Isn't it crazy that a four-year state school has a bad reputation for getting most everyone out in five or more years?! Well, that's Rhode Island College for you…keeping students here longer than necessary, and for what?

To those of you who have made it out in four years, I applaud you! That is amazing and I really do wish you the best. However, just because you completed a college degree in four years, and it is taking me five, does not make your degree more valuable than mine… and I am learning to just realize that.

In my head, I've always had this plan. A plan that after high school, I would go to college, graduate four years later and become a teacher. However, that plan has shifted… a lot. Over the course of my college career, I have met so many people in my same position, and we are all getting through college together. Whether it takes four years or fourteen years, finishing college is a big thing, no matter how long it took you to get that degree.

This newfound philosophy is something that took me a while to accept and even come to be grateful for. As I entered my fourth year of college, knowing it would not be my last, I could not help but feel like I failed. I felt as though I should be done by now… why aren't I?

Well, there are many possibilities to answer this question. No matter the answer, no one should feel like a failure for taking longer to finish what they started. These are the words I had to drill into my head to finally realize, I am not a failure. I am still going to end up doing what I want, I am finishing with the degree I want, so what if it took me some extra time?! This is when I realized how ridiculous it was that I even had these thoughts in the first place.

After accepting that I was not a failure, in the least, I had this realization that being in college a whole extra year could actually be quite beneficial. I got to be a college kid for a whole extra year. Sure, I still had responsibilities to deal with and things to do, but I had a whole year to grow and learn before I was pushed into harsh reality. I have an extra year to mature before the state decides, "Sure, she can teach and help mold the minds of tomorrow." In a way, this extra year of college turned out to be a blessing in disguise and I didn't even know it.

To all my fellow five or more year planners out there, you are all winners.

P.S. Shoutout to RIC for giving me the extra time to realizes this (even though I really had no choice). I learned how to make lemonade with the lemons you dealt.