<p>Can anyone tell me what 18 credits a semester is like? I am in the 141 Mechanical engineering program which is equivalent to 18 credits a semester. Is this alot?</p>
<p>The thing with mechanical engineering is that the program last five years, 141 credits over five years is not THAT intesnse credit wise. In fact if you follow the course selection guideline you probably wont take more than 16 credits a semester.</p>
<p>Electrical\Computer engineering kids have it soooooo much worse, their taking 138/139 credits over 4 years so they actually do have to take 18 credits a semester, in first year, unless they take math 140, in which case its 17.</p>
<p>BTW I'm not really sure if theres a correlation betwen credit value and workload. The more courses you take the more workload you'll have obviously, but then there are some courses that have credit values of 2 and then some that have 4.</p>
<p>After talking with a head honcho at one of the engineering departments (or maybe the entire faculty), I was alerted that these programs are not meant to be completed in 4 years. They can be done, however it's usually frowned down upon. </p>
<p>The woman told me, specific to my major (Chem E), that unless summer school was to be taken every year, it'd be suicide to accomplish the degree in four years. My personal feelings are as follows:
1) take your time at school, an extra 10 or so thousand in debt isn't worth the hell you'll put yourself through.
2) the summers are for internships/work. Summer school is also a possibility, but in the end of the day, it's not how quickly you finished your degree, it's the experience you have under your belt
3) the college experience isn't about what you learned, but what you did while you were there. Education should come first, but it's wake should kill all prospects of fun.
4) you risk burning yourself out, and potentially dropping out if you pull consecutive 5+ course semesters. </p>
<p>my favorite phrase: just my tooney/100.</p>
<p>I'm sure its quite different for each department because they have their own individual credit requirements. For my department, ECE, I dont think its "frowned" upon to complete in 4 years, although I'm sure they wouldn't mind my extra years tuition.....</p>
<p>Hmmm....I feel very dumb now. I had no idea the mechanical engineering degree was a five year course. And here I was thinking that with the transfer credit I may get I could possibly finish in 3 years. The funny thing is that the 2007-2008 calendar says that the normal course load for engineering is 15-18 credits. Thanks drmambo for the advise and although I agree with every thing you say it’s an extra 25 because I am an international. Maybe with 1 summer school and my transfer credits I may be to do it in 4 years without the extra stress.</p>
<p>Bear in mind there that in-course scholarships are more of a reality than you'd think. Most of the time just making Dean's list will take some $$ off the top of your tuition.</p>