Anonymous
07/31/2025 21:00
Subject: Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
This is your kid's way of telling you he REALLY wants to go to one of the colleges he got into. Please listen to him.
Anonymous
07/31/2025 20:58
Subject: Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
The answer is that you let the kid do what he wants to do. Also, you don't know if he will even get into the better school. A bird in the hand...
Anonymous
07/31/2025 20:56
Subject: Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
Anonymous wrote:If it is UVA, dont blame it on bad advising. The courses required for majors and the GPA requirements are clearly laid out and can be found online after a 10 second Google search. That being said, wait for UVA if thats the goal.
That part stood out to me too. This is not the fault of bad advising. This is on the student to figure out the requirements for transferring, which surely are knowable.
Anonymous
07/31/2025 20:51
Subject: Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What makes the better school better? What makes the other school mediocre? US News’ ranking is not a valid answer.
This!
But also, there is a long-term cost to graduating in an extra year that most people don't think about (and I am sure for many here isn't a big deal, but for our family it is huge):
1. Tuition increase (tuition will increase each year) but this is minor compared with
2. Earnings loss (that would be about $40-80K depending on the field over a lifetime)
3. Retirement loss (for that first year)
1. They already went to community college and shit saved a shit ton of money.
2. Nobody at that age is saving money.
3. Nobody at that age, just putting money into their retirement.
+100. Seriously, grandpa, this isn't the bogleheads website.
Anonymous
07/31/2025 20:50
Subject: Re:Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Definitely ON TIME.
Employers will notice if you graduate late. It’s a bad look.
They won’t know! He will have his cc graduation date and then, two years later, his college graduation date. They will never know he spent three years at cc.
I know because I did it - mine was because some prerequisite classes filled up before I could register and then weren’t offered until the following fall, but it’s fairly similar.
Op, “because I will be embarrassed” is a dumb reason to do anything. Help your teen realize that.
Or he won’t even put the CC on the resume at all. Many don’t.
Anonymous
07/31/2025 19:59
Subject: Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
Anonymous wrote:Our son just finished his second year at a community college. He has a 4.0, but didn't get accepted into the flagship that many students at his CC transfer to because he didn't have the right classes due to bad advisement. We actually talked to someone at that flagship and it turns out he's only missing three classes. Even though he could get those three classes out of the way this coming fall semester, this flagship only admits transfer students for the fall, so he have to wait a whole year before transfer transferring to this flagship as a junior, meaning it would take him a total of 5 years to get his Bachelor's degree.
He has, however, been accepted to a few local lackluster colleges. Although he has a good chance of going to this really good college if he sticks it out another year, he says he's thinking about this time two years from now, and doesn't think he'll be able to bear watching all his friends from high school graduate college before him. When I pointed out to him that he would probably make more money if he went to this flagship, he said that even a seven-figure salary couldn't make up for the heart-ache of seeing all his friends graduate before him. Graduations are really important to him.
It doesn't matter where he goes to college or how long it takes. My dental specialist who just did an oral surgery went to some tiny school that I had never heard of and have never seen it mentioned on these boards. Literally never heard of it to the point I cannot remember exactly the name. Anyway, he did well enough there and got into dental school, then residencies, and now makes a F-ton of money doing oral surgery. I know lots of people like this (including a person who went to Radford undergrad and ended up at an ivy for grad school and now is a very successful PA).
Anonymous
07/31/2025 19:50
Subject: Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What makes the better school better? What makes the other school mediocre? US News’ ranking is not a valid answer.
This!
But also, there is a long-term cost to graduating in an extra year that most people don't think about (and I am sure for many here isn't a big deal, but for our family it is huge):
1. Tuition increase (tuition will increase each year) but this is minor compared with
2. Earnings loss (that would be about $40-80K depending on the field over a lifetime)
3. Retirement loss (for that first year)
1. They already went to community college and shit saved a shit ton of money.
2. Nobody at that age is saving money.
3. Nobody at that age, just putting money into their retirement.
Anonymous
07/31/2025 19:50
Subject: Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
This is a silly thread. I haven't read all of it, but I'll say this: the MAJORITY of college students nationwide don't graduate in four years. It's fine, just fine.
Anonymous
07/31/2025 19:48
Subject: Re:Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
Poor kid - he doesn't realize he won't BE friends with his old HS friends by the time they are all graduating from college.
What?
Anonymous
07/31/2025 19:42
Subject: Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
Graduate late from better school. Not going to make a difference in the long run.
Anonymous
07/31/2025 18:46
Subject: Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
Whoever is pushing this myth that employers would care even one iota about graduation dates - please stop. No employer gives a rat's ass how long it took for an applicant to graduate. All they care about is the diploma.
Anonymous
07/31/2025 16:35
Subject: Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
Anonymous wrote:What makes the better school better? What makes the other school mediocre? US News’ ranking is not a valid answer.
This!
But also, there is a long-term cost to graduating in an extra year that most people don't think about (and I am sure for many here isn't a big deal, but for our family it is huge):
1. Tuition increase (tuition will increase each year) but this is minor compared with
2. Earnings loss (that would be about $40-80K depending on the field over a lifetime)
3. Retirement loss (for that first year)
Anonymous
07/31/2025 16:13
Subject: Re:Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
Anonymous wrote:Definitely ON TIME.
Employers will notice if you graduate late. It’s a bad look.
They won’t know! He will have his cc graduation date and then, two years later, his college graduation date. They will never know he spent three years at cc.
I know because I did it - mine was because some prerequisite classes filled up before I could register and then weren’t offered until the following fall, but it’s fairly similar.
Op, “because I will be embarrassed” is a dumb reason to do anything. Help your teen realize that.
Anonymous
07/31/2025 16:10
Subject: Re:Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
Anonymous wrote:Does he have any desire to go to grad school or law school? He can go to the lower rated college, get excellent grades, graduate on time, then get admitted to good graduate or law schools.
I wouldn’t count in that - grad and law schools care a lot about the prestige/quality of the undergrad institution
Anonymous
07/31/2025 14:24
Subject: Graduating late from a good college vs graduating on time from a mediocre college?
What makes the better school better? What makes the other school mediocre? US News’ ranking is not a valid answer.