i agree. when i was applying i thought it was dumb that i had to wait so long to sit for the exam (NJ makes you gain experience first) but now that it is all over I think this is the correct approach. If anything, it makes engineers have to really buckle down and re-learn stuff from college; it also requires you to be more dedicated since studying while working is more difficult than doing so as a senior in college. Getting the PE should be difficult and require sacrifice.
I don't know about anyone else, but I did much worse on the morning portion than afternoon, and I'm only 6 months out of undergrad. I felt like everything I learned in undergrad had already slipped away. I did study hard for the afternoon portion, because I had no experience and have learned very little at this point in grad school. So while someone who's been out of college for 3 or 4 years would have to buckle down work hard to relearn everything from college, those who don't have the experience have to learn their focus area for the first time. There was very little from undergrad that was asked on the PM portion of the exam. Also, I didn't have access to any of the materials I needed since I'm not working (MUTCD, HSM, HCM, etc) so I had to buy them all out of my own money, and that was ridiculously expensive. And then, having never seen those materials before, I had to learn where to find all the info I needed.
I also wanted to point out that you're not studying for the PE while you're still a senior... you can't even sign up for the PE until you've both graduated AND gotten your EIT certification, which requires passing the FE first. Most of the people who are in grad school with me are also working full time jobs, and even those of us who aren't working were splitting our time between homework and studying.
I don't think taking it (and passing) later in life is any indication of being more competent than those who took it 6 months after graduation. Personally, I have far more free time while working than at any point I've been in school. But maybe that's just me. When I'm in school, I'm always "on," always studying, working on a project, doing something to try and get good grades, but while working, I'm completely done at 5pm.