I’m 21 and will be starting STEM level classes this fall at my community college. I still have another year or two at community college and then another two or three years at university depending on what I study. For engineering and Biology that there is a direct pathway for at my CC so that would be another two years at my CC but for the other majors that there aren’t that would be just one more year at CC. So either way I have four more years in college.
These are the classes I have planned that will work for all the majors that interest me.
Summer 2018 (currently taking)
Trig with Analytic Geometry
Fall 2018 (14 cr hrs)
Calculus I
General chemistry I
Biology I
Spring 2019(14 cr has)
Calculus II
General chemistry II
Mechanics
When I see or talk to people who are graduating at 22-23 or even younger it makes me feel bad.
I don’t think employers are allowed to ask your age. Regardless, if they care at all, I suspect that more would rather hire a 25 year old anyway. I know that I would.
This is addressing your last sentence - the classes you are planning to pursue are not relevant to what I think you want opinions about.
Graduating at 22 or older is much more common these days because 1) the practice of holding kids back to start K-12 is much more prevalent, 2) a “4-year” degree takes longer than that for a lot of kids (not getting classes, having to work while going to school, etc.), and 3) some are delaying going into college to do gap years.
I think it greatly depends on the reason why you will be graduating with an undergraduate degree at 25. Were you going to school and working full-time? Or worked before starting to make money for college? Did some full-time volunteer work? Caring for a family member? There are ways to explain a legitimate delay that won’t sound like you just couldn’t get your act together. Even if it was just meandering through CC part-time while you were figuring out what you wanted to do, this too can be spun into something that sounds reasonable.
At the end of the day, only YOU can allow yourself to feel bad when comparing yourself to others. The reasons you have for doing it the way you have done it are only important to you and to any future employer (probably just your first - after that, your work experience will mean a whole lot more). Just keep your head down, put a stake in the ground with regard to your major, and move forward.
It does not matter AT ALL. My husband didn’t get his BS until he was 30. Didn’t hurt him at all. I went to school with people in their late 20s. Nobody cares.
@SuperGeo5999 Don’t feel badly. You should be proud of yourself for persevering. Everyone has different life circumstances, obstacles, and opportunities. You’ve set your goal and you’re working toward it—that’s admirable.
Also think about it…they are getting a more mature person for entry level salary. I don’t think they really look when interviewing…they just might see when you graduated on your resume but that is about all they would notice.
Also, what is your other choice? Not graduating with a degree at 25? How is that better?
@MaineLonghorn so it isn’t a problem for getting a partner either obviously because you are married to your husband?
do i have to put my Birth date of the year i graduated high school on my resume just as long as I have my degree and when i graduated, relevant Job and extracurricular experience,and my skills on there?
I gladly hired several “older” college graduates. They turned out to be some of my best people in the group. When you are starting college later you are generally more focused because you’ve figured out what it means to work hard at what you want.
When you consider that at 25 you still have nominally about 40 years before you retire, there is still more than enough time to make a career using your education.
Your professors will love you. It is so nice to have more mature students in the room. They raise the bar in terms of self-discipline, general knowledge, and motivation.
You don’t put HS info on resumes once you’ve finished college, and you never put your birth date on it.
There are lots of reasons why people don’t finish college until 25, and fyi- you won’t stand out as much on campus as you think.
However, this throwback thinking has me baffled:
None of the mid 20s post-college kids that I know have ‘kids and families’. Only a small handful are married and only a couple have a baby; none of them have partied every night in years (to be fair, most of them never did). I agree, however, almost all of them are looking to achieve in their careers (more than just ‘earn’), which is great from an employers perspective.
Regardless of if your age is apparent from the job application or not, I don’t see any employer having any issue with a 25 year old starting in an entry level position. However, you might need to be OK with having a supervisor who is the same age or maybe even younger than you.
I don’t think it’s a problem either. Many of my best students are in their early twenties and are starting out in college. Some were in the service for a few years . Others dropped out , worked, and were returning with a renewed sense of purpose. Your classes are rigorous ones and so I am sure you will have classmates that are engaged for the most part.
I don’t see a problem with employers. Do try to get part time or summer some work experience while you’re finishing your degree. They do look for that.
Employers like experience and I don’t think they care if you got your BA/BS at 21, 25 or older. Just get some related work (internships) under your belt if you can, network and keep smiling.
