<p>Yeah, the hour per credit system is almost universal; although that is not to say that some department's will regularly violate this rule (e.g., music, science, theatre) with 0-unit courses and 1-unit ensembles, labs, and performance-oriented courses.
Also, as far as study time goes, you should realize that you are paying a lot of money for each class period, so you will want to make the most out of EVERY session!
Where I am going to school, it actually breaks down to an average of as much as about $50 per hour of class! If you think of it that way, how bad an idea does it suddenly seem to skip a class or even simply not prepare for it by ample study (i.e., reading that chapter in your Intro to Psychology text before the appropriate class or reading the story you will be discussing in tonight's Intro to Literature class)?</p>
<p>yeah I forgot about labs being 1-Credit but lasting a couple of hours. And Lab credits are in addition to the course credit.</p>
<p>If you want to make the grades in college that you did in high school (assuming they're high; since virtually no high schoolers on this message board don't have high grades)....then yes, you will have to study a lot.</p>
<p>That said, I had almost all A's and a few B's in high school. In college I'm making mostly B's and A's and the occasional C's. I study a few hours a week, total. If I studied more, I could do better. Of course, you get some weird days......... Today alone I've spent 6 hours studying -- 3 this morning cramming for an exam, and an additional 3 this evening organizing my thoughts for & writing a 10-page paper (which I'm about halfway done with and taking a break).</p>
<p>Do NOT go into college thinking you can join 8000 clubs like you did in high school because it "looks good". First of all, that's pointless. Remember that when you apply for jobs/internships in college, you're supposed to keep your resume to one page. You only have room to talk about the things you're really involved in, nobody cares about the rest. So don't bother getting involved in stuff that you don't really care about.
Second, you don't have enough time between classes, studying, socializing, and relaxing, to be attending meetings and stuff all the time. Walking around campus for various things gets to be a pain, especially if it's nighttime/cold/raining. It's much more fun to get REALLY involved in a couple activities than spread yourself around in 5 or 6.</p>
<p>How many classes would a person who is double-majoring need to take per semester?</p>
<p>^Great question</p>
<p>I can be wrong, and I know that it probably depends on the majors (or whether or not both majors are part of the same school), but usually the same amount as all other people. The only difference is the fact that more of your classes will be devoted to major requirements. From speaking with friends and my own personal experience, a major usually requires about 1/3 of your classes, with the other 2/3 open for whatever you want (distribution requirements, pre-med classes, electives, etc.) If you double-major, even if there is no cross-over, that should still leave you 1/3 of your classes with which you can do whatever you want. But, as I said before, it probably does depend on the school/majors.</p>
<p>Instead of taking extra electives, you use your elective space to fill your major requirements. You'll also probably have to take some summer classes or perhaps a second semester. My sister, for example, is double majoring in journalism and political science, and there is some crossover, but she still has to do an extra semester, plus internships for two summers. You aren't likely to load on the extra classes each semester, though, you'll generally want to stick to 15 hours or so. SOme people take 18 hours or even overloads - I've done it, but I find that it's better to suck it up for an extra semester or summer if need be and get really good grades than stress myself to the breaking point over a bunch of classes just to graduate "on time." "On time" is nebulous, anyway - if you do what you're supposed to do, that can mean 3 1/2 years or 5 years, depending on what you did in college.</p>
<p>I suggest taking charge of your college plan. When I was in college I actually planned four years of classes in my first year. Every major has its own requirements, and generally the catalogs will list regular courses and when they are offered. If you have a plan, you know where you're going and when, and you're not dependent on what your advisor tells you (or doesn't tell you - I've heard too many stories of advisors who didn't keep track of what they were supposed to and someone was in a last minute crunch because of it). And if a course pops up that you want to take, or you need to make an adjustment, you can see easily where it fits into your plan. My plan was invaluable - I don't know if I would have graduated on time if I hadn't done it, plus it impressed the heck out of my advisor.</p>
<p>How many classes should we take typically? </p>
<p>I took 9 during my first term in college, and ended up with all A's and one B. There were days that I felt I was really spreading myself thin, but overall, my high school curriculum had prepared me very well to deal with that. I had 27 hours of class per week, but because it is an Engineering curriculum, it's only 19 credits! I would recommend the standard 15 credits for your first term. Work up from there.</p>
<p>How many club activities should we commit to? </p>
<p>As many as you care to and can handle without adversely affecting your academics. Choose wisely. If you're thinking about this, Grad School is a totally different ball game--college not like HS where people are trying to do 20 clubs to get in to their school of choice. Your GPA is most important.</p>
<p>Is college freshman life wholly different from high school life?</p>
<p>Absolutely. The responsibility's all on you to wake up in the mornings and go to class, and nobody's going to care if you skip class. Dorm life can be difficult in that many personalities are just thrown together in a small space. Compromise and be nice to your RA. I love college scheduling in that I don't have to wake up at 6 am for classes, although I have had classes 8-5 STRAIGHT before-still not as bad as High School, I say, because college is far more important and interesting.</p>
<p>What kind of college-study lifestyle should an anthropology major be looking at?</p>
<p>Number of classes - depends on your major. For example, some sample 4-year plans at UCSD:</p>
<p>Aerospace Engineering: <a href="http://revelle.ucsd.edu/fin4/pages/2005/28mae_aero.html%5B/url%5D">http://revelle.ucsd.edu/fin4/pages/2005/28mae_aero.html</a></p>
<p>Earth Sciences: <a href="http://revelle.ucsd.edu/fin4/pages/2005/earth_geochem.html%5B/url%5D">http://revelle.ucsd.edu/fin4/pages/2005/earth_geochem.html</a></p>
<p>BA Psych: <a href="http://revelle.ucsd.edu/fin4/pages/2005/85psyc_ba.html%5B/url%5D">http://revelle.ucsd.edu/fin4/pages/2005/85psyc_ba.html</a></p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>AS a freshman ,everything in college is curious .When you see a fresh thing ,maybe a lecture or a activity ,you have a actuation to join in .So the only thing i can tell you now is being advisable to choose some activities ,not many ,just a few is enough.</p>
<p>it just depends on what types of classes you have. if you're taking a spanish class, you probably won't have much to do outside of class. if you're taking a physics course, you probably have a ton of problems to teach yourself how to do outside of class.</p>
<p>I took a digital imaging course where I'd come in, get my assignment, and go home. I'd work on it there, and show up for class two weeks later with my completed assignment. I'd occasionally stop by to show the prof. my progress on it. So for that class even though i had outside of class work, I just chose not to go to class and do the work during that time. :) I got the highest grade in the class. Technically that class met for 5 hours in the classroom each week.. I probably went to class for about 30 minutes per week, and i'd probably spend three-four hours doing my work at home.. so I was actually doing that class LESS than the amount of time that was meant to be in the class. (I think that made sense.) I just ran into that prof when I was visiting my college a few months ago and we stood around chatting for a good amount of time.</p>
<p>there is no way anyone can study 2 hours for every hour of class- that is unreasonable and no one i know does that... its like HS in the sense that it depends on the class, the teacher, the school etc and how well you can learn things (my school recomends seniors study 3 hours a night, but the average kid does an hour at most, if anything)</p>
<p>and plus most people in college say that the bulk of work comes around finals,papers and preliminary time...people rarely have consistent reading and daily studying habits</p>
<p>For college kids posting on this thread, would you guys say what school you are going to? One this gives readers a perspective on your academic ability and two difficulty of classes vary widely at different colleges.</p>
<p>I go to Duke, and I spent way more than 2 hours per every hour of class studying. Sorry to disappoint, stonecold. 2 hours of studying/class hour is actually a HUGE understatement according to what I observed amongst my friends...</p>
<p>Keep in mind, also, that you don't meet for class as often as high school classes do. I took 4 classes this past semester - two were 2.5 hours/week, one was 3.75 hours/week, and one was 3.3 hours/week. It's definitely NOT inconceivable that if you add up time spent studying, doing homework, reading for class, writing papers, etc., a person could spend 24 hours/week studying. That averages out to about 3 hours a day-- including weekends, when I know for a fact that people would spend WAY more than 3 hours each day studying in the library.</p>
<p>"You'd be surprised. Some of them were more mature before college."</p>
<p>ha. i'd have to agree, but i'm not even in college yet.</p>
<p>As a freshman at cornell I took 16 credits first semester:</p>
<p>Writing Seminar
Intro Biology
Intro Chemistry
Engineering Calc
Intermediate Tennis</p>
<p>Second semester I took 19:</p>
<p>Intro Chemistry II
Engineering Math II
Computer Programing (Matlab and Java)
Writing Seminar
Continuing Spanish</p>
<p>This semester has really kept me busy. I've done a few EC's but I need to get involved in more. I'm in the Ski Club, Cornell Ambasadors Program, and I've auditioned for a few acapella groups, made the call backs for a couple of them, but ultimately didn't make the cut.</p>
<p>I was offered a position to work in a lab, but they expected me to work 12-15 hours during the week (weekdays only), and I just didn't have that much time on a regular basis.</p>
<p>So, as a freshman, I think it's wise to sign up for 15 credits (16 w/ gym if you need it) first semester, then if you feel comfortable add another class.</p>
<p>EC's..I definitely recommend getting involved in something. But commit yourself to a couple major things.</p>
<p>To regaurds of what bandcampgirl said, comparing the colleges for 3rds in a yr, if I were to go to college and major in Chemistry, on a pre-med path, w/ a minor in Psychology. Would this take up all 3/3 of each yr? Or does a minor not take up that much time, or what?</p>
<p>Also -- would this be an impossible course load? Anyone w/ any type of experience w/ pre-med &/or chemistry etc?</p>
<p>an impossible courseload for premed...advanced biology, organic chemistry, calc based physics II and biochemistry...obviously no one in their right mind would do something like that...or I at least hope not lol</p>
<p>I know my son has said he spent minimum 2-3 hrs per course hour in studying. I witnessed some of this as he was home several weekends and averaged 6-8hrs/day on Sat. and Sun. Now if you are satisfied with C's you could get by with a lot less.</p>