How long before you graduated?

[neatfreak]

Undergrad: 3 years
MA/Ph.D.: 4-5 years total.

 

[E B]

I graduated in 4 years, if you don't count the year I took off between junior and senior year.

It went like this: Graduated from high school in Spring 2002, graduated from college in Spring 2007. Had I not taken the year off, I'd have graduated in Spring 2006 like most of my classmates.

ETA: I should add that I took the year off because I moved to a new state and out-of-state tuition was RIDICULOUS. I didn't really have a choice. Once I became a resident, I was able to go back and finish my last year (well, year and a half, which I crammed into a single year).

 

[Octavia]

4 years for undergrad. I went to a school where it''s unusual for people to take longer than 4 years, and you could probably count the 5th-year seniors on one hand. If people don''t follow the traditional 4-year plan, it''s much more common for them to graduate early. I had enough credits to graduate in 3.5 years, but I studied abroad for my junior year, and we had to have at least two of the last four semesters "in residence." I''m glad I got to spend a whole year abroad and graduate with all my friends, but it certainly would have been nice to have a semester fewer loans!

 

[hairgirl95]

I think I am on the 20 year plan

I started in the fall of 95. Lasted 1 semester. I had a LITTLE too much fun with my new found freedom and no curfew
Went to cosmetology school fall of 96. Graduated in 10 months.
Went BACK to college fall of 99. Lasted through spring 00 semester. Then took 2 years off. I have no clue why I did this. My grades were excellent. I chalk it up to not knowing what I wanted to major in.
Went back to college AGAIN in Jan. 02. Graduated with BS in May 2005.

HOWEVER--

I have now gone back to school YET again--just finished summer school, and awaiting my acceptance letter into a BSN nursing program. My long term goal is to be a nurse practitioner. Wish I would have figured that out before I got my business degree. That would have saved me LOTS of money!! I never use my degree, although it does help me with the business end of my hair salon. Guess it wasn''t a total waste.

 

[cellososweet]

3 years for undergrad for me (but there was extenuating circumstances. both of my parents had cancer at the same time and I didn''t want them to have to take out more loans for me, so i hurried by butt up hardcore! and it was NOT worth it!)

DH took 7 years. 4 years at a community college and 3 years at a 4 year college. I''m irritated that he took so long, but happy that he finally found something that he loves and is good at (thankfully! geez haha)

 

[Delster]

oobie is the internship not factored in to the degree programme? My uni required one too, but it counted as a certain number of our credits and everyone spent a semester off campus doing the internship. It was worked in at a particular point in your programme (usually starting the Summer after your second year, and running through to the end of the first semester of third year). It didn''t delay your graduation in any way.

The restructuring of your course sounds incredibly harsh too, it''s really not reasonable to force you to complete a new schedule of credits than the ones you were told to work towards when you started!

Sounds like you''re doing the very best you can in a really tough situation. How long more exactly do you think you''ll have to do?

All we can really say is to hang in there, it''ll be worth it in the end

 

[erica k]

4 years at a liberal arts college is standard, and that''s how long it took me. Any less than that wouldn''t make much sense. The ones who took longer usually had leaves of absence for personal reasons.

I''m starting my 6th year of my PhD program. 7-8 years is typical for my field (a 400 page dissertation on an esoteric topic takes awhile to write, I guess

), whereas other fields run 5-6 years. I am hoping to finish by year 7, but lack of funding has made it difficult to concentrate on writing because I''m always scrambling to find teaching to make up the difference.

It took my brother 7 years to finish college because he went to 3 different schools before he knew what he really wanted.

 

[kellyfish]

It took me about 7 years of stops and starts, changing majors, etc to earm my bachelor degree. I immediately earned a 60 graduate credit masters where I was in class with people much older, so I then felt like I caught up with others my age.....I was 28ish at the end..

 

[UCLABelle]

I took 4 years for a double major. I have 2 masters degrees (both took 1 year) and I am now in a doctoral program (EdD) that will take about 4.

I was a college counselor, and the average time-to-degree was 4.5 years.

Kellyfish- I never felt my age (I am now 22) in the classroom...so I feel your pain

 

[Bia]

Undergrad = 4 (took a year off after high school)
Grad = 2 (one yr down

)

 

[Rhea]

It took me four years. I took classes every summer so I could finish.

 

[aliciagirl]

Undergrad: 2 years + 1 summer
Professional: 3 years that I''ll finish next May

So it will take me five years. It really is crappy your school expecting you to add courses that you haven''t taken and basically not count ones that you have. It doesn''t make any sense.

 

[lovegem]

me: 4 yrs undergrad and 5 yrs phd. I thought I could never walk to the end of the tunnel when I was doing my phd.

bf: 4 yrs undergrad,
worked for 2 yrs and paid off student loan then...
4 yrs professional school
worked for 2 yrs and paid off student loan then...
6 yrs phd while doing part-time professional stuffs (no student loan this time).
He finished school (hopefully for the last time) 2 yrs ago.

 

[swimmer]

4 years for a BA; had 4 years of scholarship, so stayed no more and no less.
1.5 yrs for MA; could have been done sooner, but had funding so stayed.
1yr for MEd; total waste of time, glad to also be working full time so as to not have wasted a year of life. Actually lost brain cells while in class.
4 yrs and counting for PhD; working full time slows everything down...so does falling in love and wedding planning;
no excuses now though, time to face real life.

ETA Perhaps though having to do over a year of mandatory military service gave me a bit of focus that would otherwise have been missing. Wondering if there is research on pre-university military or community service...Germany's is different, non-combat and school is free. Depends on where in the world you are.
Chin up Oobiecoo! You are in the home stretch!

 

[MrsBold]

I will be graduating at the end of Spring 2009, which will be 4 years for me. FH is starting on his fourth year as well and will (hopefully) be graduating at the 4.5 year mark, with a year off in between.

 

[risingsun]

4 years undergrad
Big gap!
2 years for 60 credit masters program
4000 hr residency to qualify for my license to practice counseling [took ~ 3years]
prepare application for license--several months
took counseling boards and waited 6 weeks for results
applied/accepted by managed care panels for third party reimbursement [took 3-6 months]

Getting my LPC=priceless
Repaying SallieMae=forever

 

[WishfulThinking]

Date: 7/8/2008 9:42:00 AM
Author: Independent Gal
Actually, some people say that the reason people dally in Germany and keep switching programs etc. is BECAUSE it''s free. So why not just hang around? I''m sure that if you''re going to a US college that costs $30,000/yr, you don''t mess around! Once it gets pretty expensive, people get a move on. But this raises the question of why it''s not as bad as that in the UK and Ireland. Probably because they have lower tolerance levels? I think a lot of universities get snippy if you don''t finish on time, or within a reasonable amount of time. Whereas in Germany they couldn''t give a flying hoot what the students do.


Probably, the trouble area is the grey area - public colleges that cost a nice penny, but don''t bankrupt you. It''s probably easier to dally there.

It will have taken me 4 to get my undergrad degree when I finish next Spring. However, that is including a semester I took off for personal/emotional reasons, as well as some credits from a local community college. So, while I am finishing at the same time I would be if I''d continued all the way straight through, I am actually graduating over a semester early. Why? Indy''s post sums it up perfectly: It''s almost $50k a year... no time to mess around. If it were gree or even cost less, I would stick around another semester, but I just can''t swing it!

 

[allycat0303]

B.Sc: 3 years
M.Sc: 2 years
MD: 4 years

+ residency to be determined (5-6 years)
+ fellow to be determined 2 years.

I don`t even know how I am going to deal with NOT being in school. I don`t think I`ve known anything else.

 

[oobiecoo]

Ok so I see some people have taken more than 4 years so I''m feeling a little better! My school makes us do our internship during the summer so even if I''m done with the prerequisite classes in the fall then I''ll have to wait until the next summer to do my internship. Its all so annoying

. I have about 2 more years so that would put me at 6 years total including classes EVERY summer.

Dreamer: I LOVE what you said about *this IS my life* right now. Its so hard to stay positive when nearly everyone around me has already graduated... but I guess I need to focus on the here and now and just live my life. Thanks for your comments!

 

[qtiekiki]

4 yrs for undergrad, no summer courses & working PT.

It's kind of discouraged in my school for people to take more than 4 yrs if you stay with one major. You have to meet with the Dean of your school to get an extension if you are taking more than 4 yrs in your major. If you change majors, then it's easier to get an extension. But I am not sure how easy it is to change major.

I wouldn't mind being in school again. I miss it. Although I would go into a different field if I ever go back to school.