Senior economics major Meilii Alvarez noticed last fall that she could fulfill the courses required to graduate by this December if she also took summer classes. She now has a job with PricewaterhouseCoopers that will begin on Jan. 6.
“I will definitely miss everyone, but I was ready to move on and get into the world and move on to the next thing – not to mention it saves a lot of money, so that helps too,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez is not the only one to take advantage of the benefits of graduating early.
This December, 26 students will graduate – almost half of them in less than 4 years. It is the lowest number of December graduates since 2008, peaking in 2010 with 47 graduates. Job opportunities and finances often motivate students to graduate as soon as they reach credit requirements.
Senior Deborah Ross, a music major, realized she has sufficient credits to graduate in December, but said she is torn over the decision to graduate early, since she hoped to take more humanities classes, especially history classes she has not had time to take before now.
“I am kind of at a stage where I have to decide all this in a short amount of time,” Ross said.
Senior Natalie Clore, a marketing management major, said she has appreciated less competition when interviewing for jobs.
“I have found that a lot of companies when they put up a job postings are looking to fill it within four weeks,” Clore said. “It is really nice to see interesting job opportunities that are available now, knowing I would be able to fill them opposed to someone who isn’t graduating until May who wouldn’t be considered for the position.”
Executive Director of Career Services Michael Murray also said graduating early could give graduates more opportunities, but it could also work against the hiring calendar.
“In many respects there is not as much competition in December, but there are not as many easily identified opportunities with companies,” Murray said. “The bigger companies model and structure their calendar year and their hiring process around a typical academic calendar with people graduating in the spring. Though based on what I have seen the lesser number of opportunities and the lesser number of people is somewhat of a wash.”
Murray also said employers could judge early graduates as either ambitious or intense depending on the nature of the company.
“The majority will see [graduating early] as a good thing. If [students] can do that it means they are disciplined and focused to get the credits done in a shorter amount of time. I also think it cuts both ways,” Murray said. “Some companies, depending on what they are, might say, ‘That person might be a little too intense – too aggressive for our company,’ but again, that is driven by the opportunity and culture and the organization where the opportunity presents itself.”
Clore said despite the benefits of graduating early, there are things that she will miss.
“It is definitely a day to day thing,” Clore said. “When I have a lot of homework, I am very glad to be leaving early, but on days I get to spend hanging out with my friends or having good conversations with professors, it seems sad that I will be gone sooner than everyone else. I think I have had a really awesome three and a half years though and I don’t think I have missed out on anything.”
