It's coming up on the end of June which means that it is graduation season for thousands of college students across the nation. Many of them are either preparing to walk across a podium and grab their diploma or perhaps they've already done it and are getting ready for their next step into the wide world. For some, the next step might be continuing their education by pursuing a Master's degree or a Doctorate.
Or, if you are anything like me, you are not graduating on time for one reason or another. You have watched another group of friends in their cap and gown and walk across the stage. And while we are incredibly proud of our friends for completing their higher education, we wish that we could be graduating at the right time. Technically, I should have graduated this past Saturday on the 16th of June. But due to some personal setbacks, I did not.
I'm here to tell you, and remind myself, that there is no such thing as the "right" time to graduate college.
While society and college both push the narrative that everyone finishes in four years. That simply isn't true.
Not one single person blooms the same way another person does. It might take you five years to get your bachelors degree. You might never get one at all. And that is more than OK.
Higher education is an incredibly personal thing. It is different for everyone else. Different schools, different professors, different classes, and different experiences and obstacles that each student brings to the table. It would be mind-numbing, boring experience if everyone came to college and completed it at the same time. Some people graduate with multiple degrees, summa cum laude all the while working multiple jobs. Some of us will just be proud that we even managed to show up to class at all.
Do not feel guilty for following your own path.
Stop beating yourself up for following your own path.
Not everyone can adhere to the proposed plan that the system makes for its students. And that is OK.
You do not need to graduate "on time" to go out into the world and do wonderful things.
