Super Senior. A common title for college students who take longer than four years to obtain their degree. You have freshman year where you spend the year getting acclimated to college, finding your friends and finding organizations to be a part of. Sophomore year is usually spent solidifying those friendships, starting to find yourself, and starting to think about what you really want to do with your life. Junior year is when you really start to work towards that future while maintaining those friendships and growing as a person. Then senior year you’re supposed to have everything wrapped up- you’re comfortable with your major, your friends, your life, etc. But fifth-year students have their…super senior year?? I, personally, prefer to call it a victory lap. This year, I believe, is the best one of them all. Not only have you had the previous four years to find what you want to do and find yourself, you now have this additional year to do whatever you want in college.
There are many reasons for a student to take longer than the normally allotted four years to complete their major. It could be financial reasons, academic reasons, travel, family, changing majors, changing schools, pretty much anything that could cause a halt or change your life could impact how long you stay in college. Or maybe you are just running from actual, real adult life. For me, it was because I decided to change my major the beginning of my junior year. While many students enter into their majors of choice the middle of their sophomore year, I didn’t choose mine until junior year. I was originally going to go to University Park for Wildlife Science but decided that the main campus was too big for me so I changed my major to Ecology, Evolution and Behavior in the Biology department making me a semester behind in my major.
Originally, I was only supposed to be at Behrend for one additional semester but it turned into a full year because it would be easier academically to finish my major in two extra semesters as compared to one. At first, I wasn’t happy about it at all. I didn’t want to be here an extra year because one, it’s a struggle financially and two, I was just not happy about having to be in school any longer than I had to be. When I started to think about all the friends I would have left behind if I graduated in four years, I started to become okay with staying an extra year (even though financially it would still suck) because that meant I had an additional year to spend with them before we all separated and got big kid jobs. I like to joke around that the only reason I stayed another year was to graduate with my roommate who is one year younger than me. Though that wasn’t the plan, I’m pretty happy it turned out that way. I’m not going to lie, the senioritis was bad my senior year and it is WAY worse my super senior year, but I wouldn’t change anything. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t graduate in four years. Taking five years to graduate has helped me focus a little more on obtaining a higher GPA and the grades I want in the classes I take while also having additional time and memories with all my friends. There is a definite difference between the way I observe college now and the way some of the juniors or seniors see it. I have a more satirical, silent-but-observant look on most things. I don’t necessarily feel the need to be involved in everything anymore but I still appreciate college life.
My advice to those either struggling with the idea of having to stay another year or worrying that they will have to stay more than four years is it is okay. It is okay to take your time to graduate. It’s okay to spread your classes out to take some stress off yourself to ensure a beneficial and successful college career. It’s okay to not know what you want to do with your life which may put you behind a year. It’s okay. Life happens. Many college students today are taking more than four years to graduate so you aren’t the only one. Graduating in five, or six, or seven years doesn’t mean you aren’t as intelligent as those who have done it in four. Everyone learns at different paces and everyone’s lives are different. Life happens. Just enjoy the ride, even if it means another year in college.