Is it frowned upon to graduate a year late here?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>I'm currently a sophomore and I used to be a biology major in A&S my freshman year, but moved to CALS my sophomore year as an environmental engineer. I am more than on track to graduate in 4 years but recently, I've been really wanting to switch to chemical engineering, which would result in me having to transfer schools again (A&S->CALS->Engineering) and also disallowing me to graduate in 4 years. I'm fairly certain 5 years is all I need (perhaps even 4 years and one semester) and that this would be the last time changing majors. </p>

<p>I know in other schools, some people choose to graduate in 5 years but I haven't really heard that scenario here at Cornell. The closest case I heard was because one person took a year off, which isn't really graduating late in terms of being behind on credits... As for financial issues, I've talked it over with my parents and they're willing to fully support my decision, so I seem to be alright in that aspect. I definitely do not mind staying an additional year, I was just wondering if the university would allow a 2nd major change or object to the fact my graduation is delayed. Any thoughts or input on this please?</p>

2

<p>Based on my experiences, I’d agree graduating in 5 years is a lot less common at Cornell than other schools. However, because it seems you are taking an extra year for reasons other than poor grades, I think it’s fine. It’s unfortunate that unlike most people who change majors, your path has forced you to switch colleges each time. I don’t think anyone is at a disadvantage because they didn’t stick with whatever they thought they wanted to study freshman year.</p>

3

<p>For the past ten years 13-16% of Cornell graduates take longer than 4 years. So it is not terribly unusual.</p>

4

<p>But does that statistic include architecture students? That is a 5-year program…</p>

5

<p>Good catch…it does. Only 6-8% excluding architecture students. </p>

<p><a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000179.pdf[/url]”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000179.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;