In America, college students normally graduate at about the age of 21. Cho Seung-hui, when he went on his murder spree was reportedly in his senior year, but aged 23. Somewhere along the line, he lost a year, or maybe two. Possibly when his family moved to the U.S., since he seems to have graduated late from high school. Perhaps it is of no great significance, but I have not seen that gap explained. What happened?
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5 Comments
1. Skip:I don’t think there’s anything particularly likely to be there. When I was in college almost 20 years ago it was already normal for students to take 5 years to graduate. I can’t imagine that that’s shortened since then.
Apr 22, 2007 - 12:35 pm 2. bourne2y:I was 22 so 23 doesn’t seem out of line. Especially for children of immigrants who may be placed below their age group when first enrolling in e.g., elementary school in the U.S. That could simply reflect an assessment of their skills in the English language at that time.
I suppose a more general reason for lengthening the time to graduate college is the increased cost. That probably means more students today hold down jobs to help pay tuition and may also mean lighter academic loads. I don’t quite get the logic of paying a full semester’s tuition for less than a full academic load, but if one can’t afford it without the job, maybe that happens.
This is mostly guessing on my part. I’m looking for data about this – but unsuccessfully so far. Anyone?
Apr 22, 2007 - 9:21 pm 3. Manuel Delgado:I don’t really see anything interesting in that gap. Besides the reasons exposed in the previous comments, maybe he just simply took a sabatical year, or maybe his mental problems didn’t let him fully concentrate on his studies.
Apr 23, 2007 - 5:53 pm 4. Jay T. Lee Ph.D.:I’m a univeristy professor. Five years to finish is normal. It has been that way for many years.
Apr 23, 2007 - 7:38 pm 5. Robert Schwartz:Our oldest child graduated College after a 4 year residency in 2004 at the age of 22. Child #2 will graduate in June at the age of 23. Child #1 was born in the spring and started school at the age of 6, as did child #2, but #2 was born in the fall and turned 7 just after starting school.
Apr 23, 2007 - 9:48 pm