<p>I am a pre-nursing student going to CSULA and I was told that 12 units is considered full time but I was wondering is taking 16 units would be too much.
I plan to take:
ENHGL 096
MATH 102
HHS101
CHEM 151
Would 16 units be a lot and is having two major science classes in the same quarter difficult to handle?</p>
<p>depends. some people could easily handle the work load. some cant</p>
<p>and two sicence classes might be hard, but in that major youll end up doing it. my best friend was in biochemistry (starting medical school next week actually) and he often had a couple of science classes.</p>
<p>Doesn’t really matter, however many that you think you can handle. Most colleges have 12 credits to be full-time, and my school put a 16 credits max for a first year.</p>
<p>The 12 credits for full-time is often a minimum for financial aid, not the standard amount that students take. For instance, my school classifies 12 units a year as full-time, but requires you to take 15 units a year to graduate within 4 years (for 60 credits total), and puts an 18 unit cap on a year (excluding summer courses and a cap override). You should check your unit requirements, consider how long you want to take to graduate, and factor those into your decision.</p>
<p>My friends who are in sciences typically take 3 or 4, sometimes even 5 sciences a semester, but they’ve always been very motivated to push themselves to their limits. If you aren’t that type of person, there is no shame in taking fewer units so that you can better focus and excel in your courses. :)</p>
<p>It’s all preference and how you are as a student… no one is gonna know the answer for you. That being said… 12 is wayyy too easy for me, especially if its easy freshmen intro classes.</p>
<p>If you enroll for 16 credits and need to drop a class, you can do so and drop down to 12 and still remain full time. If you only have 12, you will need to stay in all of them.</p>
<p>I would do more than 12. I have friends who only took 12 both semesters their first year and are now forced to take more classes than “average” (15-16 units) in order to graduate in four years.</p>
<p>What stradmom said. If you have a week or so of class before you get a reduced refund/a W from dropping a course, I highly recommend planning your courses this way; make absolutely certain you understand how your drop dates work first, though. It’s how I planned every year at college, and it really reduced my stress level by giving me wiggle room if a class wasn’t what I expected. I dropped a course almost every semester after my first one, but always had a full-time load even after dropping, so it worked out great. :)</p>
<p>Taking a heavier workload is good if you decided to top a class before the final no-penalty drop date. It’s also a nice idea if you want to have an easier senior year…taking more classes the first 3 years and getting just 12 credits senior year (meet the min req and still have extra free time).</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone!
I made up my mind and decided to go for 16 units. Like many of you said I can always drop a class although I am very motivated and feel I can push myself to take 16 units.</p>
<p>^Good move. I took 16 as a nursing major my freshman first semester. Just manage your time wisely, and review nightly, and you’ll be fine!</p>
<p>Note that you typically need to average 15 units per term to graduate on schedule (eight semesters or twelve quarters). If you take only 12 units, then you will have to overload later to “catch up”, unless you came in with AP or other college credit.</p>
<p>Be careful choosing when you take time consuming lab courses; taking many in the same term can result in a very high workload, even if the total number of units is not that high.</p>