<p>DS will have enough credits to graduate at the end of his senior Fall semester. Can you think of anything he needs to plan ahead because of the off-season graduation? I suspect there may be fewer on-campus interviews, but he's confident that wouldn't be a major show stopper. Sobering thought though - another milestone on the horizon, and in this case, while college was within a half-hour from home, career is likely to be time-zones away.</p>
<p>I assume that your son is a senior in college?</p>
<p>My son could have graduated last December, but chose not to. We didn’t want him to, either (we wanted him to have the bigger May graduation hoopla.). He is spending this semester taking fun classes that he didn’t have a chance to take before…another foreign language, a running class, a weightlifting/conditioning class, and an unneeded class in his major (Math) which is being taught by his favorite prof. </p>
<p>He’s really enjoying this semester, and we’re glad he is…he’s earned it. LOL</p>
<p>He will be starting his PhD this fall, so the “job issue” wasn’t an issue for him.</p>
<p>I graduated after 3.5 years, longer ago than I like to think about :)</p>
<p>I thought it gave me a leg up in the employment game because 1) it makes the student look ambitious for getting through early and 2) it gets the student out in the job market before the May/June hordes.</p>
<p>I confess that I considered missing the May graduation hoopla a plus rather a minus…</p>
<p>My friend’s son graduated early from UMich and she rues the day she allowed it. It’s been 2 1/2 yrs and he still hasn’t landed a real job. He’s been living at home since graduating. She thinks he missed out on the career fairs, campus interview opportunities career services assistance and being with peers who were actively job searching at the same time.</p>
<p>m2c, DS is a junior with almost enough credits, so the fall semester as a senior will be sufficient. </p>
<p>EB, thanks for the very sobering thought. DS feels if he does well in his internship in summer, they will offer him a job as they did in the past to others.</p>
<p>I have been a manager for a large areospace compnay (before I retired). I hired a fair number of college grads. There used to be a regular schedule to the whole process; job fairs and college visits in the fall to collect resumes, decide which ones looked good in January and then set up spring in-plant visits with job offers going out shortly after that. So, under that system, your son wouldn’t miss out on the college visits. </p>
<p>However, with all the on-line submittials of resumes these days, I wonder how much is really affected?</p>
<p>I was a fall grad and they just noted so and pushed my resume thru the system. I started working the end of February after graduating in December. When all the June grads came in, I already had a couple of months experience and was actually put in a position to assist them getting to know the ropes. I always thought it kind of helped kick start my career.</p>
<p>I also did enjoy the little bit of time off (kind of an extended Christmas break) and it made a good transition from school to working.</p>
<p>He might enjoy less competition when looking for a job with his earlier availability but worst case, if he doesn’t land a job early, he may still be able to take advantage of the college’s job placement service and if the college is local enough, on-campus interviews, etc. but if it’s not local enough he should still be able to submit his resume to employers familiar with the campus.</p>
<p>The other consideration is participation in the graduation ceremony but he can probably go back for that if he wants.</p>
<p>Graduating at off times is pretty common for some schools/majors - for example the UCs on the quarter system and engineering students who sometimes end up an extra quarter or other majors that might get done a quarter or 2 or more early.</p>
<p>Unless he is emotionally ready to be done with college, I suggest using that final semester to take some interesting classes. I would expect there are some classes in his major that he hasn’t taken. Hiring companies may be more impressed by depth in his studies than having quickly completed the major.</p>
<p>My D is on the other side of this – 4.5 years rather than 3.5 – but asking the same questions. She took a leave of absence at the beginning of sophomore year. While it would still be possible for her to graduate on schedule, she’d have to take 18 credits per semester, so she’s decided to take an extra semester and graduate in December.</p>
<p>I hope the major “pro” for any December graduate is that the job hunt will be a little easier, not having to compete with the June graduates.</p>
<p>In your case, OP, I’d think one major “con” would be that your son wouldn’t have much room in his schedule for classes not directly related to his degree. This weighed heavily in my D’s decision; there are several courses she wants to take which she wouldn’t be able to cram into her schedule if she graduated in June.</p>
<p>Another possible “con” is the college’s policy on allowing December graduates to participate in commencement exercises and/or the difficulty in going back for commencement after being gone for 6 months. If this is no big deal in your family, it’s a non-factor; but for us, I would have been extremely disappointed if a December graduation had meant skipping commencement. Luckily, D will be allowed to walk with her class even though she’s not quite finished yet.</p>
<p>Pro–you don’t have to pay for that last semester.</p>
<p>Con–some colleges don’t have a full-on commencement in December. If the kids want to walk and go through the graduation hoopla, they have to come back to campus. I’m guessing that many may not.</p>
<p>H graduated with his PhD in December and started work in January. He never went through the graduation hoopla. I regret that now…he deserved it!</p>
<p>S will be doing this in Dec. 2011. We made a deal with him a year ago, when it seemed possible that he could graduate early, that if he graduated early (and saved us the cost of tuition) we’d be willing to pay his living expenses for 6 months to stay in the city where he’s going to school. That way, he has extended time to look for a job, can intern if he wants, & will be around his other friends who are still going to school. He’ll also be able to particpate in May 2012 graduation.</p>
<p>Pros: we save $ on tuition, S gets jump-start on job-hunting</p>
<p>Cons: can’t take some of those “fun” classes he never had the chance to take, has to move off-campus</p>
<p>I graduated in December at 3.5 years. There’s absolutely no need for me to have stayed longer and I was glad to get out of there! I’m living at home currently so there is massive savings right there. Also, I walked into a job right after graduation. It was simply a matter of my job being converted from a non-degreed position to a licensed position. I had heard a lot of positive things about me having graduated early with regards to applying for graduate schools. The interviews I did for GA positions all seemed to emphasize the fact that I would have 6-8 months of experience in the field before starting grad school if I so choose.</p>
<p>My D has enough credits to graduate now, a year early; started college with AP credits and knew from day 1 what her major would be and what her minor would be. She didn’t apply to graduate this May but we are not 100% sure what she will do this fall (if her planned trip overseas does not work out). She is keeping tabs on the graduation requirements but I don’t know if she will actually get her diploma at the end of the summer, in December, or NEXT May. A confusing time.</p>
<p>shellfell - awesome solution! :D</p>
<p>Thanks geekmom. He’s also the child who needs more time to adjust to transitions, so I think the proposal appealed to him too.</p>
<p>I was one of those 3.5 year December graduates. It bothered my parents (who were looking forward to all that graduation hoopla) more than it did me. It helped my job prospects for sure … far fewer competitors.</p>
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<p>I think that I’d be tempted to show up for all the graduation hoopla even if my kid did not come…</p>
<p>^ I guess I should have mentioned that I paid for the college education myself. You’re right, I’d have been quite the cad for blowing off Graduation if my parents had paid the bills!</p>
<p>I think it can have a big negative impact on getting a good job in most years. Right now it might not matter so much as the job market is terrible with much less on campus recruiting but that will change again. I think being there with a very light load and concentrating full-time on the job search would be an advantage as there are more job resources on campus than in most home environments. Profs get calls and letters/emails all the time to suggest job candidates and being there is half the battle.</p>