"The Best Four Years Of Your Life" is a phrase echoing in the minds of college freshmen all over campus, but is finishing school in four years really that important?
When I started school my freshman year, we were all given "Class of 2013" shirts at one of our first orientation events. As excited as I was about getting a free shirt that I never wore, it seemed like a contract I was signing with myself and my university. As time progressed and I found myself focusing less on finishing in four years, and more on JUST FINISHING, I began to feel guilty for not having held up to what I presumed was my half of the bargain. I remember going to graduation in May 2013 feeling as if I had failed in some way. Why? I had a high GPA, I had enjoyed my college experience, I'd gotten to do all the things I wanted to do, and I even got to spend an extra semester in the sorority I loved so much. What did I have to feel guilty about?
I know that coming in as freshman, it seems like a requirement to take as many classes as you can handle just so you can get out as fast as possible, but in my experience, it's not worth the additional stress. I can't speak for everyone, I know that for some it's the financial aspect (if you can avoid paying for an extra year or more, more power to you), some are just genuinely excited to get into the real world, and others have reasons just as important and valid. But this article isn't for them.
I came to college to figure out who I was, what I wanted to do, and where I wanted to go. If I hadn't stayed in school an extra year, I wouldn't know that I wanted to work for a nonprofit gallery or that I wanted to be apart of art organizations. All I knew by the time of my expected graduation was that I was planning to go to graduate school for something, to get a job doing something...
I needed that extra year of growing and taking different classes to find out who I was and what I wanted to do. Some people do need that, some people can't find it in four years. If you can, congratulations! If you came in knowing, you're ahead of the curve. But for the ones like me, who came in mostly clueless with only a bed-in-a-bag and already almost $700 in debt just from my first semester's schoolbooks, don't push yourself to the edge just to meet some expected deadline that doesn't fit you. Go as long as you need, face any hurdles along the way with grace, and don't let the stress of finishing in four years get in the way of JUST FINISHING!
