Every class has students who completed their education in three years.
Some of them are eager to start their post-grad lives, some are getting married, and some could not see themselves enjoying Hillsdale longer than three years.
Abigail Thornton, a theology major from Nashville, Tennessee, said she planned on graduating in three years after finding out she had enough credits to do so.
“I ended up picking theology as my major, which is a small major,” Thornton said. “I was looking at the credits I needed and I was like, ‘Wait, I think I can get out of here in three years.’ So that’s when I decided to lock down and finish.”
Thornton said she is taking 28 credits this semester with six classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, three on Tuesdays and Thursdays, four on Fridays, and a biweekly senior capstone class.
“It actually isn’t too bad,” Thornton said.
Thornton got engaged over spring break and is getting married in August. She said she is excited to move back to Nashville to work and begin post-grad life.
“I’m looking into business consulting,” Thornton said. “I am working part time for a healthcare software company right now, and I’ll continue working for them for a while. I might take on a little bit more when I graduate, so we’ll just see what the Lord brings.”
Thornton said she’s looking forward to having real-life experiences in the work force.
“The biggest thing was that I kind of just wanted to start life,” Thornton said. “I think the hardest thing about staying at Hillsdale was being so isolated from everywhere else. Which makes it a lot harder to get involved in real life and learn from that experience.”
Ella Nix, an applied mathematics major from Fort Wayne, Indiana, is also graduating in three years and will marry sophomore Stephen Petersen in July. She said she made the decision because she wanted to have a family soon.
“When I met Stephen, my fiancé, we started getting a little bit more serious and we started to talk about our options with the timeline of our marriage,” Nix said “We decided that it would be best if one of us was working so we could start a family young.”
Nix said that she and Petersen hope to live near Hillsdale.
“I’m planning on working full time in Hillsdale so I can be plugged into the community and near my friends,” Nix said.
Nix said entering the next stage of life is bittersweet.
“It’s a lot of mixed emotions,” Nix said. “I am excited because I am looking forward to the next stage of life: marriage and family. So I view graduation as an entry point into that. I am not graduating early because I don’t love Hillsdale or because I don’t like school. I genuinely love Hillsdale and I have loved my time here. And I am definitely sad that it is kind of cut short.”
David Gregory, an applied mathematics major from Minneapolis, Minnesota, said he pursued a three-year degree because he had transferred in enough credits to do so.
“I knew it was a possibility from the beginning,” Gregory said. “I didn’t think I was going to be able to enjoy taking classes for four years. Also, if I’d done four years, I would have only taken 12 credits a semester. I think that would have been pretty boring because I like to keep myself busy.”
Gregory said he plans to live near Hillsdale in the short term to stay in touch with friends. .
“I’m planning on sticking around Hillsdale for another year or two,” Gregory said. “Eventually, I’d like to get into data science or data analytics. Then as a side hobby, I want to try to flip houses. So, I’m looking at buying a house in the area that’s a fixer-upper and putting some work into it.”
Nix said she’s leaving school with purpose.
“Getting married young was really important to me.” Nix said. “I always said that I wouldn’t graduate early unless I had a good reason, and I found my good reason.”
