Does length of undergrad matter?

[Tayb91]

I've gotten mixed opinions about this from a couple people and was wondering what others thought?
Would admissions look down upon taking a very long time to finish your bachelors degree?
I ask because I was undecided as to what I wanted to do for a long time, took classes here and there, took a semester off at one point and also had to work 32-40 hours a week the entire time I've been in school so support myself and help support family as well.
By the time I finish it will have taken me close to 7-8 years and I am worried
Thank you!

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[scrawnyguy]

I don't think so. It took me around 12 years to finish mine. I was in the military so it was never feasible for me to take more than a class or two at a time. During periods of heavy training or deployments sometimes I had to take breaks altogether. It took a while but I think it shows persistence.

 

[Tayb91]

Thanks for the reply.
Hmm I feel like there's a difference between being in the military and just a guy having to work and not knowing what he wanted. Maybe I'm wrong
Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

 

[DjT3kN]

Length does not matter.... as long as you have a Bachelor's degree, you've completed the prerequisites needed, your GPA and GRE are competitive, AND you have a great personal statement and LORs then you're good to go. I've been accepted to PT school and I was a Political Science major in which I finished in 5 years rather than 4 (I was partying tooo much) and another 3-4 years to finish the prerequisite courses (didn't take any science courses during my undergrad) and I still was accepted to 2 schools. So in my opinion, no the length does not matter rather the quality of your resume does.

 

[Tayb91]

Hey thanks for the reply!
That really puts my mind at ease, I have been worrying a lot that the hard uphill battle im facing going from this point on is going to be for nothing lol

 

[starrsgirl]

Just another thought for you....I was also on the "long road" in terms of finishing pre reqs and I addressed it directly with a paragraph in my admissions essay. I used that space to paint a picture of all the stuff I was balancing, how I managed, and talked about my continued passion for the career even though I couldn't take a direct path to it.