<p>When i was accepted into my university, I was accepted into the class of 2008. but I'm home for the summer taking classes at the state school and realized VERY FEW people actually graduate in 4 years. i just met a chick who graduated from my high school in 2000 and is in my Macro-econ class (yes, the introductory course) and she has no idea when she's going to grauate. I wanted to tell her she was suppose to graduate in May. If they take the standard 15 credits/semester shouldn't these people be done???</p>
<p>Things happen. Majors change. Tuition money doesn't grow on trees.
I'm gonna be one of these super-seniors by the time I get my degree... I changed majors when I was 2.5 semesters away from graduation. Now I'm gonna graduate after 6 years. <em>shrug</em></p>
<p>There are many reasons people don't graduate in 4 years:
- They change their major and have to start over with the introductory courses. This is more of a problem with majors that are heavily structured into sequences, like math, science, and engineering.
- They can't handle the workload and have to take fewer credits per term than the normal pace.
- They can't afford the tuition and need to work part-time or full-time, so they have to take fewer credits per term or drop out for awhile.
- They fail a term or two and have to make up the credits later, or get kicked out.
- They transfer schools, but not all the credits count at the new place.
- They study abroad.
- They double major. This is pretty rare though, since anyone motivated enough to double major should be able to avoid most of the above problems.</p>
<p>my friend majors in art at a cal state. he's 24 and not going to graduate soon. He said the average age of art majors graduates is 27. it sux....</p>
<p>rainbow kirby, if you dont mind me asking... what was your old major and what are you majoring in now? Just curious.</p>
<p>oh .. and the reason many at the university that I would be attending graduate in over 4 years is because they go at a slower pace, need to work, or cant make the grades.</p>
<p>I'm going to graduate 6 years after I left high school if I'm lucky. I've been to 2 different art schools already, and now I'm taking this year "off" (If I can even call it that). I'm going to be taking a couple classes this year while working so I can apply to a liberal arts school for fall 2006 with some academic classes since I've taken almost entirely art classes and not all of them will transfer. I hope to start as something as close to a sophomore as possible, and graduate from there in 3 years. Hopefully I'll be able to pull that off. Do you think I thought all this was going to happen when I graduated, all excited to start college? Hell no. Sigh. Oh well, Living in 4 cities 4 years in a row will be kind of interesting, right?</p>
<p>Some people take a gap year (or two). Or they fail classes and have to retake them several times. It just depends on the person I guess.</p>
<p>Well, some people do want to take it easy and don't want to rush themselves into the Real World quite yet. (See the movie Van Wilder for more info.) I know many who wish they were still in college.</p>
<p>sometimes classes are offered only once a year and if for some reason you miss it, your graduation will be delayed by one year</p>
<p>Because some people don't feel like getting out of college.</p>
<p>Some people can't make up the mind about what they want to do, some people just take it slow and easy, and some people hit a few bumps in the road. I am in the third group. I had to transfer from one school to another due to bad grades. I also changed my major and that added a year onto my graduation. So it will take me 5 years. But next month I'm going to interview for a co-op that will last for 9 to 12 months. If I get it and accept it, it will take me 6 years to get my degree. Some students at my school take 5 or more years because they work and go to school part-time. No generous parents for pay for the bill. In my case, I use loans to pay for all of my tuition since my parents can't afford anything. I'd rather do that than work and go to school at the same time.</p>
<p>
[quote]
rainbow kirby, if you dont mind me asking... what was your old major and what are you majoring in now? Just curious.
[/quote]
I was majoring in mathematical physics, now majoring in computer science.
The reason it's taking so long? Colleges in Europe aren't as flexible as they are in the US. I practically had World War 3 with admin to get a major change. And I'd only the freshman courses passed in CS (though with a 91 average, w00t), so I've got a lot to make up. Don't have to take any more maths though :D</p>
<p>people don't want to grow up! it's not a bad thing, just a fact.</p>
<p>also if it's an impacted major it may be impossible to get the courses you want when you want them, delaying graduation.</p>
<p>I want to reiterate the fact that a lot of these people also work part or even full time...don't just write them off as stupid, lazy, or immature.</p>
<p>I know at our state schools, unless you are in the honors college it is pretty difficult to get the classes you need for your major and it often takes 5-6 yrs to graduate, on top of that the advising system is not wonderful.</p>
<p>I took a five year gap, and graduated in about five years. When you work full time or work at all, anything over 12 credit hours is alot of work and very time consuming. And arizonamom is right on, classes fill up really quick. There have been classes I couldn't take in a certain semester because they filled up because I wasn't the right class level or my last name didn't start with the right letter of the alphabet even.</p>