By Alex Bruvels, Staff Contributor
The fifth-year victory lap is often dismissed as a slacker’s approach to an undergraduate degree. It conjures images of an unmotivated lollygagger who gives way to the pitfalls of partying or is content to drift aimlessly knowing they he or she will inevitably earn a degree regardless of the timeline.
The reality is there are a variety of reasons that students take more than the projected four years to complete a bachelor’s degree.
Students often transfer from other schools mid-degree, change programs or don’t declare a specific major until midway through their degree. A study of U.S. colleges found that the average undergraduate student now changes majors at least twice during the duration of their degree, most often forcing students into staying on for another year.
Instead of scrambling to make up for lost time by overloading summer courses, killing your well-earned summers with summer courses, accepting the five-year plan may be well suited to your situation.
Many young people wear multiple caps, not only as students, but also as workers, athletes, volunteers and family members. These other commitments often distract valuable time from studies, and instead of resenting and cutting back on these activities, we make room for them.
Graduate schools and potential employers increasingly seek well-rounded applicants. Not to say that a 4.0 GPA won’t get you into a program of your choosing, but for those of you who aren’t at that level it’s what you do with your time outside of school that will dictate the likelihood of gainful employment or acceptance to future scholastic endeavours.
Sports, volunteer work, hobbies and family time keep you mentally stable. Putting all your eggs in one basket with school is enough to make any person go insane suffering from the depravity of life’s luxuries. Find a healthy balance, even if it results in you taking an extra school year to do so.
If you’re in a program where the workload is extremely intense and you’re a perfectionist with high academic ambitions, consider taking only four courses a semester to achieve your aspirations.
If your course load is riddled with bird courses such as the History of Rock and Roll or Introduction to Playing Guitar you may not need to take one less course to obtain high grades, but if you’re slotting in biochemistry or finance for example, give yourself adequate time to do the work you are capable of.
It’s common knowledge that come midterm and finals time, excuses such as “Oh, but I have so much work in my other courses,” tend not to fly with professors.
I may sound like a broken record harping on the current state of the economy, but the post-graduate job market is currently in the shitter. Even if the economy is supposedly recovering, it still isn’t a cornucopia of employment opportunities.
If you aren’t graduating with a degree in engineering or accounting or are hooked up with a job via parents or friends of the family, why not wait for better weather in the job market in a safe, and familiar atmosphere?
The aptly dubbed “real world” can be a scary place. After a few years in a semi-stable environment, or at the very least one of familiarity, you’ve carved out a life for yourself; an identity, social niche.
This will change at least to some extent post-grad. If you’re trying to “figure out what you want to do with your life” people usually recommend travelling as an opportunity to do so. Alternatively, why not spend another year in a place surrounded by friends, and familiarity, cultivating your plan of attack on the real world from the safety of your academic bell tower high atop the clouds of la la land.
Alex Bruvels is a fifth-year Dalhousie student.
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