It seems like most people enter college at age 18. Then after a four year degree, one would typically graduate at age 22. Sure finishing at 21 probably isn't too uncommon, but graduating at age 20 and turning 21 after graduation? Maybe things were just different in the 60s, or maybe he had enough credits and completed a 3-year program.
shareI think most people graduate from college w/ a 4-year degree in 4 years, but it's not uncommon for others to do it in 3. And, it's possible that he graduated from high school early (age 16 almost 17). He could've skipped ahead one grade level or had the ability to take extra classes/summer school for early credit. I don't know how common that was in the '60s, but I think the movie implies that Ben was a good student and, in all likelihood, was able to get a 4-year degree in 3 years.
"I must express myself." - Delia Deetz
Yeah, sure, it's not that common. But it's one year that you're talking about here, right. So, it's not that far-fetched that he either finished early, or had started early, or whatever. It's not like they're having him finish college and then turn 16 or anything like that.
shareI graduated at 20 and turned 21 in July. I don't know if they still do it, but when I was a kid they let some kids skip 8th grade.
shareWell, when Ben's father was pestering him at the pool about grad school he said something like "what did you spend 4 years in college for?"
So I guess he was almost 17 when he started college lol.
I'm surprised many people ask about this on this board. Decades ago in the U.S., people usually graduated high school at age 17. Some still do if their birthday is in summer. Decades ago, because people graduated at 17 often, a summer birthday could mean gratuating at age 16, almost 17, hence college graduation at 20, almost 21.
shareAt that time (and probably still today, I assume), most kids turned 18 the calendar year during which they graduated high school. If their birthday was early in the year they were already 18 when they graduated, if their birthday was later in the year, they graduated while they were still 17. If they then went through a four year college program, the same was true at graduation: some kids were 22 when they graduated, some were 21.
BUT, oftentimes bright kids were allowed to skip a grade in grammar school (I had some friends who did that). For those kids, the graduating ages got pushed one year earlier, so some of them conceivably graduated high school at 16, and college at 20. That could easily have been the case with Ben.
He may have skipped a grade at some point in his scholastic career. That's not all that uncommon. When I was in seventh grade there was a kid in my class who'd skipped two grades.
shareUnusual <> unrealistic.
If that were not the case, pretty nearly every movie (or at least all the ones that aren't dull) would be unrealistic.
Since my birthday is in September, I was one of the youngest kids in my class. I started college in late August at 17, graduated 4 years later in the spring at 21. It would seem that for Ben to graduate at 20, he would have to have skipped a year in grammar school or somehow managed to finish college in 3 years.
It is bad to drink Jobus rum. Very bad.share
My brother had graduated from college at 20 years of age. His birthday was in October. For some reason when he started school, they let him go with those born between January through June, instead of those born from July through December. I doubt that is done anymore.
shareThat happened to me, too. Basically, I skipped kindergarden and started with first grade. I was about eight months younger than the bulk of my class. It never bothered me until everyone else hit driving age, and I couldn't think about it.
How sad, that you were not born in my time, nor I, in yours.