<p>Sorry in advance if there is a similar or duplicate thread about this topic. Anyway...</p>
<p>Judging by the fact that most of my peers have found post-undergraduate employment at this point in time, I can safely say that they knew what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives since high school. I, on the other hand, was not nearly mature enough to make such a decision. I transitioned from high school to university in 2010, and after jumping from engineering to English to biology and finally landing in computer science, my extreme best-case scenario graduation year looks to be about 2016.</p>
<p>I may be making some assumptions here, but since most college rankings factor in an institution's four-year graduation rate as part of their measure of how "good" it is, I would say that graduating in four or less years is considered ideal. Why is this the case? Culturally speaking, why do we feel the need to rush people into the world at the same breakneck pace? I would like to think that I'm not the only one who disagrees with this status quo, but I'm usually in the minority when it comes to opinions such as this. What do you all think?</p>
<p>Most schools are set up for students to graduate in 4 years, I think it’s just the standard because it’s what’s expected. For more tangible reasons, fewer years at school is cheaper for the student. It also allows the school to take in more students if the old ones leave (my school made students petition for extra semesters).</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say being a super senior is a bad thing, it just means you’re taking a little more time. Different people move at difference paces, if you can afford it and the school lets you stay there’s no reason to rush. STEM majors can be especially hard to change into, since they tend to have long chains of pre-reqs and that takes a lot of time to complete.</p>
<p>There’s no reason to degrade yourself when you were finding the studies that interest you.</p>
<p>Answer: I would think any person would want to get on with their lives and get jobs so they can afford luxuries of life. College work is seen more or less as the grunt work needed to get into the field. Four years is just the amount of time it takes to learn how to do a certain job.</p>
<p>Question for original poster: How are you paying for the extra semesters? Just curious as this is a major reason people don’t overstay, they just can’t become washed away in student loan debt</p>
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<p>I don’t know if I would consider 4 years to be a breakneck pace. It’s traditionally considered the typical amount of time to complete a bachelor’s degree because that’s the way the curriculum is structured and most students can finish their degree in four years. Did you consider high school to be a breakneck pace? Why don’t we make high school five years or six? At some point, there’s going to be an average amount of years that it takes to complete a degree. Some do it in more and some do it in less, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with that particular number. Getting a “real job” in your early twenties isn’t making people rush into the world. You can’t be a kid dependent on your parents forever, and eventually, school has to end.</p>
<p>I don’t really see anyone looking down on people who take longer to graduate though. There are many reasons to want to graduate in four years (cost is a huge one–not everyone can afford to be a student for such long periods of time), and there are many reasons to graduate after four years. Not everyone has to take the same path, and that’s fine. If you feel like people are looking down on you, then ignore them. That’s part of being an adult.</p>
<p>Also, I think some people use graduation rates as a really crude way of getting an idea of how possible it is to graduate in four years. If a lot of students are graduating in four years, it might indicate that students are able to get the classes they need to graduate on time or that there are support systems to help students find a major and plan out their courses for graduation. Of course, many other things can affect four year graduation rates, but just because they exist as one of many statistics about colleges doesn’t mean that everyone who takes longer than four years to graduate is looked down upon.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s as frowned upon as some people make it out to be. Taking 5 years to graduate is from from uncommon. In many fields, it’s almost expected that it’ll take 5 years because of the sheer number of required courses. Some students double major or complete dual degrees. It’s not uncommon for that to take an extra semester or two. </p>
<p>Some students come in with a ton of AP credit and dual enrollment credits, and complete their bachelors in 2.5-3 years. Some students take 5 or even 6 years. Some students have a hard time with what’s considered a “typical” course load, some students take on research experiences or internships which necessitate taking a semester off, taking fewer courses at a time etc. Some students study abroad for a semester or two and have to extend their undergrad. </p>
<p>Some interesting statistics:</p>
<p>"The median time it took for 2008 bachelor’s degree recipients to earn their degree was 52 months. Forty-four percent of 2007–08 first-time bachelor’s degree recipients completed a bachelor’s degree within 48 months of their initial postsecondary enrollment, another 23 percent within 49–60 months, and an additional 9 percent within 61–72 months.</p>
<p>By institutional control, the median time to earn a degree was 55 months for 2008 bachelor’s degree recipients graduating from public institutions, 45 months for graduates of private nonprofit institutions, and 103 months for graduates of private for-profit institutions.</p>
<p>Graduates who started at a 2-year public institution and subsequently obtained a bachelor’s degree had a median time to degree of 63 months. Bachelor’s degree recipients who delayed entry into postsecondary education had a median time of 80 months."</p>
<p><a href=“Fast Facts: Time to degree (569)”>Fast Facts: Time to degree (569);
<p>A median length of 52 months (4.3 years) means that the average is more like 4 years + 1 additional semester. Keep in mind that this is accounting for students that took less than 4 years, as well as the students that took more than 4 years. In either case, the “average” student (at least in 2008) took more than 4 years to complete their bachelors. </p>