My D is currently a second year business economics major at UCLA. Since she took a ton of community college classes in high school, she will finish her major with a minor in accounting by next year. However, she is thinking of taking 4 years to build experience. She though about taking a lighter course load each quarter and trying to do internships, jobs, and or research. Should she try to graduate a year early or build up more? Finances are not a problem, but we would both like to save 35 K.
If she were MY daughter (so totally subjective comment) I would encourage her to stay at UCLA all 4 years. Yes, graduating early would save you 35K. But you also say money is not a problem. She’s at a world-class university where she can explore all kinds of exciting classes just for the fun of it. Encouraging her to take advantage of this opportunity is a gift of a lifetime. She will never again be in her very early 20s, able to learn whatever she desires, exposing herself to classes in, say, classics, or art history, or film. Stuff that may enrich her life in so many intangible ways.
Does she have a sense of what interests her? I guess from your description that she is looking to take a job rather than go to grad school. Does she have a sense of what kinds of work she’d like to do? I don’t know much about your situation, but I think doing some internships so she could identify areas that interest her and where her growing skillset has leverage area a good idea. I’d also consider taking some courses extending her area to increase her skills or enjoyment. Data analysis/analytics, CS/machine learning, philosophy, a course that could help with writing? She may have taken some of those. Not sure I know enough to be helpful, but my instinct is that time in college, spent building relationships, maturing and learning is probably a good idea.
How about grad school?
My D was in similar situation at UCB. She was anxious to go to grad school, not wanting to spend another year as undergrad.
We parents let her to decide. Her advisors at UCB recommended to spend the full 4 years, using the last year for internship and research. She decided to apply for PhD and was accepted. She was then 19 years young.
She doesn’t regret graduating 1 year early.
My D has enough credits to graduate early, but is going to study abroad for a semester. Maybe that would interest your D as well.
If she is simply looking to go into the workforce after college and is ready and anxious to move on, then it really comes down to will the fourth year get her to a different endpoint. My hunch is no. She should work hard to get a good summer internship this summer…then focus on interviewing next year. Reading between the lines it seems like she has a good idea of what she wants to do. Best of luck!
If she wants to do the CPA exam, will she complete 225 quarter units (150 semester units) along with the specified courses?
Also, the choices are not only 9 quarters or 12 quarters. 10 or 11 quarters are also possibilities, if there are more things she wants to take than 9 quarters, but not enough to fill 12 quarters.
Second the grad school idea - or even just take as many grad courses as possible in the time allotted.
That would be my question - can she get grad credits for the price? Is there a dual master’s? Some schools grad credits are a lot more expensive.
If she is practical and goal-oriented, could she graduate and work or do internships on her own, without you paying the $35k? The career office could be helpful. And she could still set up interviews.
That said, school does provide a safe umbrella for getting into a career path. Maybe training wheels is a better metaphor.
If she has wide-ranging interestsand enjoys academics, this last year is a great chance to explore things like art history, literature, social policy, psychology, writing- whatever draws her.
We don’t know anything about her maturity or her social situation. If she is happy at school and has friends she enjoys, that is another angle to look at. Moving on to an apartment and new job can be lonely for some and requires some skills. Would she rather wait and graduate with friends?
If you have the money, my view, without knowing much at all, would be for her to stay. If she is ready and anxious to go, that is a different story.
Life is long; college is short.
Since you can swing it financially, I think the internship / lighter load and exploring classes for fun and enrichment is a great plan. Intensive language classes often make someone more marketable, for example. . .
My D is in a similar situation, but finances are an issue for us. Even so, I support the idea that she takes 4 years and gets as much out of the experience as she can, with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities like studying abroad. It will take additional sacrifice on my part, but I think it’s worth it.
Do you anticipate she will have one or more desirable job offers at the end of year 3, or in a better position at the end of year 4 (after internship opportunities, etc.)?
The real financial cost is probably not just the tuition, but also theoretically a year’s worth of lost earnings. Of course how much you weigh financial ROI versus other benefits of the educational experience (assuming you can afford the choice) is a big part of equation. Very different feelings family to family and there isn’t necessarily a right or wrong answer.
Note that the availability and desirability of job offers does depend on economic and industry cycles. For example, if there is an economic downturn in spring 2020, then it may be worth waiting until one to three quarters later to graduate in hopes of finding a better job market during the recovery, rather than graduating into unemployment. Entering the labor force during an economic downturn can have long lasting negative effects on career development and financial outcomes, so if there is flexibility in choosing a graduation date to avoid the bottom of the downturn, it may be worth keeping those options open.
I second @AlmostThere2018. Let her enjoy the undergrad college years, they are different from post-grad ones. My Ds worked hard and had a blast. And I was in no hurry for them to graduate early (the younger one took 4 and 1/2 years as she studied abroad for a full semester). The important thing is to do well and the rest (jobs, further opportunities for studies, etc) will follow.
I’d encourage her to do coops, internships or work in her field. Or take more advanced classes from the graduate B-school. Become excellent.
If she were my daughter, I’d look at it this way-
Is she attending college for the joy of learning, or to get employment in her chosen field?
If it’s for the pleasure and money is not object, stay 2, 3, 4, 5 more years.
If it is for a degree to get employment, then get the degree and get the employment.
@younghoss, no problem with your thinking on what to do if joy of learning is the object. But, if employment is the object, the question is whether she can optimize her future path going forward by what she chooses to do. If she knows what she wants to do and has taken the right course for it, I agree with your response. However, depending upon her situation, a few courses could substantially improve her marketability. Perhaps more importantly, many kids her age do really know what area they want to work in (and there is nothing wrong with that). But, one could remedy that a bit with some internships, which might be easiest to do as part of a college curriculum. If so, the suggestions of @brooklynlydia and others make sense to me.
I used to tell my kids “Life is not a race.”
My son did slow grad school down a bit (had a surgery but probably slowed the pace a bit) and was able to define and create a tech company, recruit one of his classmates, raise several million $$ in VC money, and get started before he finished (though that last quarter was a killer). Not saying the OP’s D is going to start her own company, but she may be able to better define what she wants to do and build skills that will help her before she leaves school.
I was ready to leave college after four years/ 8 semesters but boy- I’d give anything to go back now. So many things I didn’t take, things that sounded boring but now that I’m old I know I’d find fascinating, etc. Why did I only take one music class? Why did I take no geology, oceanography, astronomy (at the time it sounded boring, now that climate change is real, I wish I’d taken all those classes to better understand the physical world). I took ancient philosophy but not 20th century; I studied Greek but not Spanish; just one class in genetics or materials science would make me a better informed human.
I was in something of a rush to leave Business School and although I have no regrets (much of the curriculum was required so you really didn’t pick much until the second year) I would have benefited HUGELY professionally if there had somehow been a continuing ed component. Things I’ve picked up on the job which could have been taught more effectively in a classroom; things I still don’t know but wish I did; theories I’ve read about in secondary and tertiary literature but really would have benefited from learning from an ACTUAL professor who did ACTUAL research/empirical analysis.
So OP- make sure there’s a real reason for graduating early if the finances aren’t critical. I have a niece who graduated early with a solid plan and it made sense- she was continuing with graduate school in her field; she was funded for grad school but was borrowing for undergrad (so one less semester made great financial sense-- her grad program was free but undergrad was not); although there were things she wanted to take outside of her field, she was going to audit a class every semester in addition to her grad work. So great reasoning.
Other kids? They graduate early and flounder. Either their timing is off for recruiting and hiring in their field, or they are missing some work or research experience that would have made them more marketable, or they are missing a few courses (or exposure to professors) which would really help them down the road. If writing a senior paper/thesis is part of year 4, and typically students/professors work very closely together on this type of work, consider whether or not missing out on this is just an “oh well, can’t do everything in life” moment or a big deal. Sometimes, those are the grad school recommendations that really count!
I would stay the extra year!