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Graduate early?


Miguelsmom
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Would you encourage your child to graduate a semester early? He wants to go on to graduate school. It would cost him about $1,000 more to graduate a semester early. Internship isn't happening this summer. After this semester he'll have 18 credit to graduate.

1. If he goes to school this summer he'll only have 12 credits his last semester.

What are the pro/con of getting into a graduate program in the spring semester? 

2.He can take 2 extra electives and make 18 credits last two semesters. I think he has to still talk to his advisor. He may not be able to take classes that are not for his degree.

He would like to graduate early but having a summer vacation sounds nice.

My other concern is that he's speed running his education but is emotionally behind. He can handle the workload but doesn't want to do anything extra outside class work. (Ie. No license or desire to get it) So no ability to work. No desire to move out. Things like that. 

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What subject? Are the programs at the schools he is interested in even accepting graduate students for the spring? Many schools only take grad students in the fall.
If that were the case: what would he be doing with the extra semester? I often have advisees in that position, and they try to get a research internship to bridge the half year. Covid has killed many of those opportunities, and the students would have been better off had they stayed in school.

If the program admits grad students in the spring, I would look careful at class sequencing. Will there be courses for him to take, or will he be off sequence and have to wait on things? Will professors take on new grad students for their projects, or will he have to wait until the fall to get in with somebody? What about TA/RA opportunities?

If he does not want to do anything outside of class work, is he competetive for grad school?
Depending on the field, it's undergraduate research or other activities that are decisive, beyond GPA. His application may be stronger if he stays the entire time and works on a research project. That will also generate stronger LORs as mere class participation.

I personally would not encourage my kid to shorten their time in undergrad, but rather encourage them to take additional classes and learn as much as they can if they have extra time. Go deeper. Do research. Get a double major. College is not a race.


 

 

Edited by regentrude
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Financial aid availability for students often drops radically after earning an undergrad degree. There often isn't the same amount of scholarship $$ for post-graduate degrees as for undergraduate degrees. 

What about possibly going forward for the whole year and use that last semester to start taking courses that will apply towards the Master's degree, to reduce the future cost of the Master's degree?

Edited by Lori D.
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His degree will be in information. They do accept spring semester. I don't feel he's competitive . He may do research last semester if things calm down. Beyond GPA and personal projects he doesn't have a lot. He gets along well with professors and has multiple classes with the same professors.  So his LOR should be strong if he does that and research. His major doesn't allow for a double major but may allow for extra class. However his scholarships may not. We need to find out. He wants to have a list of questions before he talks to his advisor again.

I have no idea how different the program would be from the fall semester vs. the spring semester. He'd have to find out.

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7 hours ago, Miguelsmom said:

His scholarship pays for half  tuition for one semester of grad studies. So I would like that to be a full grad course load vs. 2 classes. So the extra classes would be 400 level courses. 

Look for classes that cross over. Read the fine print, but he might be able to take some "500 level" classes, especially if there is some sort of 4 + 1 program.

Edited by MamaSprout
posting before coffee. oi
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34 minutes ago, MamaSprout said:

Look for classes that cross over. Read the fine print, but he might be able to take some "500 level" classes, especially if there is some sort of 4 + 1 program.

This is what I'd have him investigate. My college sr has been taking 2 700 level classes each semester this yr. Her scholarship covers them and if she attends their masters program, the masters will only take 1 yr.

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I have a kid that got through in five semesters + summers. He graduated in December at 20 yo. 

It really isn't ideal and I would have much rather he dug in and did more in the regular length of time. My oldest and next ds will have the same amount of de credit as this one but they have taken and will take the whole four years and just make more of their time and scholarships. I really would have rather he spend more time, go deeper, get a second major, do another internship, etc. However, this particular child just wouldn't have done those things no matter how much time he had. For him, it was a sprint to just be done. In the back of my mind I always worried he was just a distraction or a a setback away from just not finishing at all. So, in his case I think getting the degree and moving on was a good outcome. 

My 20 yo ds really is probably more mature than most. He lives 500+ miles away and is very independent. But he is still just 20 yo. He has to find his way. He'll find it, I'm confident, and he has a degree in hand. I'm very proud of him and am confident he will be successful. However, I still think he would have been well served to take some more time. But he has never been one to do things the way his mother wants!

I don't know the details of grad school or what your son is studying. I just wanted to chime in with my experience. Those years are pretty big developmentally for alot of boys and college is not a bad place to be while you grow. 🙂 

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Other considerations: 

Graduate student loans are all UNsubsidized and hold an higher interest rate than undergrad loans. 

Some graduate programs only offer TA/RA positions in the fall/spring sequence, so pay particular attention to deadlines. For instance, the deadline for TA positions for the 2021-2022 school year are due mid-February for my department. 

Is he ready for the graduate level work load? I know it can depend upon the program and their expectations, but grad school can be all consuming. I'm an adult, my son is graduating college this fall, but sometimes I feel very overwhelmed by grad school expectations. Your study skills/work discipline need to be well honed as they will challenged. 

Summers in grad school can offer research opportunities that are hard to pass up. So, the intensity of school work can continue through the summer in some cases.  

Will a Master's give them the needed edge for employment, or is there an expectation that a PhD is needed for his chosen field? 

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I'm not clear on if he'd be going to a new school or continuing for a masters where he already is.  I know that when we started grad school the entire cohort had to take a lot of the same classes and it was a bonding experience.  If he'd be going somewhere new, I would try to get a feel for whether January starts are common - in our program you wouldn't have been able to take the classes in the sequence with everybody else who started in August - you couldn't take Biochem 2 in January without Biochem 1 in the fall.  With undergrad classes there are always sections of some intro classes being offered, but in grad school they were usually offered only once/year.  But, his program could have fewer prereqs or the program could be assembled  as a collection of independent classes rather than 2 or 3 course sequences.  

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Unfortunately, it’s a degree from another school. His current school has an MA degree and he wants an MS degree. Some of the 3-400 level courses have the same titles as the 500-600 level courses. Some of the classes he’s really interested in he’s buying the 500+ level books to read. He is very concerned about loans and that's one of the main reason why he may not want to go passed a grad certification. He likes "fast" wins and school is not difficult for him. He has his own personal struggles and needs to type faster but major based classes he is good at.

I'm not sure socially he could navigate a TA/RA position. 

Is he ready for the graduate level work load? I'm not sure how different the MS is from the BS workload wise. Right now he front loads his work and is only stressed finals weeks. Grad school is a whole new territory for us. He has some work to do in the area of communication. (softening language, tone, and typing speed). A masters will let him take more jobs in the "masters in related field" area. So he can take the jobs he wants but he's quite comfortable with school so depending he may continue on. He has role models that have masters and are getting their PhDs and he wants to emulate that.

On 1/22/2021 at 11:27 AM, teachermom2834 said:

However, this particular child just wouldn't have done those things no matter how much time he had. For him, it was a sprint to just be done. In the back of my mind I always worried he was just a distraction or a a setback away from just not finishing at all.

 

I have those fears too. He tends to burn bright then burn out. a consistent level of drive isn't his thing.

 

I'll have him ask about the sequence. I know it's 4 required classes and the rest concentration electives.

He has to reach out to his school he wants to pursue and talk to them. 

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So the schedule came out for next year and he has to take summer. But he'll be short one class that is only open in the spring. So he'll have 9 electives he can take. His end goal is a freelance web developer/programmer. His choices that I see:

  1.  go back to CC and get another certificate or 2 in a programming specialty for a semester. 
  2. Get a Digital visualization certificate at University while waiting. (requires on campus classes, currently no car, and 3+ hour bus ride)
  3. Take random electives 
  4. Drop to 12 credits and do research last two semesters
  5. Try to get into their masters program with the stipulation he takes that course spring semester
  6. Fight for a minor 
  7. Fight to do independent study to substitute for that one course so he can take it in the Fall.
  8. Transient student at his future university
  9.  Any other Ideas?

He's not allowed to take Computer programming classes at his current school.

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