5th Undergrad Year

[Steve-0]

I'm a little confused about what people are talking about when they say that they took/are thinking of taking a 5th year of undergrad to boost their grades. I assume they would have already graduated. Does this mean that they just go in and take a year as an open studies student taking a mash of courses and then add these to their application? Schools are OK with students doing this?

Any clarification would be appreciated!

[Jamer]

More or less. Schools have rules on the courses they're allowed to take, though. I think 6/10 at least have to be 300, etc. It's another way of boosting your GPA for those schools who take 2 year averages.

[HBP]

The problem with this is you get stuck with crappy courses (no priority). Consider delaying your graduation and doing a 5th undergrad year rather than a special year (after graudation).

[unique135]

I will be doing 5th year. I had to drop 2 courses (not on transcript though) in my 3rd year-fall due to medical reasons. So,overall I didnt go according to the recommended program outline and needed to do those 2 courses. I can't do these courses as they are available only in fall/winter not summer and need to be done in the same university (no credits allowed).

Above, from available courses, there were few courses that I wanted to take and rest were crap. So, from 3rd year-fall, I have organized myself in a way that fulfills my graduation requirements and doing other extra courses.

Same time, I have enough time to do some more extra courses in 5th year but i wont do that ...boosting GPA this way helps but shows weakness in a way.

[fireball]

I did a 5th year of undergrad because I did 3 years of part time at the beginning due to jobs/sports so my undergrad degree actually took me 5 years, as a result I was technically in my 5th year of my undergrad (but 4th year of study).

I think that honours degrees also take 5 years so that could be why some people are in their 5th year.

[HBP]

Originally Posted by unique135

I will be doing 5th year. I had to drop 2 courses (not on transcript though) in my 3rd year-fall due to medical reasons. So,overall I didnt go according to the recommended program outline and needed to do those 2 courses. I can't do these courses as they are available only in fall/winter not summer and need to be done in the same university (no credits allowed).

Above, from available courses, there were few courses that I wanted to take and rest were crap. So, from 3rd year-fall, I have organized myself in a way that fulfills my graduation requirements and doing other extra courses.

Same time, I have enough time to do some more extra courses in 5th year but i wont do that ...boosting GPA this way helps but shows weakness in a way.

I wonder how you're measuring this.

Your lack of a full course load can hurt though.