Bye bye to 5th year seniors?

[dzrose93]

Originally posted by aephi alum
Hmm... thinking back, I think the only reason I was able to get through school in 5 years (combined bachelor's/master's program, plus a minor) was my AP credit. A LOT of people take an extra semester or two to finish.

I forgot all about my AP credit! Thanks for the reminder aephi alum. I was able to exempt 3 courses as a freshman due to my AP classes in high school. If I hadn't done that, I'd have been in school a quarter longer. Yikes!

[navane]

Like OTW, I was a Super Duper Senior finishing out my undergrad degree in six years.

My deal was this:

- I spent 2 years studying for admission to the Physical Therapy program before the university decided to get rid of the Bachelor's degree and make it a Master's program.

- I putzed around for a semester as a pre-nursing major trying to figure out what to do.

- I lost some focus when my mum passed away halfway through my time in college.

- I had to take extra classes when I finally picked my new major, Human Development.

- I sometimes had difficulty getting into my HDEV classes because many of them are interdisciplinary courses. Several HDEV courses are on the general ed list and thus I had to compete against non-majors to get into my own upper division courses. Finally, just before my last year, the department made a policy that said that HDEV majors get priority over everyone else.

For obvious reasons, I do not agree with the idea that 5th year+ students should be discriminated against because of their inability to finish in what some administrator deems to be an "appropriate" ammount of time.

By the way, at Long Beach State, all senior students regardless if it's the 4th, 5th or 6th+ year, get priority over freshers, sophomores and juniors.

Heh...I applied to a Master's program at Long Beach State - it is 3 years long! Let's see, 6 years + 3 years = 9 years. Ick. I turned that down to go to England where my program will only be 1 year long. Hrm...I wonder why I picked England...

......Kelly

[PM_Mama00]

Originally posted by AlphaChiGirl
I read this in the paper this morning, and I agree with it. Is it really that hard to graduate in four years (In the United States, it's expected, I know in other countries like Italy, it's more like 5-7 due to the difficulty of the curricula)? I know that there are some people who have mitigating circumstances (family/personal problems, health emergencies, major/interest changes, financial situations) that would require them to take longer than the usual four years, and I don't think they should reap the negative consequences (being last in parking lottery, etc.). Just the kids who have the money, etc., and are just "living large".

Yes it is that hard to graduate in 4 years. A lot of people change their majors and that causes extra years. At UofM Dearborn the majority of students graduate in more than 4 years. It's so hard to get into classes because they are always full, and in a lot of the classes for ur major, there pre-reqs and pre-reqs to those, so it's hard. I'm goin into my 4th year, and I have two more years left because I changed my major, and it's insulting to hear that people think 5th year students and beyond should be punished by registering after freshman. It's hard enough as a freshman and sophmore to get into classes, and making 5th year seniors register last is just makin it harder for them to graduate sooner.