2008 Woodie Awards
Number of fifth-year seniors at University on the increase
Hall, Stephanie
Issue date: 3/20/08 Section: TruLife
Super senior - a joking term for some - is a reality for more and more students.
Less than 35 percent of students who attended four-year colleges graduated in four years, according to a 2006 study done by the National Center for Education Statistics. Even at Truman, the number of students who are proclaiming themselves fifth-years is rising.
Colin Coffman said that this semester he officially became a fifth-year student. Coffman said he took a semester off after his sophomore year and went to Japan for a couple of months.
"Now I'm [a] linguistics major," he said. "I started out physics, but high school didn't prepare me at all for that. [High school] just made it look cool."
Coffman said that after he dropped his physics major, he was unsure what he wanted to do and took electives his sophomore year. After his trip to Japan, he declared a linguistics major and said he credits his time in Japan to that decision.
"If you graduate within four years, you either bring a lot of credits in or take just your major classes," Coffman said. " If you have two majors or a major very different from your minor, you set yourself up to stay longer, even if it is only one semester."
Jim Kelly, Residential College Program advisor, is in charge of helping first-year students plan their class schedules, and he said he tries to get all class prerequisites covered.
"[Different] majors have a varied amount of required hours," Kelly said. "I think that is where we as advisers and RCP run into problems with the first year or two."
Kelly said it is important to have a four-year plan and know what courses are required for different majors.
"Those courses in the first two years can be fairly regimented to make sure that you are following that sequence of courses," he said.
After their first two years, many students settle into taking major classes, but this can be difficult if students declare their majors later into their schooling or haven't taken prerequisite classes, Kelly said.
Less than 35 percent of students who attended four-year colleges graduated in four years, according to a 2006 study done by the National Center for Education Statistics. Even at Truman, the number of students who are proclaiming themselves fifth-years is rising.
Colin Coffman said that this semester he officially became a fifth-year student. Coffman said he took a semester off after his sophomore year and went to Japan for a couple of months.
"Now I'm [a] linguistics major," he said. "I started out physics, but high school didn't prepare me at all for that. [High school] just made it look cool."
Coffman said that after he dropped his physics major, he was unsure what he wanted to do and took electives his sophomore year. After his trip to Japan, he declared a linguistics major and said he credits his time in Japan to that decision.
"If you graduate within four years, you either bring a lot of credits in or take just your major classes," Coffman said. " If you have two majors or a major very different from your minor, you set yourself up to stay longer, even if it is only one semester."
Jim Kelly, Residential College Program advisor, is in charge of helping first-year students plan their class schedules, and he said he tries to get all class prerequisites covered.
"[Different] majors have a varied amount of required hours," Kelly said. "I think that is where we as advisers and RCP run into problems with the first year or two."
Kelly said it is important to have a four-year plan and know what courses are required for different majors.
"Those courses in the first two years can be fairly regimented to make sure that you are following that sequence of courses," he said.
After their first two years, many students settle into taking major classes, but this can be difficult if students declare their majors later into their schooling or haven't taken prerequisite classes, Kelly said.
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