My school year shouldn’t matter – The Daily Wildcat

For some of us, the all-too-common question, “What year are you in?” isn’t easy to answer, but it’s what we hear all the time on campus, particularly when we meet new people. For example, I’m in my fifth year at the University of Arizona, but I’ve only earned sophomore credits. I often joke with people that I’m either a senior or a sophomore, depending on what they want me to be. It’s a joke I’ve made a lot to explain my situation, but people always press me for more details.

During my first two years, I suffered from untreated anxiety and depression and continued to hide my transgender status. I dropped out of college several times, but always came back the next semester to try again and hope that things would improve, which often took a long time.

This different college experience has led me to not think of college in terms of traditional class ranking. Instead, to me, I am an undergraduate student working to earn credits toward my degree. However, socially, that is not an acceptable answer to “What year are you in?” If you said “I’m an undergraduate student,” people would act like you were dodging the question. For some reason, people want to rank you. Somehow it’s better for them if you’re a freshman or sophomore instead of “an undergraduate student.”

I’m not the only person in my abnormal situation. I know many other people who have needed extra years to earn a bachelor’s degree. I’ve also heard their convoluted answers to the question “What year are you in?”, answers that make me think that there’s no need to ask that question at all.

It’s time to put that question to rest. When you meet someone on campus, in a club, or in a class, you don’t need to know what year they’re in because every year is pretty much the same; we’re all getting closer to graduation no matter how long it takes, regardless of whether we’re in our first semester, third semester, or eighth semester. We’re all working toward the same goal of graduating and moving on with our careers.

I ask that the next time you think about asking someone where they rank in class, ask why they want to know, especially if it is one of the first things you ask about that person. I believe the answer is always the aforementioned ranking. I maintain that ranking has outlived its purpose. If a freshman is new to campus and feels they need your help with something, they are quite likely to ask for it; I imagine many of us have been in the situation where a new student has asked for some kind of support.

That said, the question seems invasive and presumptuous. If someone wants you to know their academic level, they’ll offer that information. That question carries more baggage for some people than others, but we still use it as naturally as “What’s your major?” or “How are you today?” and it’s time to stop using it.

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Kate is a student at the University of Arizona. She loves improv comedy and comics.