Super senior. Five-year plan. Victory lap. All of these describe the same thing. As someone who is not graduating college on time, I'm here to tell you that there are a lot of emotions that come with being the person in your friend group who isn't graduating. While I've come to terms with the fact that I still have two more semesters before freedom (let's not even discuss grad school), there are still times where I feel more than a little awkward any time I hear the word graduation Here are a few of those instances:
1. Are you graduating this semester?
Few questions are more awkward than this one. For someone who isn't graduating this semester, it can stir up a mix of emotions. For one, you kind of feel complimented that you look put-together enough that someone would think that you could be graduating this semester. On the other hand, you also kind of feel insulted. You probably wish you were graduating this semester, but for whatever reason, you aren't. Why would they even choose to bring it up? Which leads me to my next point:
2. You feel the need to defend yourself.
For some reason in college, everyone feels the need to know what your entire life story is and where you plan to be in the next five years. Whether these people are your advisers, your parents, your roommate's boyfriend or your second cousin twice removed, you feel a little bit judged when they bring up the future. Maybe you took a semester off, maybe you had to retake a couple of classes, or maybe you changed your major a few times. Whatever the reason, you generally feel the need to recite your pre-planned explanation to whoever is bringing up the fact that you aren't graduating on time.
3. It feels like you are getting left behind.
For those of us who aren't graduating, it can kind of feel like all of your friends are leaving you behind. They are either graduating and moving onto awesome jobs, taking a year off to figure out what they want to do next, or going on to a graduate program. In any case, they are going to be finished with school and moving on, and you aren't. It kind of feels like you are stuck on a treadmill while everyone else goes on around you. Even though they don't mean to make it awkward, you spend a lot of time trying to avoid the topic of graduation.
4. Senioritis is totally still a thing.
Senioritis doesn't care if you have another year (or semester), of school before you graduate. It tells you that you've already put in effort for four years and isn't that enough? It whispers in your ear that letting one assignment slip really isn't that big of a deal, and you can miss more than one class. As much as you know you really need to buckle down and focus, your motivation is running on empty. You've already used up all of the good study spots and have written more pages than a Dickens novel. You get desperate and try to motivate yourself in any way possible including bribing yourself with food or time with friends, leaving threatening messages for yourself on your whiteboard, or resorting to hanging up your stole as a visual reminder, you start to get creative.
5. You end up in weird classes.
Chances are you are either having to retake classes, you need electives or you just need classes to graduate. In any of these situations, you either end up taking some entry level courses that are designed for freshman (that you were supposed to take three years ago), or you take a class that has nothing to do with what you are studying, like, "Basket-weaving and Literacy in the 17th Century." While these classes can boost your GPA while you are focusing on your senior level classes, they are also tedious and time-consuming. You generally end up sitting in class daydreaming about the days when you will no longer have to sit through 50 minutes of lecturing in a class that is as exciting as watching paint dry.
6. Being a senior in a club feels like fraud.
If you are in a club outside of class, your first senior year can be awkward. If you aren't maintaining membership beyond four years, there is usually a celebration for the seniors who are "leaving." Even though you are moving on from the club, you aren't really leaving and it kind of feels like you are cheating the system. Even so, it will be nice to have a little free time to focus on school next year.
7. Finding a roommate is hard.
If you are about to embark on a fifth year of school and your current roommate is not, it is time to find someone new to live with. These either means tracking down another friend in the five year club or rooming with someone younger than you. Although these aren't bad options, they can result in a little (or a lot) of stress when you suddenly realize you are about to live in a four bedroom house all by yourself. So begins the search for people who you can see yourself living with that aren't leaving and don't already have a place to live.
8. Everyone thinks you're old.
When you're sitting in one of those freshman classes that we talked about earlier and people find out you're a senior, things get awkward. They start to ask what campus was like when you were a freshman (three years ago) and why you are in this class if you are so old. They might judge you for showing up to your 10 a.m. class in sweatpants and slippers with nothing but a pencil and maybe a sheet of paper, but you are usually the first person they turn to for advice. This, in turn, results in my next situation.
9. Sometimes you feel old.
It is also in these random classes that you start to feel like the old sage spouting off wisdom. You find yourself saying things like, "Back when I was a freshman." You roll your eyes when you hear complaints about a five-page paper, knowing you have your senior capstone coming up. You also groan when people pack up before the teacher is finished and generally complain about "the youth." All the while, you start to wonder how you are going to feel next year when you are another year older and still stuck in random classes.
10. You have to convince yourself that you won't be in school forever.
Because you know that you have another year (or maybe more) of school left, it takes some convincing to realize that you will eventually graduate. When you register for your fifth year, you start to see that you are more than 50 percent done with your degree. The required classes you need start dwindling, and your adviser is talking about your final semester. Even though it feels like you're doomed to be in school forever, you eventually understand that you will eventually graduate and it won't really matter that it took a little extra time.
