<p>is 18 credits a lot for engineering freshmen yr?</p>
<p>yes that’s a ton i’m only taking 14… i had an honors seminar in there before at 17 credits but i dropped that…</p>
<p>you should test the waters your first semester don’t kill yourself</p>
<p>Not really. It depends on the classes. What courses are you taking as part of the 18 credits? I’m engineering and I had a fine time w/ 18 credits spring semester my freshman year (also engineering). I mean, it will be a bit of work of course. However, you have to take into account that the first semester will be a bit harder just as you get adjusted to the different style of work in college vs. high school. Its not too much but if you can, I suggest moving a couple of courses over to spring semester and take the fall semester a bit easy, using the free time to make new friends and have a little fun and as a transition into college life!</p>
<p>right now i have math241, enes100, chem135, gems100, and bioe120 which total up to 14 credits. i’m debating whether to take an honors seminar (3 credits) and/or bioe121 (1 credit). i originally signed up for just the honors seminar and had 17 credits, but i got an email saying that bioe121 might not be offered in the spring so everyone’s advised to take it in the fall.</p>
<p>Yeah, your schedule doesn’t sound too bad, enes100 isn’t as much work as they always say until the end of the semester, 135 is pretty good too (depending on the prof that is) and same with 241. I’m in Scholars so I cant say anything about the Honors seminar though! lol! I’d advice against the honors seminar and take that Spring semester if possible. I took 15 credits my freshman year and that felt just as bad as my 19 credits spring semester because it took a bit of adjusting to the kind of work in college. But then again, its your schedule. If you see a class you really want to take, go for it. You might not have the chance later and if you’re that interested in the class, the workload won’t feel as much like work as those other classes you might loath.
And another thing to consider if you’re concerned about the workload (and still need to get CORE credits out of the way) is taking some CORE classes at home at a community college during the summer or winter breaks. The academic level of classes at most community colleges are significantly easier than what you’d be used to at umd. It probably won’t be as interesting as the honor seminars but it gets those credits out of the way and gives you a lighter workload.</p>
<p>if you were my kid, I’d say take the bioe121 and save the honors seminar, unless you find out from ourumd.edu that there’s not much work for the honors seminar. D1 took 4 honors seminars–2 had a medium workload, 2 were really easy. With your Math, Chem and Bioe120 classes, you’ll likely be really busy. The only advantage is that if the honors seminar is one you desperately want to take, there’s no guarantee that it will be offered in the spring. They seem to vary the honors seminars from semester to semester.</p>