85: Pros and Cons of Spending an Extra Year in College

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Hi everyone. Today I have a short episode for you. I'm going to talk to you about the pros and cons of spending an extra year in college. Why am I talking about this? Well, it's still the beginning of the new academic year. For some of you, especially those of you that are currently in college, you might be wondering- as you're going into your junior year or your senior year, you might be in your first or second year as a transfer student, and thinking- should I stay an extra year? Or maybe you're not thinking about it, and you don't realize that this is an option. But now's a good time to decide. If you wanted to take an extra year, now is the time to figure that out, to talk to whoever you need to talk to to make that decision, so that you can plan your year ahead, even your upcoming academic years ahead.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Let me talk to you about a couple of scenarios that I've witnessed of students who have benefited from taking an extra year. Usually I say, taking a third year if they're transfer, or taking a fifth year if they're a traditional student. I have actually seen students who have opted to stay an extra year for a couple of reasons. Reason number one that I've seen, that may or may not be true now because of the pandemic. I'm not sure how travel restrictions are right now. But in the past, I would often witness students who would choose to take a fifth year so that they could study abroad. In fact, it was really common. It was something that happened even when I was in undergrad. Among my own cohort of folks who were doing undergraduate research with me, there was always a couple of people who decided to say an extra year and they used that extra year to study abroad.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

They went to Barbados or they went to Spain or they went to Costa Rica. Wherever it is they went, they had a life changing experience. The only reason they were able to do that and squeeze it in to their academic timeline or trajectory is because they had that extra year. So they either did study abroad the summer before they graduated, or they did study abroad in the fall quarter, or they did study abroad for the whole year. They were gone for a whole year, and then came back, walked the stage, graduated - a year later, but nonetheless graduated. That's one of the ways that I've noticed people taking an extra year and taking advantage of it.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Another common reason to take an extra year- especially for transfer students- is that oftentimes, you get to college and you feel like you're learning so much and you have access to so many resources. You have so many opportunities. And it feels like you just don't physically have enough time to get it all done, or you just don't have the capacity to take everything on that you want to do and get it done in the four or the two years that's expected of you. That is completely okay. If you're finding yourself, that you are a transfer student, you just started college, or maybe you started the four year university, you're a year into it realizing- how am I going to get this all done in a year? I still feel like I barely know my campus.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

It is completely okay to take an extra year so that you can space out your classes, so that you don't have to be taking too many units. You can take whatever the minimum is to be a full time student and not stress yourself out more than you need to. Or so that you can do a double major, or pick up an extra minor, or so that you can take more credits for research and get involved in more research opportunities. What are other reasons that students benefit from this? To take classes for fun. I know folks who took classes not necessarily to meet a major or minor, but because they were genuinely interested in a topic. They had the space to do that because they took an extra year.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

The other advantage of taking an extra year is that if you have more space, more room in your academic year, kind of planning to take classes, you don't necessarily have to take classes in the summer. I know a lot of folks who because they're on this normative four year, two year timeline, don't even have the option. They have to take summer classes, because certain classes are only offered once a year every year. And if they don't make that cut off the year that they're supposed to take it, they have to take it in the summer. So it's just another option to again, space out your classes.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I would say those are the first two reasons that I've seen students- very primary reasons- students have benefited from taking an extra year. Whether they wanted to have the opportunity to study abroad, or they wanted to have more kind of wiggle room to be able to space out their classes. The other thing that I referenced a little bit is research, especially if you're at a research institution. How can I not mention research if this is a podcast about going to grad school? If you're interested in research, sometimes two or four years is not enough. Two years, you're barely getting started. Four years, maybe you just found out about research in the last year or two. There's so much more you can do with that extra year.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

What are some examples of things that you can do with an extra year? Maybe you didn't know about external summer programs before arriving to campus. Now that you do know, you can apply to REUs, to research experience for undergraduate programs through the National Science Foundation. You can apply for any other external summer programs, like the Big Eight. I'm blanking out on the names of the big research programs that are available in the summer. But you can apply for those and have that extra summer to do that. The other thing about research is that if you have an extra year, then it gives you an opportunity to apply for two year research programs whose deadlines maybe you missed, or to apply for departmental honors so that you can get honors credit and write a senior thesis through your major.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

What else can you do with research? What's great about taking an extra year is that when you're applying to graduate school, you have the opportunity to apply to grad school while you're still an enrolled student. Why does that matter? It matters because you can take advantage of having access to university resources when you're applying to graduate school. If you know that you are an undergrad right now, and you are interested in going to graduate school immediately after graduating- you don't necessarily feel compelled to take time off or take a gap year or two. And you want access to support through mentors, through access to individuals, staff members, anybody who can help you along the way, having access to resources- even accessing library databases and readings. All of that is going to be kind of within proximity to you. Also, being in that climate of being a student and getting things done and meeting deadlines, all of that could be beneficial in helping you to apply to graduate school.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I think those are some of the primary pros of taking an extra year. I like to bring it up a lot to folks, especially if they feel like they want to apply to grad school and they don't think that they're competitive enough. Although most of the time when people say that they're not competitive enough, it is just imposter syndrome kicking in, or it's them being made to feel like they don't belong or they're not included in academic spaces. It's not necessarily having to do with their academic profile or their research experience. But if there are a few gaps, and you would like to have a little bit more time to take certain classes that will help you with applying to grad school, to get involved in certain research programs that will help you to be a more competitive candidate, or even more time to bump up your GPA, then you should certainly consider that option.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Now, I don't just want to encourage you to take an extra year if you're not considering some of the not so great parts about taking an extra year- some of the cons of taking an extra year. And to be frank, I couldn't think of any major cons. I'll tell you this. When I was an undergrad, I did not like the idea of taking an extra year because for me it felt like I was going to lose a year. I just wanted to keep going, go straight to grad school. And I had taken all of my classes on time so that I could graduate in four years. But looking back, I do think I could have benefited greatly, especially from a study abroad experience in undergrad. That would have been a game changer for me.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

But going back to the cons. One thing that for me, held me back from taking an extra year was I didn't want to sit with the discomfort of seeing my peers graduate before me. Now, you'll get over that pretty quick in grad school, because grad school timelines are all over the place. You may be the one who graduates first or last or in the middle. It doesn't matter. Everybody's on their own timeline. I was the last one of my cohort to graduate from my PhD, and that was okay. I took six years and that was okay. But that could be a con for you. You might think to yourself, I don't know how I feel about not being able to graduate with my friends, or I don't know how I feel about walking the stage early, but still not being done with my classes. If that's the case, think about it. Maybe you don't want to or need to take that extra year.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

The other thing that comes up with taking an extra year is that after your two years, after your four years, you could get tired. You could start to feel rundown, fatigued, burnt out, and a lot of times for people, that last year, senioritis kicks in. What does that mean? That means that it's even harder to get everything done that last year, because you're already mentally checking out of that space. If that's the case, if you feel like you're already ready to be done, you're starting to get that senioritis, perhaps a fifth year is not the right option for you. Again, that's okay. These are just options.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Now, the last con I want to mention is actually a very important con, something you should definitely keep in mind. That has to do with financial aid and funding. Can you actually afford to take an extra year? That is a big question. Do you still have access to financial aid? Do you still have access to funding? Can you still afford to stay that extra year? That's something you're going to have to figure out by reviewing your budget, reviewing your financial aid package, talking to a financial aid counselor. All of that will help you determine if it's financially feasible for you to stay an extra year.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

The other thing I wanted to say when it comes to taking that fifth year, the third year, whatever it is for you is don't forget that you want to make sure that you are allowed to take that extra time. You want to check in with your academic counselor to make sure that you can actually stay. That's the other thing actually, I forgot to mention is when I say take a third year, or a fifth year, it doesn't actually have to be the full year. It oesn't have to be the two semesters or the three quarters that you're thinking about. It could be just one extra semester, or just one or two extra quarters. So just keep that in mind. It doesn't have to be the full year.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Some people take an extra quarter, take an extra semester, and then they finish early. Because they do that, they're able to walk the stage the year prior with their classmates. Then other people opt to stay the full year - if they can afford it- because they still want, like I said, access to the resources, access to health care, insurance, all that stuff. And they don't mind finishing up and graduating the following year. These are all things for you to consider.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I didn't actually talk about all the different pros and all the different cons. But I'm just thinking out loud about some of the things that have come up for me in conversations with students and individuals that I've worked with who have again benefited from a fifth year. I don't think I've ever worked with anyone who has taken an extra year and regretted it. For most of them, it has given them the time and space they need to either catch their breath- kind of like be able to just take a deep breath and space out their classes, take it easy, and not try to rush through things and do too much and burn themselves out. Or it's allowed them to have these really wonderful travel study abroad opportunities. Or it has given them more time to accumulate experiences, particularly research, work experience internship experiences that have all helped with improving their resume, their CVs, their applications to jobs, their applications to grad school.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

So if you're wondering whether or not you should take an extra year, now is a good time to talk to a financial aid counselor. Talk to an academic counselor. Talk to all your femtors and mentors and make a decision soon. That way, it can help to inform how you plan the rest of the academic year this year. I hope you found that information helpful, and I will talk to you all next time.