate school is hard to get into. I would rather, start taking graduate courses as an undergraduate to make my application stronger. Not to mention an entire year of research on my UNDERGRAD app!
One thing to also think about is that working in law firms…especially biglaw in cities like NYC tends to be long hard hours from the get go.
Most of the firms I’ve visited/worked in as IT staff expected a minimum of 70-80 hour workweeks from their associates to meet minimum yearly billable hours requirements. In actuality, if one’s serious about attaining a partnership at the end of 7+ years, one will in practice be expected to exceed that minimum.
Considering all that, unless there’s a serious financial consideration to finish in 3 years, it’s better not to rush to finish undergrad. You’ll have plenty of time to work hard once you’re an associate.
Doing so could result in regrets one friend who did a 6 year combined BS/MD program experienced…she felt from HS onwards her education and career has been one big blur and she felt she missed out on a lot from the undergrad, med school experience, and life in general.
@cobrat, though there’s nothing saying that you can’t take a gap year or two between undergrad and law school doing something.
Check the requirements. Many schools require you to have a certain number of credits from that university, or upper division credits, to get a degree from that school. It may be 1 year (30 sem/45 quarter), but it may be more than that. Sequencing can be a problem if you only have one year to finish.
^ Very true. Most schools have a minimum of non-transferred credit to graduate making it impossible within one year after the transfer.
UCs limit lower division transfer credit to 70 semester credit units (out of 120 needed to graduate); note that all community college credit is lower division. Taking the remaining 50 semester credit units would normally take four semesters at normal course loads of 15-16 per semester; doing it in three semesters would need some overloading, and doing in two semesters would need extremely overloaded semesters (25 units each).