Hi guys!
I need to decide what classes to take during the fall semester. I am currently a high school student who is taking full time college classes (dual enrollment). I want to know if it is smart to take the following classes together in one semester. Do you guys think it’s too much?
- PreCal (3 Credit hours)
2)English 1101 (3 Credit hours)
3)US History (3 Credit hours)
4)Conceptual Physics (3 Credit hours) and Lab (1 Credit hour)
- POLS 1101 American Government (3 credit hour)
- Spanish 2 (Full year high school course taken online)
Alternative Classes: Macroecon (3 credit hours) Micro Economics (3 Credit hours), Music Appreciation(3 credit hours)
Extra Info: I am not really sure if this is relevant or not, but I am currently taking College Algebra and Psychology 1101 (Summer Term)
A Mom’s perspective…What other activities, job, family or church responsibilities will you have ? If you have not carried this heavy a load before, I would caution you to pull back a bit. Dual Enrollment is a great way to go, but the college grades will follow you and you want to keep your GPA up.
Maybe it is too much with math and science. English may involve lots of time reading and writing. History will also require lots of reading and papers. Spanish online seems ok and fun.
Why do you need to take 18 hours. Your load seems more like high school with 5 or 6 classes per day. In college, loads are closer to 12,to 15 hours. College classes meet several times weekly which may involve less class time per week. This does not mean you have more free time. Most of your time is studying and completing assignments and carefully reading all text books and other print information. College is more difficult because you are responsible for learning and faculty and not teachers talk about only part of what you need to learn.
Get ready for upper division classes by learning how to study and complete work independently over time.
Looks tough. Maybe you’ll do well since you already have experience with college classes.
My daughter took 5 dual enrollment classes last semester including precalculus and a lab science that were both 4 credits so 17 credits. She did fine but my gut feeling is 5 classes were plenty.
I would assume English is writing intensive, US History and Government are reading and writing intensive, math depends on you but it does move fast. In part it depends on if you do every recommended problem for homework that isn’t required but helps with learning. My daughter did Spanish 2 honors her freshman year - it was easy for her but had a lot of group projects. I would think about just taking history or government this semester and perhaps add Spanish to college and skip the online Spanish.
You might be able to handle 6 classes but have you thought about things like the commute time (could be longer than high school) and length of school day - classes aren’t necessarily back to back. More importantly what are your extra curricular plans. They also need some time. My daughter is only allowed to take 5 classes and can’t take any high school classes (not allowed in her early college program) but honestly I think it is plenty with extra curricular.