While some graduate, others will have to wait

When Steven Shaffer started college in 1998, he had no idea that he still wouldn’t have a… When Steven Shaffer started college in 1998, he had no idea that he still wouldn’t have a degree in 2005.

Shaffer began taking classes at Pitt in the fall of 1998 and continued until the spring of 2000. The following semester, he withdrew from his classes and didn’t come back until the spring of 2001. By 2003, he had to leave Pitt for good.

“I didn’t really mind a whole lot at that point,” Shaffer said, adding that he was failing most of his classes at the time. “I screwed around and didn’t do anything.”

Although technically regarded as a four-year endeavor, college takes many students five or six years — or longer — to complete. Working toward multiple majors, doing internships, or going on more than one study abroad program can all set students back in their graduation plans.

Shaffer blamed never going to class as the main reason he failed out of Pitt. His classes bored him, he never felt like doing the homework, and he often didn’t want to get out of bed, he said.

“Once I got out of the habit of going to class, it got harder to start again,” Shaffer said. “I would miss a day to get [my homework] done, end up not getting it done and playing PlayStation instead, and then it got to the point where I was embarrassed to come to class.”

He received mostly A’s and B’s in lecture classes, but in classes requiring homework he earned C’s, D’s, and eventually F’s.

Mary Beth Favorite, a School of Arts and Sciences senior academic adviser, said some students change their majors late in their junior and senior years, making it harder to fit all the required classes into their schedules.

Favorite further pointed out that many students decide to change their majors after gaining experience with other enrichment programs. Many students study abroad, and while Favorite stressed that it isn’t difficult to graduate in four years after leaving Pitt for a semester, she said many opportunities in college can change students’ minds about their futures.

“Maybe you were exposed to an internship, maybe you took another course or studied abroad — something that changes your life and that gives you another perspective,” Favorite said.

Eric Verprauskus decided to add a minor in public service after traveling to Montana to do historical preservation with Amizade, a service and volunteer program at Pitt. He met someone who introduced him to public service, and around the end of his junior year, he began working toward his minor.

“I think from my jobs, internships and service trips, I have learned more than in any of my classes, easily,” said Verprauskus, who will graduate after five years of college.

“My classes are like a fictional world. It’s all bulls–t. I get a piece of paper and a degree, but it’s what I get from experience.”

Nevertheless, Verprauskus is double-majoring in business and psychology. Although he came to school thinking he wanted to be a chiropractor or work in information systems, he did not declare a major when he arrived.

Verprauskus spent his freshman year taking core classes for the School of Arts and Sciences, and he decided to pursue two majors near the end of his sophomore year.

Having multiple majors can also lead to scheduling conflicts — something Brenna Pikciunas knows about too well.

A transfer student from Pitt Greensburg, Pikciunas took all of her general education requirements her freshman year, but because of conflicts with other classes and her work-study schedule, she did not take introduction classes to her majors until her junior year.

“The only thing I learned was [to] schedule as early as possible,” Pikciunas said. “But even when I did, I sometimes didn’t get the classes or sections I wanted.”

Since her sophomore year, Pikciunas has chosen to take 12 credits each semester. She explained that she would rather take her time.

“I am easily stressed out, and taking my time at least makes things less stressful for me,” Pikciunas said. “Everyone is in such a damn rush.”

Pikciunas, who is majoring in fiction writing and poetry, said she didn’t add the fiction major until her junior year.

Susan Crain, a director in Pitt’s Office of Student Records, also said many students switch their majors because they don’t know what they want to do until later in college.

Crain added that as long as students take core classes and declare their majors by the end of their sophomore years, students should graduate on time.

“The last two years is plenty of time to complete a major, because it’s more than likely core requirements counted toward your major,” Crain said.

Crain doesn’t consider it to be a big problem if students don’t graduate on time — she thinks most business corporations judge students by how well they do in school during their time there, and not by how long they take.

Many seniors don’t mind taking more than four years to graduate, either.

“At first I was kind of disappointed in myself because four years is the norm, but then I read an article that said that five years is starting to become the norm,” Pikciunas said. “Plus, I saw it as taking my damn old time, instead of rushing through things and failing, so I feel a little better about it now.”

Verprauskus agreed that going to college for five years has worked out for him. He said he could have graduated on time if he had wanted to, but that he chose to work part-time jobs and have internships, as well to spend his summers doing service trips instead of taking summer classes.

Some students don’t graduate on time because they work to pay for college themselves, Favorite said. It might be better to take 12 credits, she said, if it helps people “just to stay sane.”

Favorite, who has worked at Pitt for 15 years, said she believes most students, graduate later because they are doing more.

“When I first started, it seemed like the people who graduated in four years were the people who had to work — and there is still that,” Favorite said. “But in the last four or five years, I see now they are staying an extra year, and making that positive choice to stay an extra year to better their education.”

Favorite urged students to go to Pitt’s Career Services and to talk with advisers and professors in certain fields, to get a better understanding of which majors they want to pursue.

“I think it is unrealistic to know what you want to do when you are 18 or 19,” Favorite said.

Shaffer’s progression through Pitt matched his changing career goals. When Shaffer first came to Pitt, he wanted to be a cardiologist, but after one semester he knew it wasn’t for him. He later wanted to be a biology teacher, then a profusion technician and then a genetic researcher.

“Being undecided for the first two years isn’t a bad thing, until you know what you want do,” Shaffer said. “Because how many people at 18 and 19 years old know what they want to do with their life?”