<p>I am registering for classes soon. I am hoping for advice on the difficulty of option A vs. option B?</p>
<p>Option A = 1 less semester in school.</p>
<p>Option B = easier workload.</p>
<p>Here is option A:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Spring:</p>
<p>Computer Science I
Phys I
Chem II
Calc II
=16 credits</p>
<p>Summer (12 weeks):</p>
<p>Phys II
Calc III
Diff Eq
Linear Alg
=14 credits
[/quote]
</p>
<p>And option B:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Spring:</p>
<p>Phys I
Chem II
Calc II
=12 credits</p>
<p>Summer (12 weeks):</p>
<p>Computer Science I
Calc III
Phys II
=12 credits
[/quote]
</p>
<p>My concerns are taking multiple science classes in 1 semester (Phys I and Chem II) on top of CS and Calc II. I am also wondering about if I would be insane to be taking 3 math classes in one semester (Calc III, Diffeq, Linear) on top of a demanding class like Phys II. The benefit of the tough course load: 1 less semester in college.</p>
<p>I can afford to get 1 or 2 B's max. I am a straight A student with an easier workload and have never tried to make my workload too difficult.</p>
<p>Personally I would opt for an extra semester over killing myself with option A. I guess if you are not working and can spend all of your free time doing homework than option A might not be too bad. Though if Summer is a 6-8 week session doing Physics II and Calculus III simultaneously will be brutal, something to consider.</p>
<p>No job but I will have a new born baby next semester. Not sure what’s more work: a new born or a part-time job. On one hand, the baby is going to make option A even harder, on the other hand - I should finish college sooner since I’m going to have a baby!</p>
<p>Another consideration: I am transferring the following semester from a CC to a highly ranked engineering school. If I take option B, I will have to take diffeq and linear alg at the big school where they will likely be harder/bigger classes.</p>
<p>I don’t see anything wrong with doing a 12 (fall), 12 (spring) and 6 (summer) format than 15/15 for a given year.</p>
<p>I do like “Option B” though. Only the pickiest of employers will care that you used summers or extended your degree an extra semester.</p>
<p>I know I have said this before about myself but I have been in the software engineering business over 21 years and it seems like I have met more and more engineers who used more than 8 semesters to complete their degree…whether it was done in 4 years (using summers) or 4.5 to 5 years (not using summers).</p>
<p>Do Option A and lop off one summer class. That Spring semester doesn’t honestly look that bad to me, but the summer one seems a bit brutal. Your Option B looks like a cakewalk.</p>
<p>I should add that it seems like many more schools require more than 120 credits for the engineering/CS/Math degrees than when I was in school. I do look over degree programs (just for giggles) in my spare time and notice a whole bunch of 124, 126 and 128-credit programs.</p>
<p>If I do that, I will only have 11 credits and won’t be full time during the summer - if I’m not full time I lose $1100/month from the GI bill.</p>
<p>Global: Yeah, my Industrial Engineering program requires 128 credits - I’m also a transfer and was in the military, so my whole timeline is really funky. Haha. Normally I’d choose B, but being a little older and having a baby on the way, I really need to get into the workforce quick.</p>
<p>Option A summer schedule is insane. No matter the class schedule you may not be getting much sleep with a new baby. Will you be the primary caregiver?</p>
<p>I’m married and my wife will be busy during the spring. She will have the summer off though. She’ll have most of the baby responsibilities under control in the summer but in the spring we’ll be juggling them.</p>
<p>So do Option B and drop an elective into the Spring to get it out of the way. 12 hours in a normal semester is incredibly light.</p>
<p>Also, are you sure you need 12 hours to be considered full-time over the summer? Most places that I have heard of only require like 6 or 9 depending on the format.</p>
<p>Now I understand your point with the family, etc. Yeah, I have to admit that I did grad school in basically 5 semesters (part-time) because I was not a father yet (was married though). I do think about what if I had waited just a little longer and started grad school while being a Dad and I think it would have been much harder because chances are that those conference calls for the team projects would have been interrupted because of a child.</p>
<p>…and you just cannot have one parent doing everything. The other parent needs a break also at times.</p>
<p>Sixteen credit hours isn’t that bad. I’d be wary of taking 3 math classes at a time though. That can get you into trouble, especially if they build on each other.</p>
<p>Computer Science I – shouldn’t be too bad, some of the projects could be time consuming
Phys I – if you have experience with physics it shouldn’t be hard. If you don’t, you’ll have to work harder
Chem II - idk what chem 2 is, if its Orgo then I’ve only heard bad things about Orgo.
Calc II - calc 2 is a weed out course here so they make it very difficult. Harder than Calc 3 in my opinion but I didn’t take Calc 2 here
=16 credits</p>
<p>2 science labs plus programming projects plus math… ugh. </p>
<p>Summer (12 weeks):</p>
<p>Phys II - if this is E&M it will be difficult
Calc III - calc 3 isn’t that bad IMO
Diff Eq - diffy qs can be hard
Linear Alg - not hard at all
=14 credits </p>
<p>but 3 math classes that most people only take 1 semester at a time + a hard physics class and lab would suck and be very time consuming</p>
<p>if you could stretch this out I definitely would</p>
<p>I think I’m going to take your guys’ advice. </p>
<p>I’m gonna shoot for the spring semester from plan A (CS I, Calc II, Phys I, Chem II) which sounds tough but manageable and drop diffeq from the summer, making it Calc III, Linear Alg, Phys II.</p>
<p>If spring isn’t going well I can afford to drop CS and revert to plan B in its entirety.</p>
<p>Yes I sleep, but not as much as I would like to. On top of classes I go to a military college and run cross country. As far as how well am I doing in my classes around average but not as well as I would like to be doing my grades are:</p>
<p>Humanities: A
Physics Lab: A
Physics 2: C
Engineering 541: B
Statics: C-
Material Science (Chem 202): A
Calculus 3: C
After this semester which is my fall semester of my second yr at school I will have 63 total credits and I graduate from my college with 163 credits</p>