Question How many years has passed since Buffy's high school graduation, in season 7?

[Napoleon]

I got curious about the episode "Conversation with Dead People". Holden Webster was talking to Buffy. Apparently they were classmates. Yet, Holden either had a degree in psychology or was attending college for it. It made me wonder how many years has passed since Buffy's graduation from Highschool up to that episode?

 

[Kean]

It would have been four years that May. Holden says he was majoring psychology in Dartmouth when he is talking to Buffy and that he was taking a year off to do an internship in the Sunnydale Mental Hospital. So the timeline adds up.

 

[Napoleon]

So he didn't actually finish his psychology degree?

 

[Kean]

No, he died.

He still had the rest of his internship and a his final year of his degree to go.

 

[Napoleon]

Oh. A psychology degree is 4 years. But he stopped for 1 year for the internship.

---------- Post added at 02:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:23 PM ----------

So he should have graduated if he didn't take the internship? Because psychology is a 4 year degree right?

 

[Kean]

Oh. A psychology degree is 4 years. But he stopped for 1 year for the internship.

---------- Post added at 02:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:23 PM ----------

So he should have graduated if he didn't take the internship? Because psychology is a 4 year degree right?

Different parts of the world have different lengths. I'm from Ireland and a B.A. or BSc in Pyscology would take 4 years. In England it would take 3 years. U.S. colleges traditionally work off of the 4 year undergraduate degree cycle, however, depending on the student it could take longer. But yes, 4 years is the standard length in the U.S. If Holden hadn't taken a year out for his internship, he would have been graduating from college during the May of S7 (around the time of Chosen.)

 

[Lyri]

But yes, 4 years is the standard length in the U.S. If Holden hadn't taken a year out for his internship, he would have been graduating from college during the May of S7 (around the time of Chosen.)

Same as Willow and Buffy would have had both of them not quit/taken time out/lived in a town where evil made everyone leave.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

In the same sense that Sunnydale was the high school no one graduated from (according to principal Robin Wood), Sunnydale was the university no one graduated from. Unless the records were kept offsite and far from Sunnydale, the time spent in university there was wasted - there wouldn't even be transcripts to show who attended or what their marks were.

Sobering thought when you have a student loan.

 

[Napoleon]

So up to that episode I mentioned, the scoobies have had already had a 4 year college degree if they weren't vamp hunters?

 

[Lyri]

No - by the end of S7 ('Chosen') they would have had a 4 year college career. Not necessarily a degree.

By the episode you mentioned, they would have been half way through their fourth (senior) year.

 

[fitz1980]

Different parts of the world have different lengths. I'm from Ireland and a B.A. or BSc in Pyscology would take 4 years. In England it would take 3 years. U.S. colleges traditionally work off of the 4 year undergraduate degree cycle, however, depending on the student it could take longer.

Especially in the US the idea of X number of years of college is strictly a guideline, rather than actual number of years. It took me 6 years to get a "4 year degree" because I was only a part time student some semesters because of work & transferring between schools.

Others can get a "4 year degree" in 3 or less. Some HS students get college credit for AP (Advance Placement) courses they take in HS. That allows them to skip over (college) ECON/MATH/LIT 101 when they get to college.

I did most of my college years while also working various fulltime jobs (30-45+ hours per week at the jobs) plus classes. Had I been not working I could have taken more classes and finished quicker.

 

[bespangeled]

It took me 13 years and 7 colleges and universities to get a BS with no major (what is now called Integrated Studies). Then I did my Montessori training - 2 full summers - 60 hours a week - to get certified for lower and upper elementary.

Time isn't all that important - it's how many credits you can take in a year that matters in the US.