If the movies are correct, everyone in America graduates high school then gets shipped off to college the following September to complete their undergrad in precisely four years. Afterwards, they enter the workforce and that’s their life from there on. But from my understanding, Canada — specifically UFV — is a little different.
There is a shockingly low amount of people that I know in my life who have finished their undergrad in four years. Most of my peers, including myself, have taken time off after high school to travel and/or work, then enter university. And they usually spend much longer than four years in university — sometimes even a whole decade.
On the other side of this are people, like Kelly Kang, UFV 2018 alum, who came to university to push out an undergraduate degree in four years or less. With some smaller programs that UFV offers, like French, theatre, or peace and conflict studies, it can actually be difficult to finish a major in the recommended four years because some of the required courses are rarely offered. Kang noticed the lack of course offerings at UFV and took matters into her own hands: “I took as many as they were offering so I could eliminate the chances of having to wait a full year to take one or two courses which will postpone my degree.” This strategy, along with the goal of finishing her degree in four years, resulted in Kang completing her undergrad in three and a half years with a major in French.
Kang knew when she started university that she wanted to major in French, and that she wanted to study abroad. In order to apply to study abroad through UFV, a student needs to complete 30 credits. That pushed Kang to finish 30 credits in her first year as soon as possible so she could study abroad in her second year.
“After [studying abroad], when the time came to apply for a job, I wanted to work abroad in Japan, and my position requires an undergraduate … so I finished as quickly as possible so I could get to the next step. Although I enjoyed UFV immensely, in retrospect, at the time, I could not wait to finish. If I dragged it out, that would only make me resentful for wasting time on something I did not enjoy doing,” Kang said via email.
Kang’s story is quite inspiring. She worked hard and is now living her dream by working in Japan. When I think of myself and many other students at UFV, we simply don’t know what we want next in life but understand that getting a postsecondary education is an important step to take. By not knowing what area of study I wanted to pursue, I was able to try an assortment of topics to see what I actually enjoyed.
For goal-oriented people like Kang, the four-year degree is a great option, but for people like me who do not have a specific plan for what’s next, taking time to get involved on campus, trying out an interesting sounding course or two, and taking less than 15 credits a semester is a nice life.
Now after six years here, I’m finding myself getting a little too comfortable at UFV. Enjoying a period of life is a great thing, but I’ve realized that I need to challenge myself elsewhere, so I will be channeling Kang from now on to get moving. I encourage you to do the same if you find yourself feeling too comfortable.
Illustration:Kayt Hine
