# During summer after freshman year in college, can one see themselves as a freshman or sophmore?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-summer-after-freshman-year-in-college-can-one-see-themselves-as-a-freshman-or-sophmore/785574>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 30, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-summer-after-freshman-year-in-college-can-one-see-themselves-as-a-freshman-or-sophmore/785574 "2017-04-30T16:19:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SasoriOrange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@SasoriOrange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SasoriOrange)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-summer-after-freshman-year-in-college-can-one-see-themselves-as-a-freshman-or-sophmore/785574/1 "2017-04-30T16:19:08Z")

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Or either? I mean, I know the term rising sophmore but could one still see themselves as a freshman?

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**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-summer-after-freshman-year-in-college-can-one-see-themselves-as-a-freshman-or-sophmore/785574/2 "2017-04-30T20:39:17Z")

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I would think most students are so eager to move away from being a frosh they consider themselves sophomores when they finish the last question on finals week.

Dennis

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**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-summer-after-freshman-year-in-college-can-one-see-themselves-as-a-freshman-or-sophmore/785574/3 "2017-04-30T20:52:04Z")

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Depends on if they passed all their courses or not, as well as if they tested out of anything. At many colleges, your grade level is determined by credits, not years. The credit levels usually correspond to years of full time study, but an over- or underachiever could be different.  
I’ve known people who took 6 courses per semester and tested out of as much as they could. Once their first summer break in college started, they were Juniors, not Sophomores.  
OTOH, somebody who failed some first-year classes would still be a freshman.

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2017, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-summer-after-freshman-year-in-college-can-one-see-themselves-as-a-freshman-or-sophmore/785574/4 "2017-04-30T21:10:42Z")

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Another vote for completing credits. If a sophomore is 30-59 credits (or whatever credit-scale a college uses), once you complete 30+ credits successfully, you’re sophomore.

People finish in under 4 years or more than 4 all the time. People start in the winter or summer. Take terms off. Etc. The number of school years since starting college only matters to just a few people.

Note that summers in general don’t count for traditional school years. The day after your last day of school as a high school freshman, you’re a sophomore (assuming passed enough courses, etc.).

Similarly, you’re clearly not a high school senior anymore once you finish the diploma requirements.