<p>God, you people do know that life isn’t over after college, and that you can still party and have fun without having to pay $25,000 a year for it?</p>
<p>I agree with RoxSox…while “real life” and “work” can have some great experiences, you have the rest of your life to do it. You will be living and working longer than the previous generation, there is no reason to rush through college.</p>
<p>OK, many people want to take their time with college. Why stop at 4 years then? There are plenty of schools that will allow you to keep giving them money for as long as you want. If you are having such a great time in college, why wouldn’t you stay 5, 6, 7, even 20 years? There is nothing special about the number 4 other than the fact that it is the standard across the country. (By the standard I mean a goal. Many people can’t finish in 4 years for various reasons, but that is a different matter)</p>
<p>I think the reason for this has to do with herd behavior - people blindly following what others do just because it is “normal”. We have been conditioned to accept that college is 4 years. No less, and hopefully no more.</p>
<p>Honestly, I’d rather finish college early so that I could move on to being completely independent, either in grad school or by finally getting to live as an adult. College, while fun, has an infantilizing quality.</p>
<p>It depends…is 40,000 worth an additional year of booze and hook-ups…it ultimately depends on your situation</p>
<p>If you are heavily financed by loans, i would strongly advise against it tho</p>
<p>^Yeah, I don’t pay for anything, I’m on a full-ride, so that is probably a big part of why I’d be happy to stay here a long time. I’d probably stay more than four years, though I recognize that by senior year I will have changed a lot and will probably be ready for the real world.</p>
<p>My D is starting college as a Junior with 76 dual enrollment/AP credits. She can focus on classes she really wants not core requirements. She gets to register early based on her transfer credits and has more flexibility in her schedule. She plans to spend two semesters abroad in two locations using her scholarship and still graduate in three years so she can start grad school. College isn’t 4 years anymore, in most fields grad or terminal degrees are the norm. She turned down H and Y because they won’t take the dual enrollment credit she worked hard for at a local university. It’s her life and her choice to make but I support her decision. Most Intro core classes are not very stimulating, it’s the upper level work in fields that interest you that are most enjoyable. Five to seven years on a college campus or two getting and advanced degree should be enough time for most. Earning a paycheck in a job you enjoy is quite fulfilling.</p>
<p>Does your full-ride go on forever?
If so, I personally would stay for the rest of my life:)</p>
<p>if you go to a good school the credits only count for hours and not towards requirements. You still have to take a class equivalent.</p>
<p>So basically you pretty much wasted your time in high school</p>
<p>^ Not always. I graduated from UVa in 2 years. Because of AP tests, I got out of distribution requirements for history, language, science, math, and humanities. I never took a single language(including English) or science class in college.</p>
<p>^I think he’s talking more Ivy League. Not that UVA’s not a good school (state flagships all the way) but to my knowledge (which is admittedly not a lot about these things) Ivy League schools don’t always accept AP credits to fill requirements. </p>
<p>I could be wrong, though.</p>
<p>Sorry about that. I assumed there are some schools outside the Ivy League that qualify as good.</p>
<p>I definitely think lots of schools outside the Ivy League count as good. I go to a state flagship and think it’s great. However those are the only schools I know of that really do that so I figured that’s what he was talking about. </p>
<p>There will always be those Ivy-or-bust people who think the rest of us are stupid. :(</p>