Graduating early might seem like a smart decision, but looking back at my two years of college, I’m unsure if I made the right decision.
When I started college in the fall of 2022, I was excited about having completed high school, about taking classes that I found more interesting and being in a new atmosphere.
I was most excited about being one step closer to law school, which has been my dream since I was a seventh grader.
Weeks into my first semester of college, I started thinking of ways to fast-forward into this dream.
The duration of law school is typically three years long, but some people take four years if they are in law school part-time, according to a PURDUE GLOBAL article.
I looked into the logistics of how this would work and how many units I needed to take to graduate a year early.
In the 2023 Spring semester, I took 21 units in order to reach junior standing by the next fall while working two jobs as a tutor and legal intern.
The average number of units students take per academic year is 30 units, roughly 15 units (or five three unit classes per semester) and to be a full-time student, you must be enrolled in at least 12 units, according to a SJSU web page.
If students want to take over 18 units per semester, they need to fill out a petition and be approved by their academic advisor or department chair, according to the same web page.
This took a big toll on my mental health because I was constantly busy and I began to experience burnout.
Burnout is when you feel constantly stressed and swamped because you are experiencing too much fatigue for a long time, according to a WebMD web page.
It’s real and it can impact not only your mental health but also your academic performance, according to a March 29, 2023 Bay Atlantic University article.
It became hard to keep my grades and social life up while studying for the Law School Admissions Exam.
Burnout can cause depression, anxiety, depression, difficulty sleeping and many other things that can affect you in your everyday life, according to the same article.
Something else that impacted my decision to graduate early was the financial aspect because I ended up saving a lot of money, not just on tuition but also on transportation and parking money.
I saved money by graduating a year early but this is the only upside.
By only taking the necessary classes to fulfill your major, one can save a considerable amount of money since it will cut the costs on tuition, books, housing, transportation and gas, according to a SJSU 2023-2024 Financial Aid report.
However, financial aid is usually awarded by semester or academic year and if you want to graduate early, you will take more than the regular number of units and your aid may not cover it, according to a Dec. 6, 2023 Bankrate article.
However, as I reach the end of my college career, I can’t shake the feeling that my hard work wasn’t worth it.
I saved some money by graduating early and of course, I saved time.
However, college is the time when students get to pursue their dreams without too many responsibilities.
Students not only go to class, complete assignments and have a heavy workload, but they oftentimes have families that they have to support and also work part-time jobs, according to an edtrust article.
Around 42% of part-time college students and 81% of full-time students work while in college, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report from 2022.
Those four years are also a time of self-discovery and is the best time to try new things, such as a new hobby, stepping out of your comfort zone and growing both academically and professionally, according to a UC Irvine article.
Though college is stressful, it could have been a time to take classes outside of my major that I found interesting, connect with professors and students across campus and be part of clubs and organizations.
While I think graduating early benefited me in the sense that college was less expensive, I also think I missed out on a lot of experiences.
But after endless classes and long nights of studying, I am ready to leave college in the rear-view mirror.
