If only 19% of of students get their bachelor's degree in 4 years, why am I still one of the oldest?

College Life
1

I know I asked this question already, but I said that the average student gets their degree in 6 years, and I was told that average doesn’t necessarily mean most. In that same article though, it said that only 19% of students complete a degree within 4 years. So here’s my story.

I have an October birthday, and I was supposed to start Kindergarten in 1999, when I was almost 5, but for some weird reason, my parents held me back and I started in 2000, when I was almost 6. Now, I’m a sophomore in college and I’m on track to get my degree in 2017, 4 years after graduating high school. However, I’m noticing that I’m still older than 99% of the students in my year. And it’s not just where I go. All of my sophomore friends from various colleges are younger than me. But according to the study, only 19% should be younger than me.

And please don’t say anything about being the 1st to drink. I’m really not interested in going to bars.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/education/most-college-students-dont-earn-degree-in-4-years-study-finds.html?_r=0

2

You are drawing from a small sample of friends, most of whom are falling in the same 19%. As you are on track to actually graduate in four years along with your friends who are grade mates so to speak, your relatively higher age is the same as it always has been. That 19% is likely drawn from a large sample that isn’t self selected.

3

There aren’t my friends from high school. There are new friends I made in college.

4

I’m having a lot of trouble understanding your question. When you say that you are older than a lot of people in your “year,” are you referring to the number of units they have accumulated (which often determines freshman, sophomore, junior, etc, standing) or are you referring to the actual year they are in college (i.e. they’re first year or second year, etc)?

Either way, I don’t think I really understand what your question is, but maybe I’m just being really dense. It has nothing to do with graduation rates.

If by “year” you mean their year in college, like first year, second year, etc, then you’ll always be older than the kids in your “grade.” You started older than most of the kids in your grade, so in your sophomore year, you’re still going to be older than most of the kids in your grade. Those same students are going to keep moving up in their year at college along with you, so you’re always going to be older than most of the kids in your grade. You may graduate in four years, while they’re still trucking along into their fifth or sixth year, but that doesn’t affect whether they are in your year currently.

If by “year” you mean the number of units they have (if they technically have freshman, sophomore, junior, senior standing), then your reasoning only works in all of the students who take longer than four years to graduate are doing so because they are taking a substantially smaller number of units than you are. Many students don’t graduate on time because they switched majors a lot or are double majoring or are taking the minimum units to meet satisfactory academic progress. They may likely still be advancing in terms of their freshmen to sophomore to junior to senior standing but aren’t fulfilling all of the requirements they need to graduate in their intended major so they need an extra year to graduate. Or they switch majors later on and need to take longer to fulfill all of the requirements. They’re still sophomore standing with you, but this has no effect on their age so they’ll still generally be younger than you.

Also, how are you determining who’s in your year and who’s not? When I was in college, I had no idea what year someone was in unless I asked them. Are you asking everyone what year they’re in and how old they are?

Perhaps, I’m really missing something, but I just don’t understand how graduation rates have anything to do with the age of your classmates in your year.

5

It doesn’t matter if they are friends from high school or new friends in college. Your relative position with regard to your age hasn’t changed if you are on track to graduate in four years and the peers you tend to view as friends are also started college when you did and are also on track. Besides. you will learn as you get older that age matters less and less with regard to status.

6

What schools are you and your friends at? Does your sample size include community colleges and schools with large numbers of non-traditional students (individuals going back for a degree after working for years)? It’s possible if you attend a mostly residential/traditional-aged college, and your friends are similar, you’ve never met these people.

7

Having a child with a fall birthday she has always been the youngest so where ever you go to school it is unusual that you would be the only one since many parents hold back the early fall babies and start them as they are approaching age 6. We’ve been in multiple school systems in multiple states and my child has in every case been the baby of her grade with some kids almost 2 years older than her.

8
  1. The more prestigious the school you go to the higher the grad rates.
  2. Your sample is college "sophomores." One would ordinarily claim to be a sophomore after having completed 1 year of college, regardless of how many years it will eventually take to complete college. Your choosing not to stick to that nomenclature doesn't change their nomenclature.
9

^Exactly what @Vladenschlutte said. The national 6-year graduation rate is irrelevant - what matters is the graduation rate at your college. And even that doesn’t matter because the graduation rate would make students graduate at around 24 years old, but wouldn’t affect the age of sophomore/second-year students who entered directly after college.

Either way, it’s kind of irrelevant, yes? If you were 4 turning 5 in September 1999, that means that in 2015 you are currently 20 turning 21 in October (when you’ll be a junior). Most sophomores are probably 19, so you are about 1 year older than your peers. Does it really make that big of a difference?

10

I don’t know which state you are in but based on this chart I counted 38 states that you would not have been able to start school when turning 5 in October.

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/tab5_3.asp

So I doubt you are really one of the oldest. It just seems that way.

11

Well, I grew up in one of the remaining 12 states.

12

And also, this is very recen(2012). When I was 5, the cut-offs the very different.

13

It’s a huge difference. I can’t even remember what I was doing 4 months ago let alone a year ago.

14

Sophomores that are older than you live off-campus or commute. They may be working half-time or full-time. You just do not know them.

15

So if I graduate in 2017, will I be towards the middle of the pack agewise?

16

Even if they’re only older than me by a year?