“Independent” Learning: Is it a new trend to get your degree in more than four years?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been responsible for funding my education. At least from the time I was able to earn a steady income at the tender age of thirteen. Now that I’m on my last semester of my six-year enrollment at the University of Nevada, Reno, I had to ask myself, “Why did it take so long for me to earn my bachelors degree in International Business?” Friends may argue that it was my excessive partying, or my change of major midway through my college career, or even my lack of motivation to continue my studies after I took the year of to work and gain residency. It wasn’t until recently that it just dawned on me that the reason I’ve delayed graduating was the fact that I was scared to move on and begin my journey to the next level. One thing I can say, and many can agree on, is that these last six years have been the most exciting.

I recently read a blog from Rebecca Thorman, aka Modite, titled “No ‘A for Effort:’ How Colleges Fail Generation Y”, and in it she argues about the changes many institutions are implementing and how they are failing Generation Y adults in properly educating and preparing us for the future. She also argues about how the emphasis on a major is irrelevant due to the changing environment where a title is not what is important but the amount of knowledge and experience we gain from them. In a way I agree about her ideas and relish on them, but I just want to point out that it’s not the institutions of higher learning that has failed us, because what I learned is that only we as students have that power to fail in life. Dr. Bret Simmons, my personal branding and very intellectual professor of organizational professor says it perfectly, “A courageous individual is one who takes full responsibility in their success and in their failures as well.”

If I were to graduate in four years, I probably wouldn’t have gained all the knowledge and experience needed for me to succeed. To be honest, with everything changing and the world relying more and more on technology, graduating in four years may seem obsolete in the years to come. I just want to make it perfectly clear that I am not endorsing students to slack off and take their time to graduate. It’s all up to the individual to decide when it’s their time to move on and make a name for themselves.