<p>Alright, so I'm really confused about this whole college process. </p>
<p>First of all, I want to know what credit hours are? For example, I've taken the AP Human Geo, Stats, and World History tests and I've gotten a 4, 3, and 3 respectively. Different colleges offer different credit hours for those test scores and I don't understand what they mean? Like do you get out of going to that class for a year or a semester (and if you get out for a semester, do you just start that class halfway through the year)?? </p>
<p>Second of all, I'm planning on studying Neurology at Medical School so I was wondering what undergrads should go with that? I was thinking pre-Med Biology major, Psychology minor? And what do the major/minor things mean?</p>
<p>Almost all colleges are on a semester or quarterly basis, and almost all classes are for a single semester/quarter only. So if you get three credits for HIS101, that means you don’t go to the HIS 101 course at all, and either get non graded credit (P for Pass) for that specific course, or you get three non-graded generic history credits that will probably meet history distribution requirements. If you were to get a qualifying grade on a course that is a prerequisite for more courses (Chemistry 101 or Calc 101), then you would either get non-graded credit as above, or you would get no credit but be allowed to take the next class in sequence. If you got no credit, you would have to take another class to replace it, but it could be a more interesting class than the one you tested out of.</p>
<p>The majority of classes at most schools are three or four credit hours, and you take between 12 and 18 credit hours per semester. Graduation requirements are usually about 120 semester credits (AKA semester hours) over four years. 15 credits each semester for 8 semesters = 120 credits total.</p>
<p>A major is your primary field of study. The proportions are EXTREMELY variable by school, but at US schools, you will likely take 1/4 - 1/3 of your classes as breadth classes, outside your major, and 2/3 - 3/4 of your classes in your major. So if you major in American History, you’d have to take several semester-long English classes, a couple math classes, a science class, a whole bunch of American History classes, several American Literature classes, a few World History classes, and several classes to be whatever you want (electives). The details are spelled out in the college catalog, which is listed on the web site.</p>
<p>A minor, optional at most schools, is a second area of interest. You could major in History and minor in Spanish, where you squeeze several Spanish-related classes in among the breadth requirements and free electives.</p>
<p>At most schools, a credit hour or credit unit nominally represents either:</p>
<p>a. Class time per week, and/or
b. One third of total time per week spent in and out of class.</p>
<p>A typical course load in college is 15 or 16 credit hour units per quarter or semester, where the nominal class time is 15 or 16 hours per week and/or the total workload is 45 to 48 hours per week. Of course, this can vary from course to course, and typical total workloads at most schools are much lower than three times the number of credit hour units (i.e. much less than 45 to 48 hours per week for a 15 or 16 credit hour unit course load).</p>
<p>At semester calendar schools with 15 week semesters, typically about 120 to 128 credit hour units are required to graduate. At quarter calendar schools with 10 week quarters, typically about 180 to 192 credit hour units are required to graduate. A semester credit hour unit is worth 1.5 times as much as a quarter credit hour unit, so if credit is transferred between schools with different calendars, that adjustment must be made.</p>
<p>A summer session at a semester calendar school is typically 8 weeks, so a typical course load then is 8 credit hour units.</p>
<p>A major can include about one third to over two thirds of the total number of courses or credits to graduate, depending on the major or school, as described by the previous poster. Note that it is not required to major in biology to do pre-med – you can take the pre-med courses alongside any major. Pre-med courses will take up about one third of the total number of courses or credits to graduate, but may overlap with your major courses (particularly if you major in biology or chemistry, somewhat less so if you major in other sciences or engineering) or breadth courses (if you major in humanities, social studies, arts, or business).</p>