It has taken you longer than four years to graduate. You see your friends excited and ready to graduate this coming May and you feel slightly discouraged. But, do not worry; it takes some people longer than four years.
It is going to take me five years to graduate undergrad, and then I will have grad school to look forward to . I feel like I might be in school forever but I won’t be, and neither will you. Just remember that.
It is okay if it takes you awhile. Do not stress about it. Celebrate your friends’ victories, and then when it comes time for you to graduate, it will feel so much more rewarding. And, it is quite normal for it to take 5+ years to graduate with your bachelor’s degree.
We are pretty much rushed to know what we want to do right when we graduate from high school, being treated like kids to adults seemingly overnight. That is why often times people end up going back to school later in life, because they rushed into a major and a job they did not truly want. That is another advantage to taking longer to graduate; you really get to think about if your major is the one for you.
Now, onto my personal take on this. I dealt with a lot of mental health issues, which is why it took me longer. I had to withdraw from a class and it put me behind. But, being put behind actually turned out to be a good thing for me. At that point I was on track to be a teacher, but upon talking to my mom (who is a teacher), I realized teaching was not what I wanted to do. I then got on my current path, which is speech-language pathology.
I think, if I did not have that moment of falling behind, would I have had the moment of reconsideration that I did? Probably not. Sometimes taking longer is a good thing for that very reason.
Do not beat yourself up. There are a multitude of reasons why it might take you longer, and that is okay. You will get there and you will graduate.