Super Senior is to Superman like: A) Double Cheeseburger is to Happiness, B) College Is To Orgy, C) Binging Is To Barfing or D) All Of The Above. Who cares? It’s college baby, where the alcohol flows free and the ladies just want to say your name!
If there are any high school or college students who are reading this, I implore you to take your time and enjoy University! The real world is cruel because it’s competitive. If your fellow students beat you, all you get is a poor grade and a milkshake at the University Cafeteria to drown your sorrows. If a fellow real-worlder beats you, you’re jobless! You don’t want to be a 25 year old college graduate living in your mama’s basement now, would you?
I took the standard 4 years to graduate from college. In retrospect, I wouldn’t have minded taking another full year. The problem was that my last semester consisted of only two classes: Advanced Golf and Advanced Economic Analysis! I literally went to class for two hours a day and used the rest of the hours to play $9 dollar rounds of golf, daytrade, and look for a damn job. Oh how I wish I could play more $9 golf now!
I’m not sure if I told my parents that I was kind of twiddling my thumbs my last semester of senior year, but that’s because it didn’t matter how light the course load seemed. My mission #1 was to make some money and prove that my college experience was worth it with a job at the end of the rainbow. Instead of taking more classes beyond golf and economics, I came up with a game plan to gain employment that required 1-2 hours of work a day instead.
WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE YOUR TIME IN SCHOOL
* The Holiday Inn. College is like a cocoon with fluffy pillows and tinted windows, sheltering you from hardship. Waking up at 7:30am to go to class for five hours is a dream come true, since even the most relaxed jobs have 8 hour workdays! When I started work, I got in around 5:30am and left around 7:30-8:30pm on average for the first year and a half.
* You don’t have to face the music. It’s natural to feel anxiety during your junior and senior year because you realize you actually have to prove your worth. Everybody knows college is expensive, ironically making going to an prestigious private school that much more stressful! Imagine going to Yale at $60,000 a year only to graduate with a part-time job making $10 an hour? The guilt and stress would be immense! If you went to a community college and spent $2,000 a year and lived at home, then no big deal.
* Lots more action. You might think that money and a career will get you a lot of action with the opposite sex, and it will. It just won’t be as easy or as often as in college when you were dirt poor. In college, all it takes is going to a party a couple blocks away, having a couple Milwaukee’s Best beers, and walking two blocks back to your dorm room. In the real world, you’ve got to really put yourself out there, spend more than $2 on beer, drive, coordinate, and have the energy since you’re working all day. It’s just not as easy.
* You might self destruct. If you come out too early and aren’t ready for 60 hour weeks and brutal honesty about how you are as a performer, you might very well implode. There is a reason why the economic downturn of 2008-2009 corresponded with an explosion in the Lifestyle movement. People couldn’t get jobs and needed a way to cope. Excellent ideas and blogs were created, however, many many more failed. You don’t want to graduate so soon and be bitter at the world. Take your time.
* You have a lifetime to make money. You only have a limited amount of time to enjoy college. After 8 years, most colleges will kick your butt out because that’s just ridiculous. Anything over 5 years is probably a little ridiculous too, unless you have some family emergency, financial hardship, or are saving the children in a remote town. If you are a good student, with a strong work ethic, and a supportive network, you will find a job and make money. You might even make money with your own start-up. Sure, it’s better to graduate in a bull market than a bear market, but you can’t really time that. There’s plenty of money out there. No rush!
HAVE FUN, IT’S ONLY MONEY AND YOU HAVE A LIFETIME TO MAKE IT
Look at medical school students. Not only do they go to college for 4 years, they have another 3-4 years to get the MD, and another 3 years of residency before they can start making any sort of money! If you think you’re itching after 4 years to save the world and make some money in the process, what do you think about these guys?
If you’ve got a scholarship or your parents are paying for college, by all means take 4-5 years to have some of the best times of your life. If you are strapped for cash, or are taking down lots of debt, then certainly try and finish sooner. Just know that nothing is as artificial and cozy as going to college and that once you graduate, your official income clock starts.
Readers, what are your plans for college and after college? How long did it take you to graduate? Did you want to stay longer, or could you not wait to get out? Anybody regret graduating early, even if it was to save money?
Best,
Sam
I already spent far too much time in college due to the system we have here, as well as having to figure out the path, but it all worked out in the end. Studying part-time, but have no interest in jumping back into it full-time. 😉
The college years are the suppose to be the best years! You get exposed to different types of cultures and you learn to live on a tight budget. Spend your college years networking with the future business owners, lawyers, and doctors around you. You never know where your peers will end up.
They were such super fun years! Did you have fun, besides that deadbeat bf?! I keep thinking about the ex BF you wrote about, I donno why 🙂
As a parent of a college freshman, can I just say I didn’t need to read some of your descriptions of college life? 😉
At any rate, I took 5 years for undergrad, and I worked full time while attending. I’d recommend NOT working full time and going to college if you can afford it, which I could have since I had a full ride scholarship. So I agree with your don’t be in a hurry to enter the real world suggestion 🙂
I’m impressed you have a college freshman Jackie! Boy or girl? Just don’t let them tell you anything! Might make your ears cry!
I did four years (sounds like prison but it was fun). Slacked off the last semester as well.
Really wouldn’t think of getting a masters. In two years you could just build your own online business without the debt.
Or, get your firm to pay for your Master’s. It feels great getting free education!
I was and still am always in a hurry. Part of it is nature and the rest is nurture. I entered college at 17 and graduated at 21 years old. I wanted to go to work and begin my career. In retrospect, I should have stayed longer because I was drafted within six months after graduation. No regrets, I never went to Vietnam, instead taught business classes to inmates at the Army/Navy/Marine/Air Force (USDB) prison (Leavenworth, KS). Maybe it motivated me more to success.
Wow KC. You have such a fascinating background. I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to get drafted, especially so young. That must have been intimidating teaching inmates at first too.
I don’t know, skipped the whole college thing. I just read the textbooks and saved the time/money. I think the social aspects of college would have been fun, but really, it’s just delaying real life. It can get dangerous to always think that you have tomorrow to make money and provide value. Pretty soon you’ll realize that tomorrow already passed and you still haven’t done anything worthwhile. My view is that if you want to do something with your life, go do it. Don’t wait 4 more years to learn how to do it and get a piece of paper that says you’re qualified to do it. But I know I’m in the minority here 🙂
Andrew, college is one big really fun orgy, so I’m sorry you missed out. That said, I’m sure you had your own fun in other ways!
Definitely great you saved on tuition and debt.
Whatcha up to now?
LOL, I like your definition of college. Now I’m definitely bummed I missed it. I’ve actually been an internet marketer since I was in high school – been lucky enough to never have one of those terrible real jobs. Now, I mostly work on my blog and various geeky internet projects/iphone apps. I just found your blog today and subscribed – I really like it!
I was in school for 4.5 years. I hit the community college for the first 2 years. Nothing beats $18 credit hours for general ed credits. Accelerated my major into 2.5 years instead of 3. Totally regret not taking 3 years to take advantage of the most awesome study abroad program at my school. Of course the fact that dorm life was miserable might have had something to do with that. Blaming the school and not dorms in general on that one.
I wish more schools had pricing like community colleges. I remember being shocked how cheap classes were at some of the community colleges when I was looking in taking some courses a few years ago. That’s a bummer you didn’t get to study abroad.
Thinking back, college years were a bliss! No money, but not a care in the world!
I remember it was fun finding ways to save money on food during college. We used to get McDonalds once a week when they had big discounts on McNuggets and weekly breadstick specials from pizza places.
I took 4 years for undegrad followed immediately by 2 years for my master’s. After that, I was a bit sick of school and wanted to move on to something else.
I don’t think people should take less than 4 years, but I think more than that is just unnecessary unless there’s a compelling reason to stay. 4 years is already a long time. If you’re staying a 5th year just to goof off AND you have to pay a lot of money to do it, I’d say it’s not worth it.
What if the Bank of Mom and Dad has a lot of money to allow you to stay for a 5th year to goof off? Can’t be that bad no? As a Super Senior, you now have FIVE years of students to meet and have fun with!
I’m not sure I’m down with 2 year Master’s immediately after college without work experience. I enjoyed going after 4 years of work as the MBA courses felt more relevant. What did you study?
I guess my main objection is that whenever I think of the “super seniors” that were around me at school, I think of people that partied every night and had very few ambitions for life. I’m sure that’s not true for all of them, but that’s the picture in my head, and I don’t identify with that personally.
I should’ve pointed out that I also wouldn’t recommend going to grad school without work experience (a minor regret of mine), although it’s more typical for engineering majors like me than it is MBA students.
Yeah, I can see that image of SSs.
Did you do an MS or an MBA? I agree on the work first then get an MBA. It helped me gain perspective much more.
I was actually really keen to get into the real world. I have always been more mature for my age and I found I didn’t relate to my school peers. I wanted to work, own a home, get married etc. I was very focused. For me, the experience I have gained in the workforce alone at younger age has given me a real edge. No regrets here.
Same here! I’ve always found it easier to make friends that are older than me because of this too. I was happy to finish college and start my own life!
I worked so hard in college that I didn’t really enjoy myself except for the first year. I was so focused on getting a decent GPA and finding a job. If I had taken a slightly lighter class load each semester I probably would have been able to relax a little more but I loved taking a lot of credits at once. In retrospect it all worked out well because I was able to get a nice job shortly after graduation when a lot of my classmates were still in school or just starting to put together their resumes. That’s cool you got to play $9 golf Sam. That is a major bargain!
Very cool. Knowing you so well, it’s great you got stuff done and powered ahead to be available for a job market before the regular class graduation.
What if you found your man who was one year younger, or wanted to stay and graduate 4 years normal or 4.5 years… would you stay and enjoy college more?
Quite possible although I just felt I was ready to start working and was burnt out of studying all the time. I also felt like the large majority of people in my classes acted too much like teenagers, and I was sick of that. If I was a party girl I probably would have been tempted to stay but I was very much a nerd. 🙂
This is so true, and fortunately something I had been told long before heading off to college. It really is one of the best times of your life, and you shouldn’t be in too much of a hurry to get a full-time job. I understand monetary reasons for finishing fast, but if you’re not stretching yourself beyond your means, taking the full 4 years is a great idea.
My reasons are friends, freedom, and sports. Once you and your friends graduate and move into the real world, everyone has to work full time – no more hanging out just for fun all the time. What kind of responsibility do you really have in college? Get good enough grades, and don’t do anything TOO crazy, or at least don’t save a video of it. Sports is a big one for me as well, I’m not sure I’m ready to resign to only playing in rec leagues just yet, I miss the competitiveness of college soccer.
Yes, definitely good advice not to record the craziness to later haunt you in the real world after it gets plastered all over the internet!
The community sports is definitely one of the biggest things I miss. Loved soccer, softball, and group hikes/bikes.