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Monday, June 15, 1998

Careful scheduling makes graduating in three years easy

GRADUATION: Summer sessions, advanced placement classes help committed students achieve goal

By Matthew Schmid

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Not every UCLA student decides between the four-year plan and the five-plus year plan.

Some finish in three.

Approximately 2 percent of the members of each entering freshman class will complete their studies at UCLA within three years, according to the Office of Academic Planning and Budget. Most of these students graduate early to save money.

Graduating early has become increasingly possible for students, said Robert Cox, of academic planning and budget.

"Opportunities for students to acquire units before coming to college are increasing," he said.

The number of students coming to UCLA who have the opportunity to take honors classes in high school is increasing. In addition, more students capitalize on this by taking advanced placement tests and requesting that the university accept their credits.

"I took a lot of advanced biology and math courses (in high school), and many of them were pre-reqs," said Shephali Patel, who is graduating on Friday with a degree in biology.

"I figured out that if I planned it well enough, it was possible for me to graduate in three years," she added.

Also, according to Cox, the number of students who enroll in summer sessions is up - nearly two-thirds of UCLA students will take summer school at some point, he said.

The people who do graduate early generally do so because it's an "opportunity to save some money," Cox said.

Samantha Gilardi wants to do just this.

Gilardi is graduating with a psychology degree just three years after earning her high school diploma.

"I'm saving a lot of money," she said.

Financial considerations notwithstanding, Gilardi wishes she had taken four years to finish.

Despite her extracurricular involvement as the USAC student welfare commissioner, Gilardi said that she hoped to have more time to take advantage of the opportunities college offers.

"I would have liked to work with a professor or have done research," she said. "I never got the chance to meet a professor. I never even went to a professor's office hours."

Patel's motivation for finishing early was unique. While she had financial considerations, she saw graduating early as the most judicious use of her time.

"I'm quite impatient. My mom once told me that if I could take all of my classes in one quarter, I would," she said.

However, 2 percent is a surprisingly low number, considering that more students are in a position to graduate early.

Cox believes that this may lead students to enter the university with a greater interest in activities outside of class.

"We will see students going through college with a different approach," he said.

Cox believes that many students will take advantage of their excess units, and spend more time doing extracurricular activities in college and taking more classes in subjects unrelated to their major.

"Why would you finish in three years when the world at large expects you to finish in four years?" he asked.

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