Taking an extra semester

[Thremp]

djj,

Don't most people do internships with classes or have them count for hours? This is quite surprising to me. Almost every major I have seen is doable in 4 years, though most require outside credit or more than 15 hours per semester.

[djj6835]

[ QUOTE ]
djj,

Don't most people do internships with classes or have them count for hours? This is quite surprising to me. Almost every major I have seen is doable in 4 years, though most require outside credit or more than 15 hours per semester.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most engineering internships are paid internships and you don't get credit. It is doable in 4 years, but the vast majority don't. It would take 4 years and two quarters to graduate taking 15 credit hours a quarter. This translates to about 5 or 6 classes depending on whether they are labs or lectures which is a pretty sizable load, especially for the higher level classes.

Undergrad students are also required to take graduate level classes which makes it even more difficult to take 18+ credit hour loads senior year. Some professors whill even tell undergrad students to drop a class because the workload will be too much if they are taking 5 other classes since the graduate level classes are designed around graduate students taking about three classes, not five or six.

[Karak567]

I am taking an extra semester so I can earn a second degree. I am sure no employer or law school will take issue with that... earning two degrees in 4.5 years.

[CheckRaise]

I'm taking an extra semester but I play a sport so I take less credits(usually 12) during the season.

[Thremp]

[ QUOTE ]
I am taking an extra semester so I can earn a second degree. I am sure no employer or law school will take issue with that... earning two degrees in 4.5 years.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you mean a second degree or a second major? Most second degrees would mean finishing your first in ~3-3.5 years.

[Suigin406]

i think i read a growing trend lately among colleges, especially engineering ones is to spread the course load over 5 years now, so that more internship opportunities can be taken during the year rather than during the summer...

personally, it's not a bad idea because studies have shown that for the most part, getting a degree has been taking longer, so i guess schools are compensating...

[emon87]

[ QUOTE ]
Interviewer: Mr. Smith, Why ddi it take you 4.5 years to earn a 4 year degree?

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I took less classes each quarter and worked a job to pay for school.

I studied abroad. Let me tell you what an amazing eye-opening experience that was.

I didn't know what I wanted to study coming into college, so I couldn't get an early jump on some of the classes.

All of these are perfectly fine.

[gamblore99]

I'm a senior. I was strongly considering the idea of an extra semester, but about 2 months ago I just felt I was done with the place and the idea of coming back for an extra semester disgusts me. A lot of people I've talked to say the same thing.

Have to finish up in the summer, but that is completely different.

[wmspringer]

I did 4 and a half years for two reasons: not all of my classes transferred, and I took some extra classes not needed for my degree. Let me take a semester off before doing my master's, which I did in one year. (Both degrees in computer science, btw) Actually I was really tempted to do 5 years, in which case I could have done either a second major or a second minor, but I'd just had enough.

[orange]

emon,
you claim you studied abroad? can you elaborate on that, and where you went? thanks.