Graduating college is a huge milestone in one's life.
It's years of hard work and thousands of dollars gone to help further your education and open a world of possibilities.
College is a time when you learn to be less judgmental, more understanding and accept the differences in people's lives and lifestyles. You come out a different person, having learned that it's the journey that helps shape you, not the fact you hold a degree.
So many people, though, are concerned about getting in and out.
From the time we are introduced to the idea of college at a young age — and even after we've started college — it's assumed we'll graduate in four years. The idea of graduating in four years then creates the phrase "graduating on time," and boy is that an awful phrase.
Graduating "on time" is not a real thing.
There is no time frame on getting through college.
No one is going to kick you out if you get too old. There aren't four years worth of core classes that each has an assigned year to complete.
We're not set to strict schedules or time limits. We complete our education at our own pace.
Graduating isn't a race.
It's put into our heads that we need to graduate in four years. We're made to believe any longer means you're behind on life.
It's not a race to reach a milestone.
Our 20s are always made out to be a competition of who's engaged first, who's having kids first, who got a big-kid job, and who has the most degrees in the shortest amount of time.
We all have the same fate in the end, and how quickly you get done with things doesn't make any difference when we're gone.
You should work at your own pace through life, and that goes for college as well.
Not everyone's journey through college is the same.
There are plenty of reasons someone won't graduate in four years: leaving for emotional reasons, leaving for health reasons, leaving for financial reasons, changing majors, changing schools, retaking classes, and even just wanting to take it slow. These, and many more, are very plausible reasons someone might not complete college in four years.
If someone takes a semester or two off for personal reasons, they might come back feeling left behind. They might need an extra year or two to make up for lost time, but while they're taking junior level classes, everyone else might be graduating.
Some people feel ashamed to admit they aren't graduating exactly four years after they started.
This mindset of "on time" can make people feel rushed. It makes people feel stressed. It can make people feel alone.
There is no such thing as graduating "on time."
We won't all graduate when we're 21-22 years old. We won't all get in and out in exactly four years.
College is a journey and there is no set pace for it.
Stop making kids feel like they need to fit into a time frame or like they need to win a race.
The only thing college kids should worry about being on time for is class.
