# How old were you when you got a 4-year university or college degree? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 23, 2019, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390 "2019-05-23T03:09:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/21 "2019-05-23T13:50:34Z")
Exactly 22. My university held graduation over two or three days, and the graduation date for my major was my 22nd birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/22 "2019-05-23T14:04:57Z")
I was 26-27. There were a few years of work before I went and finished my degree. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/23 "2019-05-23T14:10:22Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Oops, voted wrong. One of your 21s is really a 22. I’m not sure whether one of your 22s is really a 21. I can’t remember whether graduation date was before or after my birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/24 "2019-05-23T14:29:46Z")
I got my double-major BS after 8 semesters, straight out of high school. That made me 21, soon to be 22. I took summers off, but took five courses per semester, not counting extra-curricular courses in music and phys ed. Also avoided 100-level courses when I was permitted (high course loads and upper-level courses for non-major always required sign-offs, which could take some pleading). Junior and senior-level courses are hard work, but a lot more interesting and engaging. I worked hard to get everything I could out of university. And I was heavily incentivized to do it promptly, since my full-ride scholarship lasted no more than 8 semesters. Of my friends, only one other got through in 8. He also had the same time-limited scholarship. Everyone else took longer. (He also was the only one besides me to go on to grad school and get a PhD.) I don’t know how it is now, but the academic counselors then encouraged students to take fewer courses. They would recommend only three per semester. I could read the graduation requirements and do the math–that wasn’t going to work for me. I’m sure they wanted to improve the graduation rate by reducing the workload on students, but time was not on my side. At least I could shop around for an advisor who would approve my course schedule, although sometimes I went “over their head” and got the professor to sign a release for me to take their course. I felt like the system, at least in this mid-sized state school, was not set up for high achievers. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/25 "2019-05-23T14:33:25Z")
I lost my job at 30 in the tech industry. I had some money saved up so I decided to put my career on hold for 4 years and get a degree. I don’t know if it helped significantly (although I make more money than ever), but I do think a lot of resumes go straight into the garbage pile if there’s no degree. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/26 "2019-05-23T14:45:57Z")
I was 33 when I finally finished. My first two years were from 1965-1967. Somehow, my deferment was never sent in, and the military came after me. Rather than be drafted into the Army, I joined the Navy as an enlisted man. In 1972, I decided I had ambitions to be an officer and got myself into a Navy sponsored college program in engineering. Two years later I washed out, still without a degree, but with four years of college under my belt. In 1978, still in the military, I enrolled in night courses with Chapman University and two years later (1980) I graduated. In the end I had some 180 credit hours. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/27 "2019-05-23T16:54:06Z")
I haven’t yet. At age 57, I am an autodidact pedant. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/28 "2019-05-23T16:55:53Z")
Where’s the option for ‘ask me again in a year’? Our system is different anyway, and typically 3 years long, as mentioned above; my course is totally structured, no optional modules, just a straight list of classes, so I expect I will finish on time, unless something drastic happens. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/29 "2019-05-23T18:04:11Z")
I was 21. I started college right after high school, and finished in four years (1989-1993). I failed a class at the end of senior year and needed to take some “summer semester” credits; I wound up graduating one month before my 22nd birthday. While I was an undergrad I was aware that a 5-year-bachelor’s degree was becoming more and more of a “thing,” but there was never any doubt that I’d finish mine in the still-usual four years. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/30 "2019-05-23T18:29:46Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I always get annoyed by these articles- generally speaking, 12 credits per semester is considered full time for the purposes of tuition, financial aid etc. But a bachelor’s degree is typically 120 credits and will take 5 years (10 semesters) at 12 credits per semester. When I was in college (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1983-87), 12 credits per semester was considered the minimum to be a full-time student, as well. In the business school (where I was), 128 total credits were required in order to earn a bachelor’s degree, which, if one were trying to graduate in four years, with no summer school, would work out to 16 credits per semester (and 16 credits was considered to be “full load,” and one typically wasn’t able to carry more than that in a semester without approval from one’s advisor). ISTR that our requirement of 128 credits was a little higher than that for some of the other schools (like Letters and Sciences). However, some schools (particularly in Engineering) had even higher credit requirements; ISTR that a number of those required 136 credits, or even more, which pretty much guaranteed some combination of (a) summer school, and / or (b) more than four years. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/31 "2019-05-23T18:30:38Z")
I was 21 with a caveat. Pitt had a deal back then that with permissions granted you could take Masters classes as an undergrad at the reduced rates and I took advantage of that. I basically had my degree plus some Masters work done by 21 but stalled a few distribution of studies credits so I could pack in a few more Masters discounted classes. The physical diploma was mailed to me when I was 22. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/32 "2019-05-23T18:40:02Z")
24, with a few caveats: [ul] [li]Changed my major[/li][li]Had to repeat a class that was a prerequisite for pretty much every upper level course in my major.[/li][li]Didn’t take a heavy class load every semester and worked to pay for rent, if not tuition for the last year or so.[/li][/ul] Plus, my birthday is really early in the school year, so even had I got through in the classic 4 years, I’d have been 2/3 of the way to 23 by the time I would have graduated anyway. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/33 "2019-05-23T18:43:40Z")
1. I went for 4.5 years. I would have been 22 anyway if I’d graduated in May instead of December. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/34 "2019-05-23T18:46:25Z")
21 ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/35 "2019-05-23T19:19:24Z")
I was 22 when I got undergrad. ---
**Author:** ![Salem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/36 "2019-05-23T19:28:21Z")
22 - graduated high school at 18, straight to college for four years. Early 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/37 "2019-05-23T20:46:44Z")
1. I graduated high school at 17 and took a five-year program. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/38 "2019-05-23T21:24:03Z")
Back in those days in New South Wales, I finished high school aged 17, but a few finished high school aged 16. I did a 4-year degree, but most did a 3-year bachelor’s degree. So I had my degree aged 21, but a few got their degree aged 19. Shortly after that, they added an extra year to high school in NSW: my wife-to-be was one of the first doing 6 years instead of 5 years of high school. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/39 "2019-05-23T21:38:04Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > I was 20 when I earned my BS. I skipped a grade in high school. Same here, but the grade I skipped was in elementary school. Plus I finished my BS in 7 semesters thanks to AP credits. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390/40 "2019-05-23T21:38:49Z")
23, i missed a semester due to some virus [on the odd side, I stopped eating solid food and most beverages 10/3, had my first solid food 12/27 and only lost 20 pounds, go figure] I did do summer sessions in my major down in Washington DC [I took poli sci] so I had one semester that I just did arts and ‘soft’ classes that I needed to take anyway, just got waivered by the various professors to take them all at once instead of at various years like most kids did them. I actually sort of liked hte mental break of a semester of art and literature to break up the hard core studying [I can whip off metalwork, painting or clay sculpture like nothing, always been good with my hands] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-got-a-4-year-university-or-college-degree/834390.md?page=3)