<p>I noticed DespSeekPhD advising a poster that 6 years in undergrad would likely go against him in grad admissions. My question is, is it the other posters reasons for wanting to stay (ie free grad classes and GPA repair) that is the problem, or the length of time to a Bachelors itself?</p>
<p>I took 19 credits at the community college between 1995 and 1996 and then left school. In 2006 I decided to go back and get my degree and originally planned on accounting so I took courses from an online college and got like 36 quarter hours. Two quarters in I realized I'd hate my life forever if I was stuck in accounting and transfered to the local community college and took 3 full semesters completely basic distribution stuff and start university this fall.</p>
<p>Since I've had no chance to work towards a major to this point (let alone language requirements) I planned on staying at the university for 3 years. I was told by several people that this was a good plan.</p>
<p>The thing is, that will mean I had 2 years at the community college (between the two enrollments), a half a year at the online college, and 3 years at the university. That puts me at 5.5 years total to an undergraduate degree. Will this be held against me, or will some of that be forgiven since my education was spread out?</p>
<p>Well, did you always get full credit transfer when you changed schools? It don't think it could be held against you if they wouldn't accept previous coursework or that you had a different concentration at that time. It seems to me like a waste of time to stay at <em>the same place</em> for well over 4 years unless you're either double majoring or co-oping (and likewise, for studying abroad).</p>
<p>I will have never been at the same place for more than 3 years (3 at uni, equiv of 2 at community college, and a half at the "online" college). I guess it's somewhat unfortunate, but the University of Michigan, the school I start next month, has accepted credits from all my courses as either direct transfer or "departmental credit" although they did leave me at the 60 credit hour level (the most they'll transfer). So all are on my transcript at UM but not all have "credit hours" listed.</p>
<p>The things that graduate schools look at is whether you are a risk of not finishing the programs in which you enroll (or otherwise abusing the time while you are there). Your time in community college would not be used against you in any way. All that matters is that you are able to finish your degree at a university and make excellent progress towards your degree while there. Making satisfactory progress towards your degree means that you take required and relevant courses, have few withdrawals from courses ("W"), obviously don't fail any courses, and graduate in a reasonable amount of time given your circumstances. It is the delays in graduation that raise flags, not necessarily how many years it took. If you had internships/co-ops, or transferred schools, or had a medical emergency... all of that isn't a problem. If the reason is because of failing classes or withdrawing too many times from them, or taking random courses not towards your degree... that will raise serious issues that could hurt you during graduate admissions. In your case, you have nothing to worry about from the information you provided.</p>
<p>In graduate school, it will be your responsibility to take the appropriate classes and figure out exactly what you need to do. You get to set your own schedule. If graduate schools don't think you can do that.. they won't accept you. They want people who are serious about their education, and aren't playing games.</p>
<p>A student who stalls in obtaining his/her degree also comes off as less mature to admissions committees. The time to degree is a real concern in grad programs - funding is on a strict timetable, and many of the students that never finish the program are students that couldn't find their focus and simply ran out of time. Degree completion rates are one way programs are rated, so this is definitely a concern. Plus, the program is investing a lot of money in their students - if you don't finish, it's wasted.</p>
<p>However, if you really need to take a bit more time for GPA repair (as in retaking classes you did poorly in - that's the only real definition), or because you changed majors, or there was a serious event that affected your schooling (like an illness or family emergency), that's reasonable. Personally, I screwed up terribly in my first couple years of undergrad at community college - I wasn't ready for the responsibility. I left school to work a couple years, then went back and worked hard, making all good grades and earning excellent letters. I've been accepted to almost every program I applied to. It wasn't a straight four years, but there was no wasted time once I came back. They will very likely look much closer at your last couple years than your first couple years.</p>