With the cost of attending college and other expenses constantly increasing, graduating even a semester earlier could mean saving a lot of money. But is it really worth finishing early? Here are some pros and cons to consider before making such an important decision.

If you graduate early by a year or a semester, it could mean saving thousands of dollars and preventing your student loan debt from racking up. This could also give you additional time to get an internship. You could even choose to enter the workforce early to start saving up. This time could be valuable, especially if your career path involves going to medical school, law school or any other graduate program.

Although this seems like a great idea, this would lead to many things, such as having to start paying your student loans earlier while not necessarily having a job. However, this would also mean paying less overall in interest charges. Many employers also look for people who are older to make sure that they’ve reached certain levels of maturity, but to some, graduating early could look great on your resume.

Apart from that, graduating early would mean  you miss out on the remaining college experience and on further expanding your network. However, this could give you extra time to gain experiences you could add to your portfolio.

In some cases, it could also be better for you in terms of your job search because it would mean you are applying for jobs during the off-season. This would mean having less competition for highly selective jobs. Under other circumstances, an extra year or six months could give you more time to prepare for graduate school.

It is necessary to consider things like how heavy you want your course load to be and  whether you are willing to give up experiences like a study abroad. Furthermore, it is important to think about how these things could affect your GPA. Taking a heavy course load every semester while also trying to maintain a social life could have a negative impact on your grades, which would defeat the purpose of trying to graduate early in the first place.

Ultimately, it all depends on who the person is and what they think is right for them. If the college experience matters more to you than getting into the job market early, then plan accordingly. But if you do decide graduating early is for you, planning ahead will save you a lot of stress and effort in the long run. 

Sonal is a freshman in Business.

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