My D22 is considering Case Western starting in the fall so I’ve spent a fair amount of time exploring the website. Could someone comment on the typical course load for an Art & Sciences student at Case? It sure seems like students are expected to take five ( or even six) classes per semester multiple times to complete their degrees. (Here is an example for BA in Environmental Geology: https://artscimedia.case.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/179/2016/06/14222608/BAEnvGeolEven.pdf. The BS in geology is even more course heavy, with first years starting off with five courses and sophomores expected to do 18 hours of work.
At every other college my D22 is considering, the regular course load is four/semester. Are classes less demanding at Case so that students can handle five? Do they meet less often? Or is Case just academically more challenging than most colleges?
All of the LACs my daughter is applying to expect students take four 4-credit courses per semester, except the ones that are on the trimester system - then it’s three 4-credit courses. Case is the outlier for her. And none of the other schools expect students to take six classes in a semester in order to fulfill their major requirements. Is this a university vs. a college thing?
The sample includes PE activities courses which are listed at 0 credits (even though they probably involve more than 0 hours of time). It also splits a typical general chemistry with lab course into separate courses for the non-lab and lab components, so it looks like two courses (3 and 2 credits) instead of one course (5 credits).
Other than the PE activities courses, the first year schedule looks like 14 and 15 credits, not particularly heavy, although lab sciences do tend to have higher workload than other courses.
I’ve actually taught a both a college and a university so I’m clear on the difference
I just haven’t seen the expectation that, in order to graduate, student will have to take 17-18 hours in some semesters.
In my example of environmental geology, these are the expectations per semester:
Fr. Fall 14 Fr. Spring 15 So. Fall 17 So. Spring 18
Jr. Fall 15 Jr. Spring 15
Sr. Fall 14 Sr. Spring 14
That sophomore year looks particularly rough.
And this is a sample course load for fall junior year:
BIOL 114, Principles of Biology (3)
STAT 201, Basic Statistics for Social and Life Sciences (3)
EEPS 220, Environmental Geology (3)c
EEPS 303, Environment and Law (3)c,e
Arts & Sciences GER course (3)
In the other schools my D22 is considering, each one of those classes would be worth 4 cr hours and so a fifth course would be an overload.
Maybe Case is just harder than most colleges and has higher expectations. That’s okay! But that’s what I’m trying to get a sense of.
That’s one of the reasons why I decided to go to the college I ended up at…there were too many subjects I was curious about to want to limit myself to four classes per semester! I agree with @itsgettingreal21 that most colleges tend to have 5 classes (15 hours) as a base of coursework, but a lot of the more selective private universities tend to do 4 classes of 4 credits (16 hrs).
What kind of student is your D? Obviously she’s an excellent student to get admissions to these colleges, but is she a perfectionist who is prone to anxiety? Or is she more apt to be a “good enough” student as in doing enough to get the “A” but is able to maintain a balanced life and doesn’t overly stress? If the former, she might do better at a university with 4 classes/semester as its norm. If the latter, 5 classes/semester (or more) is likely to be fine.
Here is a personal anecdote to illustrate what I mean. Where I went to college, 15 credit hours was the norm. Most of my friends and I would take 17-19 hours/semester, and there were times that it was 21-23 credits/semester (though one of the credits for the 23 credits person was a bowling class, so…). There was one friend, however, who had a great deal of anxiety and was truly a perfectionist. She used a lot of her AP credits so that she would only take 12-14 hours/semester because she would study ALL the time. Yes, she generally did set the curve on her tests, but she would frequently be worried she had “failed.” All of us graduated with Latin honors and went on to well-regarded grad schools. But most of our group enjoyed college far more than the worrier.
If your daughter sounds more like my anxiety-prone friend, I’d go with 4-classes/semester. If she sounds like the remainder of my friend group, I don’t think that 5+ classes/semester is going to be a problem.
Note also that 1 semester hour credit may not necessarily represent the same amount of material covered.
For example, a single variable calculus sequence which the AP calculus BC syllabus emulates may be:
two 5 credit semester courses (10 semester credits) – some community colleges
two 4 credit semester courses (8 semester credits) – many four year colleges
most of two 4 credit semester courses or three 4 credit quarter courses (about 5-6 out of the 8 semester credits or 8-10 out of the 12 quarter credits) – some UCs
one 4 credit (equivalent) semester course – MIT 18.01
I agree with