<p>Never, ever, EVER has an employer asked or cared how long my bachelor’s or master’s degree took to complete. Never, ever, EVER have I asked or cared how long a prospective employee took to complete a degree. I’ve never even seen a resume that includes that information; there is the graduation date, nothing more. As far as employers are concerned, you don’t have a “gap”. Forget about it.</p>
<p>My H took 7 years to get his BA & had no problems getting a very good job, which he has held for over 4 decades, with many raises and promotions along the way.</p>
<p>Here in California if you are going to Community College (CCC) and plan to transfer as a Junior to a University of California (UC) or California State University (CSU) campus to finish your Bachelors degree it will almost certainly take at least five years and could easily take six or seven years to graduate even if you study full time. If you start at a UC or CSU as a freshman it will normally take five years to graduate, maybe more, if you are in an impacted major and that is without taking any time off from your studies.</p>
<p>With our state budget crisis and the Governor’s decision to reduce it by making massive cuts in funding for higher education it is all but impossible to get the courses you need to graduate in four years. My older son is starting his Junior year at a CSU in the Fall as a Geology major and still has not been able to take General Chemistry which is a prerequisite for most upper division Geology classes. Faculty layoffs have drastically reduced the number of sections of Chemistry being offered and since the course is a requirement for all pre-med, Biology and Engineering majors there are far more students who need to take the course than places for them in Chemistry classes. The same situation prevails in lower division Calculus, Physics and English classes that have to be taken by students in many popular majors. My younger son is starting at the same CSU that his brother attends as a Physics major in August and only by getting a very high score on the Calculus Readiness Test was he able to register for Calculus I. There are not very many Physics or Geology majors so once they get their lower division prerequisites done they should have less trouble getting courses but getting into lower division courses in Chemistry, Math and Physics can take years.</p>
<p>Expect to get questions about it, but I wouldn’t worry.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the posts.</p>
<p>
I’m not sure where you got the idea that I am a prelaw student. I am actually more of a premed, though I haven’t really decided to go in this path.</p>
<p>The average bachelors takes 5 full years and 1 semester… this is not that long.</p>
<p>Todpose notes, “I’m not sure where you got the idea that I am prelaw student”</p>
<p>Here is part of your original post, "How would professional/grad school adcoms as well as employers view this, assuming that the gap time is spent productively? "</p>
<p>Professisonal school could be law school.</p>
<p>Since you don’t feel like doing college work you may not do well again returning this fall. It may be best to spend the year working on your problems as you state. A college degree has worth- if only for the education you obtained for yourself. You need to want the degree to do the work to get it. Your last two years will focus mainly on your major- you need to have one and do well in it. I would forget the premed intentions for now and focus on what you do like that you can major in. You may want to have the required courses for medical school admission, just in case, but if they were courses you did not do well in you probably didn’t like them well enough to pursue that field.</p>
<p>You sound like you have ideas for working on your problems- solving them would be better for your success. Stumbling through college just to get a degree won’t help you. It seems strange to mention working as a teaching assistant as an undergrad and yet feel a degree is worthwhile. You won’t have the undergrad priveleges for the time you are not a student. Fortunately for you the new health care laws will allow your parents to keep you on their insurance policy even if you are not a student.</p>
<p>Discuss pros and cons with your advisor (an email before school resumes?) and parents. Sounds like you need a focus- career advice as well.</p>
<p>Medical schools will note the withdrawal from school and while you’re not required to disclose why, the gap, unless explained, will raise doubts about your fitness to attend medical school.</p>
<p>Not entirely fair, but that’s how it works.</p>