Is it bad that I'm not graduating on time?

This stuff is SO insignificant in the context of the rest of your life. It took me like 5 or 6 years and 3 different colleges (1 of them twice) to get my degree. It was a waste of money, and has had no impact on where I am now in life; which is actually in a pretty good place. That said, I completely understand how this seems like the be all end all of your world right now. Just realize that that is because of your age, and that will virtually vanish as you progress through life and gain perspective. I also completely understand that all of that probably won’t make you feel any better right now.

I started college at 16, and completed my first degree at 39. Don't feel bad, the timeline works differently for different people.

Once you've got a job in your chosen career, 99% of situations don't give any shit about what happened before that.

One of the worst things we do as a culture is setting arbitrary milestones and then shaming ourselves or others for missing them.

Are you expecting to graduate? You’re better off than many who didn’t finish at all. You stumbled, you’re moving forward. You’re going to be fine.

In 10 years you won’t even thing about this.

Just like I don’t remember which of my friends got their drivers license a few months ago before me.

It seems like a high deal now because you’re in the middle of it, but as someone’s few decades out, it’s not going to matter at all. Now that you’re an adult you’re going to meet people of all different ages and different places in their lives.

And most of it end up being because of things out of their control:

They have a physical illness or injury that slows down an aspect of their life.

They suddenly have to care for a parent, or sibling or child.

Jobs are suddenly available or not available, you might have to move cities, or across countries.

Everyone is doing things at their own pace. There is no reason to compare your journey against anyone else, because there are so many factors that got you where you are, and so many that will get your where you’re going, comparisons are worthless.

In my late forties and I couldn't tell you what year I graduated. I know I fucked up so bad freshman year I had to switch from an Ivy League to an okay school with zero credit to my name, and lost a whole year, I know I got to 90% done with three different minors I ended up hating and dropping. I know I'm successful and happy in my career.
It doesn't matter a bit.
Also, you're struggling BUT doing it. That's way more impressive than cruising through college.

Your old classmates who flunked during the last two years probably didn't post about it on social media. It's not reflective of reality, just all curation.

Trust me, you're doing fine. My bachelor took five years to finish, and plenty of people I've talked to have had similar situations.

Literally does not matter. There's always going to be someone smarter, harder-working, or more privileged than you. The sooner you accept that and take ownership of your own experience without comparing yourself to others, the better off you'll be.

I took 7 1/2 years. Everyone moves at different speeds. Comparison is the thief of joy.

Don't compare yourself with others - comparison is the thief of joy. And those people who have graduated are probably trying to get jobs right now. Have you seen the current job market? It's fucking insane. I don't know that it'll be any better in 7 months but I wouldn't want to be looking for a job right now. Enjoy your reprieve.

No one knows when you entered college. You could have taken a year off between hs and college. No one will know that you had to retake classes either. You’re over thinking it. You’re not the last person to do it, you don’t know where everywhere else is at.

I failed a class in college. It was impossible to make the credits up due to scheduling conflicts/the tight nature of my curriculum’s scheduling. I had to miss my graduation in the spring, and go back to school in the fall for one semester for one class.

I am now a C-suite executive at a mid sized engineering firm.

Don’t worry about it at all. Take the extra time to breathe, get other things in your life in order, and hell-maybe just have a little fun too. You’ll be fine.

No

Colleges in fact often conspire to try to delay your graduation to fleece you. Don't take it as a personal failing

Don't worry about this at all, this is actually a great opportunity.

You have a full year where you are a very competitive intern/research applicant because most of your schooling is behind you.

Not only that, but you can probably take an internship in the spring or fall semester when everyone else is in school. You can get some really primo internships. University of Waterloo is a school you probably never heard of but you find their students in all the big tech companies in the spring and fall because the school pushes them to take a semester off(I think). It's a great strategy.

If you're like me, when you were in high school, wasn't it really important what grade someone was in? Like you're a junior, you're not going to hang out with some FRESHMAN, right?

But then, when you got to college, there was this sudden shift, and now it doesn't really matter what year someone is in? I remember that feeling, like "oh, we're all just college students, who cares if I started a year before someone else."

If you can relate to that experience, feeling that shift of "oh, turns out that didn't really matter" then I promise you have another one coming soon, when you get out of college and get a job and go "oh, who cares when someone graduated college, even if they started at the same time. We're all just doing our thing now."

This might feel bad, but honestly you're still killing it. I graduated at like 30 after grinding out years and years of CC. You have great prospects, just stay focused

I graduated at 24 after taking two years off due to...issues. No one worth accepting opinions from will care that you spent any amount of extra time at college.

Just do what you need to do and graduate with your head held up high. Because at the end of it, you do graduate.

I can guarantee you it's not a big deal. Don't beat yourself over it.

On the contrary, you just bought yourself seven months while the economy is deteriorating and job market is nosediving. Consider yourself lucky, and pray that the top brass can stop snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

It's a great time to do a masters and Ph.D if you are interested. This has echoes of '08 and 20 when it comes to uncertainty and potential layoffs.

No it's not. You graduate when you graduate.

I got my first degree when I was 23, first school I got accepted was marketing and sales and I hated it there, took me 4 years before I got kicked out (I had to go to military between years 3-4, somehow administration didn't register that and got a whole year of missing classes lol). After that I went to new school and graduated in 2 years and last year I got my second degree in my mid 30s. No one cares about your graduation (except parents probably), just take your time.

I graduated when I was 30. Not a problem! (That was 30 years ago)

The two things I always tell my type-A kids:

1. There is no “on time” or “on schedule”, and
2. You can’t min/max your way through life

Both are great ways to stress/burn yourself out.

I don't know a single person who graduated "on time". This may differ from country to country, but here the nominal times are just waaaay unrealistic. I'm sure it's possible, but at least for me I would've missed many opportunities, and I'm glad I took the time.

It doesn't matter beyond the FOMO.

Chances are, no one will remember or care in a decade.

Assuming you are USAmerican?

Unfortunately, chances are also just a bit better than a coin flip you'll be able to find a decent job anyway, so, it also doesn't matter in that sense.

41% of recent grads are underemployed, 6% are unemployed, you thus have a 53% chance of finding a job that utilizes your degree.

... Assuming the economy does not get worse.

... Which it will.

Sorry man, happened to me as well. I graduated right out into the Great Recession... and now we're looking at a 2nd Great Depression.

Good luck.

Listen to the other folks, but also if you graduate in the fall semester you have way less competition for a job since most people graduate in the spring.

So you’ve got that going for you.

I didn't graduate until I was 28. I think you'll be okay! I get how it feels like you're falling behind though!

At the end of your life, you are the one that has to die.

Fuck everyone else. This is your life.

Nothing to worry about whatsoever. My high school cohort and I ended up all over the world - some in countries with 3 year programmes, others in countries with 4 year programmes, others who dropped out or changed fields and started over.

I promise you that it does not matter. What matters is that you achieve your own goal of getting a bachelor’s, at your pace. :)

No, it makes very very little difference, I graduated late by about two years and took a gap year after that, too (most people getting PhDs take a gap). People getting into the workforce immediately usually don't have a huge advantage, either, although they go get a little more pay since they work slightly longer in their lifetime.

What's generally more important is how you position yourself after graduation. Internships if business, lab if grad school, etc. It's very easy to shoot ahead or fall very behind, though, as life after graduation is pretty much a matter of luck.

I never finished college, likely due to ADD.
Check for mental issues if you suspect anything remotely of that sort.
I only discovered the severity of it in my early forties.

I started college ten years ago and still haven't graduated. You're doing fine

It took me 7 years to get a 2 year degree. I work with one of my best friends who got his masters in that same time. We're both successful and excell at what we do. It does suck that you have to wait to be done, but one silver lining is you may have a better job market since you won't be graduating with the vast majority of college students competing for the same spots.

People graduate from Bachelor's wayy older than you. I was meant to go to uni when I was 18 then had a medical emergency, then a combo of surgeries and incarceration stopped me from going for several years after that, and I'm currently just working but may try to go to uni once I have more money. There are plenty of students who start an undergrad degree when they're your age or older. People who start when they are 18 have various personal emergencies that mean they have to delay their education. You will be entirely fine.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this at all. Some people don't even start college until their mid 20s or even later, if they have the opportunity at all. Finishing a few months later than some of you peers is a minute difference in the grand scheme of things and you should try not to stress about it and focus on doing the best you can with the work that's left. You will look back on this and find it amusing you were concerned about it - enjoy the extra time you have studying before you move on to the working world where you most likely be for the next 40+ years. Good luck and all the best.

Short answer: no. You can even study two other degrees and be fine if age is your only concern.

It's pretty normal. I took 6 years. I was having a good time.

My class was set to graduate right around the time the pandemic hit and a lot of people ended up graduating late because the school literally couldn't offer the classes they needed to finish their degree. Anyone to whom your date of graduation is actually relevant likely isn't going to bat an eye at anyone who was in college within the last 5 years graduating a couple months late.

And, of course, there's that old stand-by moral of "the only reason it seems like all your peers are doing better is because the ones in the same situation as you aren't going on social media to brag about it." So don't rely on that as a metric too heavily.

When I was still hiring, I barely even read the education section except out of curiosity or to come up with interview questions. The only thing disqualifying would have been if the school was fake (like a Trump University MBA or whatever). It matters for “prestigious” white shoe law firms, major investment banks, grad school, etc. but not really anyone else.

Don’t half-ass your cover letter and interviews, though. For people without experience, especially, I, personally, was always trying to make sure we had a good match. I read every cover letter in part to make sure (a) people were literate, (b) knew what the job entailed, and (c) could be put in a position to succeed. You don’t want to hire someone who doesn’t match. A person applying to a non-profit working with schools and a person applying at a rocket launch start-up aren’t equally qualified regardless of skills and that’s fine.

I know needing a job sucks but there are always qualified people who just aren’t a good fit. So, don’t take it personally if you get rejected. I’ve been to third interviews because I got along with someone and then not chosen for jobs that, in retrospect, I really shouldn’t have been hired to do. I would have been miserable and left. Maybe it was a culture mismatch or maybe I’d didn’t care about the product but thought, “I could live in that city and get another job in a year.” There’s always “finalists” and sometimes, it comes down to a coin flip.

It's super common.

I graduated in 6 years with a bachelor's. It took my mom 20 years to get her bachelor's (not continuously). You're fine.

I had to retake one of my university units over the summer after failing the final exam. It was the most embarrassed I think I’ve been to tell my parents, as I’d always been pretty solid with schoolwork.

In the end everything ended up perfectly fine, parents didn’t give a shit (I was an adult after all) and it made no difference to my future career prospects at all.

I'd be pretty hard-pressed to name any of my friends who graduated "on time"

I'm well into my 30s now, a couple of my friends are still working on degrees or just graduated.

Changing majors, bullshit scheduling nonsense, life

Shit, there was a whole fucking pandemic that fucked up a year or two of your high school years, it's pretty damn amazing that anyone your age is graduating even roughly on-time as far as I'm concerned.

Maybe it'll throw a bit of a monkey wrench into your social life because you gotta skip out on a couple things because you have class. That's life as an adult, we all got scheduling conflicts all the time.

Otherwise, it's never gonna matter. You'll have a degree, that's the only "important" thing about graduating. Unless you're looking to get into some highly-specialized, super-competitive field, no one gives a shit how long it took you to graduate, how your gpa stacked up against the rest of your class, etc. It's like the old joke "What do you call the person who graduated at the bottom of their class in medical school? You call them 'Doctor.'"

I’m graduating at 29 after 6 years! When you are just out of high school, it feels so important to be in line with your peer group. As you get farther from that point, no one carries the same timeline anymore. It’s okay to take more time, and more importantly, it’s okay to fail a class.

Some of my classmates finished their masters before I even started!

I feel like everyone thinks they're behind in life in general. It's a really messed up mind set society puts us in.

It might feel like a big thing now but you'll be fine. I went to get my GED once and failed the test, I thought it was the end of the world. Turns out none of it mattered and I ended up doing pretty well for myself.

It could make things slightly more difficult straight out of college, but beyond that? Not really. It took me 8yrs to get through college. The fact that you're almost done means you're doing great!

Edit: if anything I should have stopped and listened to the voice in my head telling me that the path I was on wasn't the one I should have been going down. The voice didn't start showing up until about 6yrs in to a 4 year degree, and listening to it would have meant it probably would have taken another 3~4yrs to finish, but I would have also actually had a career; one that I would have enjoyed, no less.

Well I just graduated and it took 5 1/2 years, granted I took a year off for covid, but I think I’m doing fine, plus if my experience is anything to go by when your slightly older you take things more seriously which can be beneficial— don’t sweat it!

I took 5 years to consecutively not get a degree and I'm about to go back to finish 5 years later.

Yeah it sticks not graduating with the people you started with, but that really isn't any more of a signifier of success or failure than graduating at all.

Sometimes things happen and at that point everyone is mature enough to but be a dick.

22 and it's looking like I'll be failing units in my second year. It sucks for sure. I don't judge you one bit though, and think you've done extremely well so far. Congrats on what you've already accomplished, good luck with all you still have to.

Nah. It’s a bump in the road. You’re doing great.

Some people graduate in 3 years, some in 4, some in 5+. It really is different for everyone. Unless it is exceedingly financially difficult to afford these two additional classes, you’ll probably be okay.

On your cv/resume, are you putting the month-year you started and finished college, or just the end month year, or just the graduation year? As time passes, it'll be just the year you graduate. (Some day you might just say you have the degree from school name)

Well it took me 15 years (started in ‘89 graduated ‘04) and I’ve been in IT for almost 30 years (there was obviously some overlap). But honestly after your first job, nobody cares.

i was 44 when i got my bachelor's, some of my friends got their PhDs 18 years prior, i got a masters a year later. fortunately i got a job in a place that offers really good retirement options, so i can catch up

Look back in ten years and do the figures yourself.

It's not bad unless you want it to be bad. In ten years it'll be nothing.

Nah, you're fine.

Dude. No. Any day you graduate is a good day. It took me 10 years. Don't stop.

Nah. It's fine. I ended up taking an extra year to get my BSME. Nobody has ever once questioned that on my resume. Luckily, a few of my friends continued on to graduate studies, so I still knew a few people that last year.

You’re fucked you should give up. That was sarcasm.

You're fine, friend. I know the feeling. I dropped out of high school when some credits weren't gonna transfer and I was gonna graduate late. I got my GED and started college classes during the second semester of my senior year. Guess what? I didn't finish that either. I work in tech, where you can be self-taught and make a nice living; that isn't true for most industries, I'm just saying there's no requirement that we approach education as a cookie cutter absolute.

You know who else is graduating late? People your age who took a year off to travel abroad. People who had tuition struggles. People who fell on hard times and had to take time off. People who had a family member get sick and they had to care for them. Literally tons of people.

You're frustrated and that's valid. But it's really a very small issue in the grand scheme of your life. You're also at an age where things like that feel more important than they really are. Keep your head down. Study. Use the extra time this summer to try to get some experience at an internship or work on some way of furthering your knowledge in your field so you can be first out of the gate when you graduate. Get a tutor if you think that will help. You got this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Sanders?wprov=sfla1

It isn't the worst, but I would evaluate why you need to retake two classes and how it might your life going forward.

I’m graduating a year later too.

I spent three years miserable on the mechanical engineering track that was colloquially known as "pre-business" before I ended up with an MIS degree at 23 after a hard pivot and an extra year and change of classes. I'd be hard pressed to say I'm 'happy' today, but the degree has afforded me the ability to live quasi-comfortably on my own.

I retook 6 classes and finished 2 years late. I'm regarded by my colleagues as a good person to work with and they think I'm good at what I do.

Don't let school define you, some people excel, others don't. Also, working for money is completely different than intrinsically motivating yourself to complete assignments.

I had mental health issues that I probably should have dealt with. If you feel like you're struggling, talk to a counsellor or a therapist, mostly because the college or uni has to listen when they say you're struggling. Also because they can look without judgement and tell you what you might be doing wrong with motivation and study habits. For me, I needed someone to remind me I mattered even if I didn't do well. That's just my 2c worth.

Suse I'm on my fourth year and don't even have my associates you're fine