<p>I'm trying to work out my schedule for next fall (I'm going to be a freshman at UMaryland) and the schedule that makes the most sense would be 20 credits. The normal courseload is 5 classes at 15 credits, and that's mainly what I would be doing, but one of my classes is intensive so it's 6 credits, 1 is a lab science, and then I have to take this honors colloquium that's 1 credit. Here's my breakdown if it helps:</p>
<p>-Political Philosophy (3) [for my Government major]
-Beginning Arabic (6) **[for my Arabic major]
-Honors Seminar (3) *** [deciding between 'Terrorism' and 'US Foreign Policy in Afghanistan]*
-Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tsunami (4) *** [for Gen Ed]*
-1 other Gen Ed course (3)** [so I stay on schedule for finishing my Gen Eds]
-'Honors 100' (1) [basically an intro to the school]</p>
<p>So I'm just trying to figure out if this would be doable; it sounds fine to me but I don't really know how much college work is going to be different than high school. So part of me is worried because I don't know, but on the other hand I'm pretty confident I could pull it off since 1) my high school is super competitive and most people coming back from college say it's easier than high school, and I've been in almost all honors courses there and 2) I know I'm above average at UMD since they gave me a full scholarship, which makes me think that I would be able to handle a courseload that's heavier than usual. </p>
<p>One main reason I want to do this is that I want to double major and study abroad and I'm having trouble fitting everything that I want to do into 4 years, so only signing up for 4 classes outside of the intro seminar would hurt me later on.</p>
<p>So yeah I'm just conflicted about this in general, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. :)</p>
<p>I think its too much . You want to have time for social activities ,and freshman fall semester is when you want to find friends .You will be so busy , and not have down time .</p>
<p>Doesn’t look that bad to me, but I don’t go to UMD so I can’t be sure. If there is a drop window at the start of the semester you could drop a course after the first week if it seems like too much. Your GPA matters (especially if you want to keep that scholarship…)</p>
<p>In my opinion, I would think 20 credits would be a bad way to kick off college. You’ll be transitioning into college life, making friends, and figuring out what groups or sports you may want to be a part of. Therefore, 20 credits sounds like a lot of work. However, you should know what is best for you.
I’m in a similar situation as you- I’m going to a school that was a safety for me because they gave me a full scholarship. My high school academics have been extremely rigorous, and I’m also assuming that college should be a little more manageable. However, I’ve registered for classes, and I’m only taking 16 credits. I want to focus on getting settled in and having a good time my first semester, though, so that’s just me!</p>
<p>Yes. Way, way too much. Drop to at least 16. You can always do a gen ed in the summer.</p>
<p>The course load in college is much much different than high school. Start off slow and you can always increase your workload later on.</p>
<p>But I’m a hypocrite because I started with 18 credits and worked two jobs. Still say way too much though.</p>
<p>Ok thanks everyone! 
I’m looking into summer classes, so maybe if I get a Gen Ed out of the way over the summer I’ll take that out of the mix and then I’ll only have 17 credits, which I think is reasonable. It’s probably a good idea to start with that and try to get an idea that semester if I can handle more.</p>
<p>I’d start off with 15 or 16.</p>
<p>Drop one of those gen eds and pick them up another semester or during summer school. Don’t pack it all in your freshman year. A lot of people don’t realize how big of a transition college is. The environment is incredibly different and while you may have taken that many classes in high school, it’s not going to be the same in college.</p>
<p>17 credits is still really high. At most colleges, 18 is the max you can have without permission from the dean. 15-16 is normal.</p>
<p>You also don’t have to take your gen ed classes right from the start. If you take one off this semester, then leave it for a later summer or semester. I wouldn’t do it before going to college. Leave the summer before freshman year for fun. You have another three summers before graduation.</p>
<p>That makes a lot of sense, but I really can’t drop another class and stay on track, and I want to get my science class over with early so that I know I don’t have to take science ever again throughout college and I can spend the rest of my time on classes I’m interested in. I’ll definitely think it over but I think I’m comfortable with 17 credits, especially since it’s really only 4 classes when 5 is the norm - I feel like that’ll make up for the fact that the credit count is a little above normal.</p>
<p>And thanks for your advice about using other summers to take classes, but I don’t have that much planned for this summer, so I think taking an online class or two will just give me a little more structure. I’m going to take it easy this summer but I don’t want to get bored, so I think taking an online class and knowing I’m getting ahead will help with that.</p>
<p>Drop the easy gen ed. 17 is fine.</p>
<p>I’d drop both gen eds and take them in the summer. A 6 credit hour class is no joke. Don’t go by course count alone when picking. A 6 credit hour class is going to be a lot of work on its own. And the two political science classes, particularly the honors one, will probably require a good desk of reading and writing. Fall semester as a freshmen will be filled with loads of stuff other then just studying and homework.</p>
<p>Put me on the “drop a course” bandwagon too. That language course is going to move at least twice as fast as a high school language course, and if you don’t have a lot of background in Arabic, it’s going to be a real challenge. Your classes sound fascinating to me, though!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone, I’m really appreciating this feedback And yeah stradmom I agree that they all sound super interesting, that’s why I’m having trouble with the idea of dropping yet another course. I think I’m going to stick with 17 as a compromise just because I don’t want to get behind, and I’m hoping that the fact that all of my courses will be interesting will make them super doable. I’ll definitely think things over though, and maybe consider taking a different Gen Ed that’s only 3 credits to bring me down to 16 credits.</p>
<p>Defintely drop 1-2 courses, 20 is way too much, you don’t want to be stressed out and get a bad gpa during your first year :)</p>
<p>Thanks, I agree now that 20 is going to be too much. As an update to those of you who said 17 is still too much, I looked over my schedule again and noticed that even though my science course counts as a lab science, it’s only 3 credits, so I’d be taking 16 credits overall. That’s reasonable right?</p>
<p>20 is too much. Your first semester should be spent acclimating to college and making new friends, not trapped in the library. 16 is not bad, but it depends how hard the classes are. I really think it’s worth taking a lighter load your first semester so you can really acclimate and have time to make friends and get settled. You can always overload yourself later on.</p>
<p>That being said, one thing I often like to do is enroll in more classes than I really plan on, and then if there’s a class I don’t like or that takes up too much time I can drop it. Maybe pick one class that’s least important and be okay with dropping it if you feel stressed? Remember, you don’t always have to jump into your major right away. I know it’s tempting, but sometimes it’s not the wisest idea.</p>