The "Four Year" Rule

Dan here!

I am right on track to graduate this coming May with a double major in Anthropology and Psychology, which I declared towards the end of my sophomore year after being undecided coming into college. In fact, with a little hard work, I probably could have graduated a semester early. A general education course and an elective from each of the Anthropology and Psychology departments are the only three classes I need to graduate. After having an incredibly busy college career, I could make next  semester as relaxed as I pleased. And that is exactly what I am going to do – in Cape Town, South Africa.

Instead of spending my last semester in Storrs, CT, I am studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. Therefore, I am breaking the ‘Finish in Four’ year rule. I will not be graduating this May with the rest of my friends with whom I have spent the last three plus years. Due to me going abroad, I will need to stay an extra semester, and I am completely okay with it. At no other point in my life will I have the opportunity to participate in such an amazing program as the one which I will partake in South Africa. While in Cape Town I will be living in a house with sixteen other students from UConn, which in itself will be quite the experience. Also, I will be interning at a local organization, with my placement being determined based on my interests. While I do not for sure know my internship yet, the one proposed to me involves working with at-risk youth and creating a outdoor instruction curriculum to teach them life skills. From my understanding, the organization can draw some parallels to the Outward Bound program here in the States, which I spent a week doing in Colorado my senior year of high school. Additionally, I will be taking courses at the University of Cape Town, which will be taught in part by the UConn professor who accompanies us on the trip. Ultimately, I will have three-day weekends to construct my own activist volunteer program and also explore and experience the culture of South Africa. I intend to do a lot of hiking, to learn how to surf, to bungy jump, and to integrate myself into a culture so different than that of the United States.

Cape Town, seen from above

I'll be putting off my graduation, for now.

Do you now understand where my rational to stay in college an extra semester? This program is incredible and I am unbelievably excited to participate in it. This does not come without anxiety and fear, however. I will be leaving all of my friends during their last semester and coming back to a very different socially scene at UConn next fall. This is an adjustment that will have to be faced when the time comes – and no sooner.

So, while I have every opportunity to graduate this spring in the traditional four year manner which everyone advocates so diligently, I have decided that staying an extra semester in college is actually going to benefit me long-term more than graduating ‘on time’. I have my entire life to experience the “real world,” to settle down and work in a career. Why not spend a little more time to myself, living and exploring while I still can?