Graduate in 3 or 4 Years?

I'm currently a first-year student at UNC. If I wanted to major in Business Admin, I would have to stay here all four years due to restrictions of the business school. However, if I were to major in something else, e.g. Economics, I could graduate in three years because of my AP credit.

I need to decide which route to take ASAP, as this will affect the internship programs I will be applying for. There aren't many programs for freshman, but if I declare myself a sophomore, I would be eligible for more ibanking summer opportunities.

 

I did it in three. Kind of decided my freshman year that it was possible and went ahead with early graduation after getting an IBD internship after my second year, at which point I was still kind of up in the air in terms of deciding. If I could go back I'd probably do the same thing, but really think about whether it is worth graduating a year early. Sure going into banking is great and all and a good career move starting out, but college is awesome and there is hardly a reason to rush the process - you will still have the same opportunities now as you will if you stay the course and graduate in the normal four years.

 

Had similar choice. I graduated in 4 years with a double. Didn't really do all that much for me career-wise, but it was fun and nice to have. Mainly you get to stay as an undergrad, study some interesting classes, more time to get internships. Unless you or your family have money issues, I would stay the extra year. Last semester of undergrad was a blast. Finish taking easy classes and went out all the time. Go out network, study abroad, do something interesting before work takes over your life.

----------------------------------------------------------------- Hug It Out
 

If I were to stay four years, I could double major econ + busi. A lot of people say don't rush college, it's the best years of your life blah blah. To be honest, though, I'm not sure I enjoy it that much...

However, if I were to stay four years, I could probably hold more leadership positions and have an extra year to get an internship. I'm not sure if I could get a BB internship summer 2011, as it's already pretty late...

 
Mfsl27:
I sure as he'll wouldn't want to hire a kid who would sacrifice one of the best years of his life to get a better freshman year internship.

Different people have different preferences. I don't think someone should be berated, just because they don't think college is all that great. Sure, it could say something about their social skills or other personal characteristics, but not necessarily.

 

UNC is littered with southern belles and good sports teams, there are plenty of admirable reasons to graduate early, I just don't think so you can be an investment banker one year earlier is one of them haha. If he were to say graduate a year early, travel the world, then go into the kingdom of monkeydom a year later, I'd give him a pat on the back... I'm just not too sure this kid will be saying the same thing in a few years, but that's up for him to learn on his own

 

Fair enough Mfsl27. I guess I'm just trying to defend the guy, because we have no idea what his situation is. Maybe he's poor and wants to save money? Maybe he wants to get his IB analyst stint over as quickly as possible? Maybe he thinks adult life is more exciting - living in a big city, going out on the weekends, models and bottles, networking, etc? Now, I'm not saying all of these are acceptable reasons to leave school early; just pointing out that there's a broad range of potential reasons.

 

Why is it that the minute people say they don't enjoy boozing/partying that everyone automatically think they're boring/anti-social? There's a helluva lot more to life and many more fun things to do besides that and making ludicrous assumptions about people just because they don't share the same idea of fun as you seems extremely out of place IMO. I personally think someone who enjoys doing outdoorsy stuff, going to new places, can have an intelligent conversations, etc. is way more interesting than someone who acts like every other douchebag college frat guy and brags about how much he parties/how many women he's slept with. Fun is relative and unless someone shows otherwise through interviews, generalizing like this is absurd.

Are most investment bankers, traders, consultants, etc. this obsessed with booze/partying, because I don't think I can stand to be in an industry that is filled with people like that. Maybe I really should consider some other career.

Also, in before my comment gets tons of monkey shit thrown at it.

 
Best Response

throwing back monkey shit would make me just as dumb as you are, go climb a tree and think about your little rant. nobody is yelling at the kid, all i'm saying is he should enjoy college while he can, even if its writing poetry, climbing mountains or whatever it is that makes someone "interesting" to you. I like to drink beer with my friends, have a good time, talk to girls, and make lots of money. I also like to read, play sports, and do community service. they aren't mutually exclusive. college is the only chance you have to just sit back and do whatever the hell you want to do, so no matter what it is that you like, you can do plenty of it in college. toss all the dung at me that you want guy, i'm still probably having a better time than you are.

 
Mfsl27:
throwing back monkey shit would make me just as dumb as you are, go climb a tree and think about your little rant. nobody is yelling at the kid, all i'm saying is he should enjoy college while he can, even if its writing poetry, climbing mountains or whatever it is that makes someone "interesting" to you. I like to drink beer with my friends, have a good time, talk to girls, and make lots of money. I also like to read, play sports, and do community service. they aren't mutually exclusive. college is the only chance you have to just sit back and do whatever the hell you want to do, so no matter what it is that you like, you can do plenty of it in college. toss all the dung at me that you want guy, i'm still probably having a better time than you are.

Actually, I legitimately didn't throw any shit at you. I have 0 credits because I gave away SBs to harvardgrad in his thread (srs, if a mod can check, they can check out my account if you think I'm lying). But anyway, maybe I misunderstood you, but it definitely sounded from your posts as though you were chiding him just for not drinking or whatever, and I'm not the only one who took it that way. But I'm glad we got that cleared up

 

my only reference to alcohol was when somebody mentioned models and bottles and i compared it to sorority girls and dollar beers. sure, I drink socially but by no means to i think drinking is necessary for fun. sorry for bashing you, i thought you were tossing shit at me. there's more to life than drinking, but no matter what you do in college, it should be fun. that's my point.

 
Mfsl27:
my only reference to alcohol was when somebody mentioned models and bottles and i compared it to sorority girls and dollar beers. sure, I drink socially but by no means to i think drinking is necessary for fun. sorry for bashing you, i thought you were tossing shit at me. there's more to life than drinking, but no matter what you do in college, it should be fun. that's my point.

Yeah I'm sorry too. It was a simple misunderstanding, so hopefully we can just move on. Someone threw dung at me too, so we're even.

 

Doesn't UNC undergrad have some obscene girl/guy ratio (something like 1.5 girls for every guy - and this is from a news article, not off the top of my head)? Why would you ever want to graduate early (unless you couldn't afford it financially)? If anything, use that extra year to take some slack classes and learn to pick up women/improve your social skills; that will add 100x more value to your life than starting some stupid IB analyst job a year early.

 

Holy fucking shit. If you leave UNC one single day early to go into investment banking I am going to come find you and punch you in the face.

UNC is absolutely swarming with beautiful, naive southern girls that are just learning about alcohol and want nothing more than to suck your dick in exchange for an invite to your fraternity party. Your sports teams are solid. The weather is fantastic. You have zero responsibilities. Franklin Street hosts the best Halloween party on the planet every year. Every other night of the year, the party scene is great at frat houses or local bars. The guy to girl ratio is almost 1:3. I have friends that literally had 2-3 girlfriends simultaneously and openly because the ratio is so skewed that girls will take what they can get. You will never again experience a party and pussy nirvana like the one that takes place outside your dorm room every night at Chapel Hill. It is literally impossible not to have fun in college. You're in a place that is the incarnation of all that is good in the world and you want to leave to go into investment banking EARLY? GO OUTSIDE you asshole. If you don't, your future self will never forgive you.

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

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I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

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