Sounds like a financial aid URM. Who cares if he takes five or six years, mom and dad aren't paying for it. What a waste of an opportunity.

Online courses are easier than lectures. Your son couldn’t be motivated to merely turn his laptop on? Teases out broader ambition issues. Also note OP didn’t mention any career goal or internships. Nor did she mention OCR, which is on-going as we speak, and whether he’s a senior or technically a junior, this is THE most important few weeks of career seeking. Kid is clearly an immature spoiled layabout.

Anonymous wrote:Meh, not a big deal. Except for the extra tuition.

My best friend at my undergrad Ivy took 5 years. It was because of deciding to double major, but the “consequences” of not graduating with friends from same entry class were just not that big. Really.

I went a university that’s one rung down from an Ivy. One guy I know took noticeably longer than four years to get his degree.

He went on to go to a top law school and what looks to me as if it must be a really fun legal career. He has his real bachelor’s start and graduation years in his LinkedIn entry.

Of course, that’s just one anecdote.

The backdrop for our own kids is that this is a plague year, and that we should just be happy that our kids are alive and trying to move forward. Any of us who weren’t at Tulane when Katrina hit New Orleans or in some kind of comparable situation have no right to judge the kids who are trying to figure out what to do now.

If they need more money than we can provide, we have to be honest and say that. But I don’t think it’s fair for us to get mad at kids who say they’re behind because they had a hard time with Zoom school. Zoom school is awful.

Anonymous wrote:Ivies are very good at getting kids to graduate on time. That's why they have 90+% four year graduation rates. But there's always the few who take a bit longer. Usually due to taking a semester or even a year off. I don't think most kids care if your son is taking an extra year, some might even be jealous!

Does he need to take an entire extra year? That's a lot - why not just a semester and then he'll graduate next May? Summer courses not available?

Prof here- I currently work at a University where many many students take 6 years to graduate ( reduced course loads due to financial constraints).
Even more common during pandemic , where many students picked up extra jobs to help out their families financially.

That said, I graduated from an Ivy with very high 4 -year graduation rate. At these institutions, I am shocked an academic advisor hasn’t swooped in to ensure he graduates on time. Has he reached out to his advisor? Can he take summer courses to catch up? Does he need to take a full course load each semester ? Can he actually get by with one very busy semester ? It’s in the University’s interest for him to graduate.

Personally- if my kid were taking longer than 4 years I would be very upset due to the financial burden. I would have her reach out her advisor to see what is minimum she needs to graduate ( including filling schedule with summer courses ).

The only big deal is tuition and expenses. Any way he could catch up by taking transferable summer classes?

I went to a top SLAC, in a time when gap years were much less common. I can recollect classmates graduating a year or semester late to take a semester off midstream to be a ski instructor, to tack on an additional major, for health reasons. I also recollect a few graduating a semester or year early because of AP credits. So I really don’t think that graduating off the track you started on is any big deal,except for the financials, of course.

Meh, not a big deal. Except for the extra tuition.

My best friend at my undergrad Ivy took 5 years. It was because of deciding to double major, but the “consequences” of not graduating with friends from same entry class were just not that big. Really.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yet ~ 50 graduate in 5-6 years every.single.year

50 to 100 out of 1,700 to 3,000 seniors makes it abnormal. And of that 50 to 100, safe bet most are documented health issues. I didn't see OP mention her son was in the hospital. Look, I get it, there are literally thousands of underachievers running around state schools who randomly drop out and linger around campus, disappear, take five or six or seven years to plow through a bachelor's and nobody really notices or cares — but that's not the Ivy ethos. At an Ivy you graduate early, graduate on time in four years, left because Snapchat or Rivian offered you $150,000 a year, or you took a documented leave for a physical or mental health issue. What OP is describing is sketch, it just is.

TLDR

It’s not normal and it’s not unusual.

It’s fine nobody ever asks on a job application how long it took you to graduate.

What is a resume? What is LinkedIn? What is grad school?

Other than grad school, none of these require you to put when you entered. Also, when you get hired, they just confirm you graduated and the year of graduation, not when you enrolled.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yet ~ 50 graduate in 5-6 years every.single.year

50 to 100 out of 1,700 to 3,000 seniors makes it abnormal. And of that 50 to 100, safe bet most are documented health issues. I didn't see OP mention her son was in the hospital. Look, I get it, there are literally thousands of underachievers running around state schools who randomly drop out and linger around campus, disappear, take five or six or seven years to plow through a bachelor's and nobody really notices or cares — but that's not the Ivy ethos. At an Ivy you graduate early, graduate on time in four years, left because Snapchat or Rivian offered you $150,000 a year, or you took a documented leave for a physical or mental health issue. What OP is describing is sketch, it just is.

TLDR

It’s not normal and it’s not unusual.

It’s fine nobody ever asks on a job application how long it took you to graduate.

What is a resume? What is LinkedIn? What is grad school?

None of those care about how long it took to graduate

I WISH my kid also at an Ivy took an extra year.
He did last year online and graduated on time but I regret not encouraging a gap year so that he could be there now for senior year.
btw, his friends were a 50/50 split on taking last year as a gap year vs graduating "on time".

Just let him be happy and do things with less stress.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the five-year plan was normal nowadays, especially for engineering.

it is very much the norm. Most kids don't graduate in 4 years anymore.

My brother studied engineering and it took him 5 years as well.

There's nothing wrong with it.

All these state school people need to stop weighing in. THey don't know what they are talking about. At Ivies people do NOT take more than four years to graduate during normal times. That is considered weird.

PP never said he went to a STATE school. I actually cannot stomach your tone. You split the world into the IVIES and the STATE SCHOOLERS. This sounds like a badly written netflix series. The unwashed legions exist to service your family and their ilk.

DCUM is open to all posters, even the undeserving people who did not go to Ivy League schools. (Do you REALLY think prospective employers STUDY CV's and make sure that the months add up to the semester? You sound woefully uninformed .)

I don't think anyone is being cruel to state schoolers, it's just a fact that there's a much lower entry into state schools, which all offer years of remedial courses to lower performing students, who can begin several rungs below college readiness. Of course it's not uncommon for students of that caliber to take more than 4 years for a bachelor's. And nobody really cares because so many other peers are taking five or six years.

But to get into an Ivy these days, overachievers need a near perfect SAT score, nearly all A's, most have upwards of a year of college already completed with AP Exam scores. Among these higher caliber students, in a private college where most students spend all four years together in on campus housing (read social pressure), nearly everyone finishes in 4, if not early.

Yet ~ 50 graduate in 5-6 years every.single.year

I would love to see if those rough 50 that do 5/6 years were hooked or unhooked admits

I’m sure it would make you wet to find that out but athletes graduate at a higher rate. So stay dry.

Athletes aren’t the only hooks. Z-list, urm…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yet ~ 50 graduate in 5-6 years every.single.year

50 to 100 out of 1,700 to 3,000 seniors makes it abnormal. And of that 50 to 100, safe bet most are documented health issues. I didn't see OP mention her son was in the hospital. Look, I get it, there are literally thousands of underachievers running around state schools who randomly drop out and linger around campus, disappear, take five or six or seven years to plow through a bachelor's and nobody really notices or cares — but that's not the Ivy ethos. At an Ivy you graduate early, graduate on time in four years, left because Snapchat or Rivian offered you $150,000 a year, or you took a documented leave for a physical or mental health issue. What OP is describing is sketch, it just is.

TLDR

It’s not normal and it’s not unusual.

It’s fine nobody ever asks on a job application how long it took you to graduate.

What is a resume? What is LinkedIn? What is grad school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the five-year plan was normal nowadays, especially for engineering.

it is very much the norm. Most kids don't graduate in 4 years anymore.

My brother studied engineering and it took him 5 years as well.

There's nothing wrong with it.

All these state school people need to stop weighing in. THey don't know what they are talking about. At Ivies people do NOT take more than four years to graduate during normal times. That is considered weird.

PP never said he went to a STATE school. I actually cannot stomach your tone. You split the world into the IVIES and the STATE SCHOOLERS. This sounds like a badly written netflix series. The unwashed legions exist to service your family and their ilk.

DCUM is open to all posters, even the undeserving people who did not go to Ivy League schools. (Do you REALLY think prospective employers STUDY CV's and make sure that the months add up to the semester? You sound woefully uninformed .)

I don't think anyone is being cruel to state schoolers, it's just a fact that there's a much lower entry into state schools, which all offer years of remedial courses to lower performing students, who can begin several rungs below college readiness. Of course it's not uncommon for students of that caliber to take more than 4 years for a bachelor's. And nobody really cares because so many other peers are taking five or six years.

But to get into an Ivy these days, overachievers need a near perfect SAT score, nearly all A's, most have upwards of a year of college already completed with AP Exam scores. Among these higher caliber students, in a private college where most students spend all four years together in on campus housing (read social pressure), nearly everyone finishes in 4, if not early.

Yet ~ 50 graduate in 5-6 years every.single.year

I would love to see if those rough 50 that do 5/6 years were hooked or unhooked admits

I’m sure it would make you wet to find that out but athletes graduate at a higher rate. So stay dry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yet ~ 50 graduate in 5-6 years every.single.year

50 to 100 out of 1,700 to 3,000 seniors makes it abnormal. And of that 50 to 100, safe bet most are documented health issues. I didn't see OP mention her son was in the hospital. Look, I get it, there are literally thousands of underachievers running around state schools who randomly drop out and linger around campus, disappear, take five or six or seven years to plow through a bachelor's and nobody really notices or cares — but that's not the Ivy ethos. At an Ivy you graduate early, graduate on time in four years, left because Snapchat or Rivian offered you $150,000 a year, or you took a documented leave for a physical or mental health issue. What OP is describing is sketch, it just is.

TLDR

It’s not normal and it’s not unusual.

It’s fine nobody ever asks on a job application how long it took you to graduate.

Anonymous wrote:
Yet ~ 50 graduate in 5-6 years every.single.year

50 to 100 out of 1,700 to 3,000 seniors makes it abnormal. And of that 50 to 100, safe bet most are documented health issues. I didn't see OP mention her son was in the hospital. Look, I get it, there are literally thousands of underachievers running around state schools who randomly drop out and linger around campus, disappear, take five or six or seven years to plow through a bachelor's and nobody really notices or cares — but that's not the Ivy ethos. At an Ivy you graduate early, graduate on time in four years, left because Snapchat or Rivian offered you $150,000 a year, or you took a documented leave for a physical or mental health issue. What OP is describing is sketch, it just is.