<p>I was wondering how long for an average engineer to graduate? My situation is I could graduate in four yeas but I don't want to crammed in classes.. Does company looked down upon engineers who graduate in 5 years or 4.5? Any comment would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>Probably like 4.5 years, on average. I doubt companies care how long it takes you to graduate; they probably won't even know.</p>
<p>Depends on the school, many times.</p>
<p>If you plan your schedule really well, it shouldn't take more than four years and should be a moderate workload unless you take a lot of classes that don't count towards your major.</p>
<p>Just to give an example: UIUC engineering -- majority take more than four years and average is 4.5 to 5 years. If you look at a typical recommended schedule to finish engineering in four years at UIUC, without summer school and without having AP credits in calculus, chemistry, and physics, you will find that you usually need to average 17 hours per semester to complete all the needed courses including in math, chemistry, physics, engineering, and UIUC's general education requirements. That is a hectic schedule particularly when many courses include a lab and discussion section and you end up going to class 5 to 7 hours a week just to get 3 to 4 semester hour credits. Come in with AP credits or take summer school and it is somewhat easier to do in four years. Also, many take more than four years because they do co-ops (which actually enhances employment chances after graduation). Fact that you take longer than 4 years really does not impact on employment chances.</p>
<p>I'm a community college student transferring to UC Berkeley and some of the classes aren't offerred at the community college therefore I have to make it up there. And the schedule at UCB is already hectic and difficult so I don't want to rush anything.</p>
<p>It will take me 5.5 years, I was a tad behind starting out, but hey I love college so Its like a longer vacation.</p>
<p>It's the same here, as drusba described. Most students take 4+ years. Maybe it's a state school thing.</p>
<p>I agree. If one starts out with no credits it takes 17 units per quarter to graduate from Cal Poly. That is a tough schedule when one factors is in the labs.</p>
<p>Does taking 4.5 years to graduate including ALL summers in between and doing co-op look good?</p>
<p>No one cares. So no, it won't look good. It won't look bad either.</p>
<p>thanks guys for the advice</p>
<p>At state schools, students take longer to graduate because they don't care about how expensive the tuition is.</p>
<p>When we visited Virginia Tech someone asked the question about how long it takes engineering majors to graduate. They said it's usually about 5 years because engineers have to take more hours than other majors and because of internships and co-ops (which are vital in obtaining employment after graduation). I appreciated their honesty.</p>
<p>Five years is very common at my school because of a huge ROTC population, the amount of credits, wanting to add a minor or double major, and internships. I've heard of some taking six years, and they were pretty bright...just a lot of stuff going on in their college years!</p>