The idea of spending four years at college is HUNDREDS of years old, even though technology has made it much more efficient to learn, in between getting drunk.
A report in the L.A. Times says dozens of colleges are adopting three-year bachelor’s degrees. And it’s easy to see it catching on even more.
Students save time and a TON of money by graduating a year early, while colleges are using these fast-tracks to attract more applicants, and reduce dropout rates. Theoretically, they should also be able to accept more students, if they’re only enrolled for three years, rather than four.
Accelerated degrees have been available before, but that was primarily for jamming all the usual classes into fewer semesters. These newer tracks require fewer credits, which are more focused on your major.
Basically, they strip out the added elective courses from what students have traditionally been required to take.
Of course, it doesn’t work for everything. There are shortened degrees for tech and engineering . . . along with social fields. Positions that are able to hire directly out of school, and get graduates some experience right away.
If you want to be a doctor or a NASA rocket scientist, you’re still going to need four years, not to mention specialized study after.
And, at least for now, these degrees are being distinguished from the four-year ones by being called “applied” or “career-focused” degrees.
So employers will know if someone graduated with fewer credits . . . and it remains to be seen if they’ll consider them “less than” four-year degrees.
There’s also criticism from faculty and students who feel like the streamlined degrees cut out too much, like critical thinking, and “how to answer questions that different disciplines require.”