Mary Schmich, a longtime columnist of the Chicago Tribune, once wrote “The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.”
This quote comes from the hypothetical commencement speech she published in 1997 titled “Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young.” In it, Schmich describes the importance of embracing life’s fleeting moments and avoiding comparing yourself to others. Her words perfectly encapsulate the idea of one’s journey, particularly during university—especially when that journey takes more than the typical four years to complete a degree.
Choosing a major in May 2021 after my fully online first year was daunting. After a year of general science, I was torn between pursuing chemistry or life sciences. Ultimately, I chose chemistry because I earned an A+ in CHEM112. However, by the following fall, I had changed my mind, partly because the transition to in-person lectures and labs was far from smooth.
Despite the societal pressure to complete a degree within four years, I embraced the opportunity to explore and find a major that truly excited me rather than rushing through my degree unhappily.
Taking a fifth year at Queen’s—or any university—shouldn’t be stigmatized. It’s a valuable chance for students to explore their interests, overcome challenges, and set themselves up for long-term success, especially considering the unique disruptions caused by COVID-19 and the transition from online to in-person learning.
Taking more than four years to graduate is common in certain programs, like engineering, yet students in other fields often feel like they’re doing something “wrong” if they take extra time. In fact, the most recent Statistics Canada data shows it takes an average of 4.56 years for Canadian university students to finish their degrees.
There are countless reasons a degree might take longer than expected—many of which are beyond students’ control. Whether it’s due to financial constraints, mental health challenges, or balancing extracurricular commitments, education thrives on individuality, not uniformity. Personally, by spreading my courses over an additional year, I was able to fully invest my energy in the extracurriculars I was passionate about while maintaining a balanced workload.
Switching majors is an important steppingstone to finding a fulfilling path. Life is about trial and error, and navigating post-secondary education is no exception. According to the University of Toronto, 50 to 70 per cent of students change their major at least once during their studies. I made the mistake of choosing a major based solely on my highest grade in first year. I thought chemistry would be “easy” since I excelled in it online, but I failed to consider the challenges of transitioning to face-to-face classes and hands-on labs.
Online learning in my first year left much to be desired. Lectures were pre-recorded and asynchronous, tutorials were over Zoom with breakout room discussions, and labs were completed using “Labster,” a platform that felt more like a video game than actual lab work. Professors rarely interacted with students in real-time, leaving me disconnected and unmotivated.
The Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario found that 91 per cent of students who completed their first year of university in 2020-2021 said online classes negatively impacted their learning. Additionally, 40 percent reported a lack of transferable skills. Queen’s offered no bridging program to help students transition back to in-person learning.
Entering second year, my peers and I were expected to be seasoned professionals. However, we had never experienced a lecture with 200 other students typing away on their keyboard while the professor spoke. It was something I found incredibly distracting at first and took me a long time to adjust to. On top of that, I struggled to keep up with the three in-person labs a week, having only done online “Labster” labs the year prior.
Switching from chemistry to environmental life sciences was an easy choice after struggling to keep up during my second year. The first two weeks of classes were a clear indication that the next three years would be unbearable if I didn’t make a change. While this decision required me to take prerequisite courses and extend my degree, it was worth the extra time to find a major that genuinely interested me.
It’s disappointing that stepping outside conventional timelines is often looked down upon, but taking a fifth year doesn’t derail your future. In the grand scheme of things, an extra year can make all the difference in discovering a major—and eventually a career—that excites you. The four-year timeline is restrictive, pushing students to rush through a degree that may not align with their passions. It’s better to spend an extra semester or two finding a fulfilling path than to graduate within four years and spend a lifetime in a career you don’t enjoy.
According to USA Today, 41 per cent of university graduates regret attending university, with 23 percent of them attributing that regret to their choice of major or degree path. Taking extra time is not a failure—it’s an opportunity to align your academic and personal goals.
As Schmich wisely said, “Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives.”
Taking an extra year isn’t just about completing a degree—it’s about giving yourself the time and space to grow, explore, and build a future that feels right for you.
Maya Hochberg is a fifth-year Environmental Life Science student.
Tags
environmental science, fifth year, future, Graduation, Planning
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.