One of the terms I quickly learned upon entering college was the term “super-senior.” A super-senior, for those who don't know, is a college student who is a senior but in their 5th or 6th year instead of their 4th.
The reasons as to why they are a super senior varies. For some students, it’s because they switched majors. For others, they had to withdraw from classes due to an inability to balance their course load or other responsibilities and other students even take some time off to travel or figure things out. Some students transfer from the school they started to different one that has the major they're interested in. Whatever the reason may be, more and more students are straying away from the four-year college plan, and being a “super-senior” is becoming more and more common.
I’m currently on the four and a half year plan, due to being behind in the amount of credits I needed to graduate. During my junior year, I had to withdraw from a class due to an outstanding course load. When I went to my advising appointment for the following semester, I learned I was six credits behind where I needed to be to graduate. I had three options, which were to not graduate on time, take two summer courses or take six classes for my last two semesters. The latter two didn’t seem right for me, leaving one option left to graduate a semester later.
I quickly realized I wasn’t alone. One of my friends is taking a year off, making him graduate an entire year later than he planned. Some of my friends are education majors, which for Southern Connecticut State University, means you’re going to be double majoring and having a lot of requirements to fulfill. Another classmate of mine switched their major later on, which resulted in delaying their graduation plans as well.
Graduating later does have its downsides. For starters, I’m not going to be graduating with my class, which can be a bummer when all of your friends are graduating in May. Additionally, graduating later is also more expensive, as I’m going to have to pay for an extra semester.
Despite the downsides, however, being a super senior does have some benefits. It gives you an extra semester or year to figure out what's best for you, whether it may be to go on to get your master's degree or to get a job. Being a super senior also gives you more time to space things out, because instead of trying to cram a bunch of classes into a few semesters, you are spacing them out. This will give you further room to do well in your classes and avoid being stressed out due to an overwhelming course load.
However, I learned that it doesn’t matter how long it took you to graduate. What matters is you got there, and that you got your bachelor’s degree in the end. You can never control life, and sometimes, things happen which can delay or change your plans.
In May, I won’t be joining my classmates that I started my college journey with as they walk the stage and shake the president of the university’s hand as they get their diploma. And that’s perfectly okay. I’ll get there eventually. After all, who said that college needs to be completed in four years?
