Taking five years to graduate?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>I think I may have to take five years to graduate because I'm considering engineering. I'm just curious - how many people do this? I've been hearing that more and more people need another year to get it done. But I'm also wondering because many of the schools I've been accepted to only offer scholarships for four years - and for me, that's a huge chunk of my tuition right there. Will they negotiate at all if I need to go there another year? </p>

<p>How involved in campus are the five year people? (Or is the question I should be asking, are engineering majors generally involved on campus life?) Do people even care how old you are in college? This is just speaking from high school, but I <em>never</em> interact with people outside of year. I just don't want to feel out of place. But having to graduate with people younger than you... eh, that doesn't sound fun. </p>

<p>Also, a general question - if you transfer, will you get any scholarship offers from the schools? Or do you only really get that as a freshmen? I don't want to mess up by going to the wrong school freshmen year and losing my scholarships. The problem is that I'm uncertain certain about engineering but I'm torn between tech schools and liberal arts schools. So, if I decide I don't like engineering... I'm stuck at a tech school and I'm not really interested in any other tech field. But all those liberal arts schools lack engineering programs and I think it'd be a drag to transfer. </p>

<p>Please enlighten a worried high school kid, college people.</p>

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<p>A lot of people take 5 years to graduate...especially in harder majors like engineering. Lots of people enter college thinking they want to do one thing but then find out it isn't what they want to do and end up switching majors and spending more time in college. I'd say only about 1/3-1/2 of college students graduate in 4 years these days. As for involvement, it all depends on you. There are people who aren't involved and people who are really involved. But let me warn you that if you're one of the people who just studies and that's it, it's going to be hard for you to get a job because companies don't like people who just study. And age really isn't that big a deal in college as it was in high school. Obviously there is a big difference between a 14 year old and an 18 year old but when you compare 18 and 21 year olds, it's pretty much the same (though some freshmen are really immature and so are some seniors). Really though, it all depends and age really isn't a big issue.</p>

<p>As for you not being sure about engineering, I don't know why exactly you're considering tech and liberal arts schools. Why not just go to a flagship university or one with lots of majors so you have lots of choices and can experience college? I think that would probably be the ideal choice since then you could have your scholarship and stay at the same college regardless of your major. As for transferring scholarships, I really doubt you can do it if the school is giving you the scholarship. If it's private, you will have more leverage. Hope that helps.</p>

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As for involvement, it all depends on you. There are people who aren't involved and people who are really involved. But let me warn you that if you're one of the people who just studies and that's it, it's going to be hard for you to get a job because companies don't like people who just study.

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<p>Well yeah, I'm aware that people dislike single dimensional people. It was the same deal with high school. The reason why I ask though, is that balancing academics, social life, and extracurricular has been hell in high school. I'm in 4 AP classes, 2 sports, and a couple clubs - I'm lucky to get 6 hours of sleep on a night. I know I shouldn't have overexerted myself, but it's the last semester - I feel like I might as well stick to it until the very end. But I suppose a college schedule is a lot more flexible and easy on the time factor. I just want to avoid the stresses of balancing all those aspects. </p>

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And age really isn't that big a deal in college as it was in high school. Obviously there is a big difference between a 14 year old and an 18 year old but when you compare 18 and 21 year olds, it's pretty much the same (though some freshmen are really immature and so are some seniors). Really though, it all depends and age really isn't a big issue.

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<p>Sounds good. Do people segregate into ages at all or are most friends heterogeneous with ages? Do you socialize with the people you see in class or does college kind of strike down class as a way of socializing (I know it was a huge way in high school). Just curious questions. </p>

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As for you not being sure about engineering, I don't know why exactly you're considering tech and liberal arts schools. Why not just go to a flagship university or one with lots of majors so you have lots of choices and can experience college? I think that would probably be the ideal choice since then you could have your scholarship and stay at the same college regardless of your major. As for transferring scholarships, I really doubt you can do it if the school is giving you the scholarship. If it's private, you will have more leverage. Hope that helps.

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<p>My state's flagship school is UIUC (Illinois). I did apply there, but as far as I know, they are notoriously stingy with scholarships. And the engineering program is top ranked in the world. I'm not that good, unfortunately. At least now, anyways. I may be able to get in later, but I don't even know if they take transfers. I guess there is a lot more prestige going for a degree from U of I, but honestly, unless I do business or engineering, I'm not sure if I'd receive the same quality of education as say, a small private school. Sure, the facilities are awesome but still...</p>

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<p>I seriously don't see why you would need 5 years to get an engineering degree.</p>

<p>Engineers at my school are able to take over 200 credits of classes, most being advanced engineering and math classes in what equates to three years.</p>

<p>You shouldn't have a problem completing the slightly more than 100 credits most civilian schools require.</p>

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<p>Well, it's taking me 8 years, so...</p>

<p>A lot of people graduate in five or six years, it's fairly normal.</p>

<p>My 8-year case, not so much. I guess studying abroad twice - with useless credits, transferring and losing most of my credits and having to take double the GenEds (courtesy of the Liberal Arts agenda) , and double-majoring in two engineering fields has caught up with me.</p>

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<p>If you need 5 years, take 5.</p>

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<p>"I seriously don't see why you would need 5 years to get an engineering degree."</p>

<p>k314sig09, I don't know what school you go to, but that is contrary to the schools we visited when my daughter was a senior. Most of them showed a four year plan, but when questioned said that engineering majors required more hours than other majors or that it could only be done if you took more than the average number of hours each quarter/semester. Oh, and that wasn't including any internships or co-ops, which are known to be very important in the engineering world when applying for a job. </p>

<p>So, to the OP, don't worry about taking five years. Yes, your scholarship will probably not cover the extra time, but that is the way it works. I'm not saying it can't be done. If you are extremely gifted academically and have a great work ethic, you can take a higher number of hours, still achieve a great GPA, and have internship and co-op experiences. (Is having any kind of a social life in college important to you? That's something else to think about.)</p>

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<p>Its more rare to graduate in 4 than 5 years.</p>

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Is having any kind of a social life in college important to you? That's something else to think about.

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<p>Yeah. I was just worried about feeling out of place for the fifth year, but I guess plenty of people do it. I just didn't want to see my friends go out and find jobs while I'm stuck for another year. But apparently age doesn't matter as much as in high school.</p>

<p>A question for college age people - do classes offer any time to socialize in college? I guess that's out of the question in the big lecturing halls, but I'm thinking about the labs and the hands on discussion classes. I feel like it'd just be a drag being an upperclasman, recently transferred from somewhere else, having to work on engineering projects with underclassmen.</p>

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<p>There's no time to socialize in class (it's class, after all) but students definitely socialize before and after class. Especially in small classes and classes with labs. And no one really cares whether you are a 1st or a 3rd year student. My topology (math) class last semester had a sophomore, juniors, seniors, one first-year graduate student and one second-year graduate student. The sophomore didn't feel out of place and neither did the graduate students.</p>

<p>There's nothing that would distinguish a transfer student from the freshmen in the engineering sequence: you would be almost their age (1 or 2 years don't really matter at this stage in life), new to the university and new to the subject, and most of you will struggle with the assignments. The challenging nature of an engineering major would actually work in your favor because harder material => more collaboration.</p>

<p>If your current plan is to transfer after a year or two, then start the engineering sequence and take an extra year to graduate, you really don't have to worry about the awkward feeling of watching your friends graduate earlier than you. Chances are that many of your friends will be the engineering majors you are taking classes with, and they will probably graduate at about the same time as you. </p>

<p>Re scholarships: Transfer students are eligible for need-based aid just like freshman, but not many schools have merit-based scholarships for transfer students.</p>

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<p>I'm probably doing 5 years. I'll probably end up doing double major and a minor at this point or one major and double minor. I'm studying abroad so that's why it's taking longer than itshould :/ oh well. good experience!</p>

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<p>There's nothing wrong with graduating in 5 years. As long as you actually get the degree, you're fine.</p>