@mom4bwayboy I think it would depend on the program and on the student’s individual goals. Many of you on CC know that I transferred into my current institution, Viterbo, from a non-performance arts administration-esque program with the equivalent of about 40 credits (essentially the bulk of my gen eds and some business courses, plus some APs from high school). If I had chosen to only pursue MT, I could have graduated in “on time”, that is, in 2017, 4 years after I started college, but only 3 years after entering my MT program (and in fact, there is another MT transfer who entered in the same year as I did with 37 credits, and she has chosen to pursue graduating in 2017). I chose to pick up a double major in Arts Administration, so instead, I will graduate in 2018, making my total undergraduate career five years long (but hey, when I’m getting a BFA in two disciplines, I can’t complain!).
There are quite a few transfers I’ve known who can get out in 3 years at Viterbo, or people who choose to take a semester “off” to study abroad (many of our students spend a semester at LAMDA) or take an internship, while still graduating on time. This is possible Viterbo really encourages underclassmen to take classes like Business of Theatre–which is typically a senior-level class at most programs–early, so that we can become grounded in the realities of the business as soon as possible. All seniors are required to take a final audition techniques class their final year (but we take a multilevel sequence of those throughout the program) as well as the senior capstone (Viterbo doesn’t showcase, so all seniors create a 30-minute solo performance project known as the Senior Shows). But provided those requirements are completed (and those who graduate early often do their Senior Show in the fall semester rather than in the spring, when they are traditionally done), there’s no reason why a student, especially a transfer, couldn’t elect to graduate early. But this is not the norm at many schools.