Expanding the four-year plan
The traditional student begins college as a 17-19 year old who has recently graduated high school. Most advisors will set up a four-year plan with students in order for them to graduate on time. Despite this expectation, many students take much longer than four years to finish due to major changes, life events and credit-transfer problems. Students who have passed the four-year mark are often labeled as “super seniors.” Shawn Koga, a senior majoring in photography, is currently a sixth-year student. He said he didn’t know what to major in when he started his freshman year.
“I took a lot of classes that didn’t end up counting toward my major,” he said. “The way a lot of courses in the photography deparment are offered altered the speed of my graduation,” Koga said some of his classes were only offered once every two years.
Koga said the social scene didn’t dramatically change for him because most of his friends went on missions so he will still be graduating with a lot of them.
“I’ve just noticed that the people we hang out with tend to be younger, or closer to our age,” he said. “Rather than older, like they were before they left.”
Koga said he hopes to find a job after graduation.
“I have been helping out with a company that was started here on campus, Denik. It moved to Salt Lake recently and their sales have been booming,” he said. “Hopefully by the time I graduate they’ll be doing enough business that I can go work for them.”
Koga said he doesn’t think students who take longer than the traditional four years are looked at as bad.
“I’ve always said slow and steady wins the race,” he said. “I think as long as I finish, I wouldn’t look at it as a failure.
Wes Constandse, a senior majoring in secondary education and social studies, has been a college student since 2005. He said it has taken him longer to graduate because he transferred from the University of Redlands to Portland State University and then to USU.
He said he had troubles transferring credits and has changed his major three times. He started out in international relations then changed to political science and now will be graduating in secondary education and social studies.
Constandse said the social scene hasn’t changed too much for him, “the only real change is the people,” he said. “And lots of times the people get younger that I meet and associate with, while I am still getting older.
After graduation, Constandse said he plans to teach, but if he can’t find a teaching job, he’ll keep working in Logan and possibly apply to law school.
Brittany Jones, a senior majoring in family consumer human development and sociology is working on her thirteenth semester at USU.
She said it’s taken her longer because she didn’t know what she wanted to do.
“I felt like I was pressured into picking something as soon as possible and when I did, it ended up not feeling right,” Jones said. “I ended up changing my major like four or five times.”
She said when she finally did decide what she wanted to do, several of her classes would be scheduled for the same time and she would have to wait another semester to take those classes.
“Many times there would be pre-requisites for other classes,” Jones said. “This is my last semester and it is kind of frustrating because I only have one class. One class that I was told was going to be offered last Spring.” She said something happened with the scheduli
ng of that class and it was no longer being offered.
“I had to push back graduation because of one class,” she said.
As a student gets older and the incoming freshman get younger, the social scene can evolve dramatically.
Jones said she used to love going to all the activities on campus, “But now I feel like a freaking old grandma hobbling around campus.”
“The social scene is so weird. Everybody is so young,” she said. A lot of her friends have graduated or gotten married, she said, but she has still been able to make new friends.
She said after graduation she will either get a job or go to graduate school, but is leaning toward getting a job.
“But who knows? I’m a girl and can change my mind at any moment,” Jones said.
Despite some of the annoyances of postponing graduation, she said there is one good thing about still being a student.
“I can still get into the football and basketball games, which are my absolute favorite activities to go to,” she said.
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