Undergrad in 6 years; [First] Impressions?

[Spirit]

Hello everyone,

If you meet a person who graduated with a degree in 6 years. What would be you first impressions or you impressions in general about it?

Will it be diffirent if the person did graduate with a degree in Engineering?

I need some guiadance in this regard. Thank you.

 

[JasonRox]

I find it irrelevant.

 

[ebaywannabe]

It's actually extremely common (in the United States, at least).

 

[Nolen Ryba]

My impression:

If someone is such that they are impacted more so by the duration it took you to get the degree then they are by your accomplishments along the way and your potential for the future, then it is likely they will not be in any position of authority to determine your job prospects at their company. Hopefully (and it makes sense economically) companies will have people who have power over hiring people who understand it is far more important to hire people who will do something useful for the company than people who have graduated in 3 years with 4.0s because they are good at "school work." You should not be aiming to please people based upon some arbitrary standard, but instead you should focus on real performance. I understand, in many cases the two do not coincide, but I still believe in the long run you are better off aiming for reality rather than a fake impression of competance.

In short, if I was hiring I wouldn't really give a damn if you got your degree in 15 years, so long as there was evidence that when I hired you it would be worthwhile.

 

[waht]

Don't compare yourself to your peers. Everyone encounters different challenges in life, and conquers them at different paces. My first impression would be irrelevant, something comparable to a salute, "congrats". Not everyone graduates though. People drop out constantly.

 

[ice109]

im not at school to graduate.

 

[mr_coffee]

I've been going to school since 2003 and I still have 3 semesters left! wee

 

[Cyrus]

(1) Were you working during the time and (2) what is your GPA?

If (1) is no and (2) is low, it would not be good.

 

[J77]

Hello everyone,

If you meet a person who graduated with a degree in 6 years. What would be you first impressions or you impressions in general about it?

Will it be diffirent if the person did graduate with a degree in Engineering?

I need some guiadance in this regard. Thank you.

Assuming you started when you were 18, in the UK this would mean you finish when you're 24 -- and, as most (eng.) courses are 4 years, you'd only be a couple of years older than your peers. However, in central europe, 26/27 isn't such an unusual age to graduate with your masters.

Would it matter?

I guess it depends on your circumstances. If the course was meant to finish in 4 years then something must have happened -- either you had personal reasons, or you didn't make the deadlines.

Would this matter with future employment?

For a job in industry, I would think not -- though I would expect the question of why the extra time?

For academia; ie. to first do a PhD? Again, I would expect to be asked why the extra time. If it wasn't for personal reasons, I'd be worried that the person can't make deadlines. And, you have to remember it's a competitive world for studentships, and (in the UK) it's not uncommon for people to obtain their PhDs at 25.

 

[k3N70n]

It's less than seven

 

[AstroChick]

I did mine in five. I don't think it's a big deal. Sometimes, courses aren't offered when you need to take them. If your record is good, I don't think it should matter too much.

 

[Locrian]

Six years seems too long to me, but I'm with the others - what was achieved far outweighs the time it took to achieve it.

 

[AsianSensationK]

Are you just concentrating in engineering?

I finished a degree in math and philosophy in 5 years and was considering sticking around for six. If I had, I could have finished a third concentration in something like statistics or economics.

 

[Math Jeans]

I do know someone who graduated in six years. It was because one of the requirements of graduation was to take a certain english couse that he really did not want to take.

So generally, the amount of time it takes to graduate from college is not a big deal. It usually depends on the cercumstances. Normally it is just plain irrelevant.

 

[Spirit]

Thanks all for your responses. I never regreted posted a thread here, you guys are helpful!

I know a dear friend who may finish in 6 years. He is in engineering, and he may finish in 6 yrs but is thinking to change his major. The issue is that his GPA is not really good as he sees it; he told me he has a GPA between 2.5-2.75 if he really worked hard [currently he said its near 2.6]

He want to talk to me sometime about this. I'm trying to be honest and realistic with him as he is my dear friend and real friends are needed most in sensitive and difficult times and issues. He is worrying about his mage among peers. Plus how this will go in the market.

Any more thoughts will be sincerely appreciated. Thanks to all!

 

[laplacian]

Haha.. When I was in undergraduate, one of my room-mate took 8 years and haven't still cleared all the subjects. But our university allows 8 years to be maximum for completing the engg. He was a Challenge for our university. Lol. But I know why he was consistently failing, because he was not interested in engg. and he wanted to do some business..

So my first impression to every guy who took 6 to 8 years for completion will be that he/she is not interested in his/her studies.

 

[Benzoate]

Haha.. When I was in undergraduate, one of my room-mate took 8 years and haven't still cleared all the subjects. But our university allows 8 years to be maximum for completing the engg. He was a Challenge for our university. Lol. But I know why he was consistently failing, because he was not interested in engg. and he wanted to do some business..

So my first impression to every guy who took 6 to 8 years for completion will be that he/she is not interested in his/her studies.

Have some poeple ever studied there major for 6 to 8 years because maybe they were double major and/or wanted to take interesting major courses that were beyond the minimum requirements for graduation

 

[symbolipoint]

A student may need 2 or 3 years to determine his strongest or most successful interest, and then spend the next 3, 4, or 5 years studying that interest as the major field. People switch their majors a few times. Another problem causing extra time for graduation is that some courses are hard - either In or Outside of the major - and the student might not pass the first time though each. The student then must repeat one or more of them (taking time, possibly a year, maybe more). Persistance really means something.

If a person went from start to finish through 8 years never changing his/her major field, I would say this person would have needed some academic counseling; unless the person was working full or part time during those 8 years.