<p>Hi, so I am attending PITT as a freshman this fall, and I wanted to know what others recommended in terms of how many classes/credits you should have your first semester of college. My dad really doesn't want me to overload myself, but I want to pursue a double major in Biology and Communication Rhetoric and I need to fulfill gen-eds as soon as possible! Any advice from any current Pitt students/ parents?</p>
<p>Good question. I have the same concern for my daughter who will also be taking at least one honors class - probably Bio or Chem- during her first semester. If no one answers - maybe resend to AwesomeOppossum.</p>
<p>I took 17 credits my first semester-- 14 of those were honors. I don’t recommend that everyone do that, but I came from a rigorous HS background and knew that if I didn’t push myself, that I would quickly become bored. (I believe 16-17 is also the minimum for engineers first semester anyway.)</p>
<p>Honestly, I’ve never had a semester lighter than 16 and I’ve gone up to about 20 credits in a semester too. As long as you aren’t stacking the classes schedule-wise (as in, all one -right-after-another during the day) I think you will be OK. But think about your ability to commit to other things-- like clubs and sports.</p>
<p>thanks Awesome - you truly are awesome!</p>
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<p>No problem! I want to add that, at least when I was a freshman, the freshman advisors strongly recommended AGAINST taking more than 1 honors class per term, which I (and I’m sure many others) found insulting. Some of the advisors (not all) seemed to insinuate that we would not do well if we took more than 1 UHC course, we would be quickly overwhelmed, etc. I just want to say that this is definitely NOT the case, and for any student serious about their academics, it is most definitely possible to do 2-3 UHC courses per term without feeling like it’s overkill. </p>
<p>And then again, if you don’t want to take any, don’t! It’s all about how hard you want/need to push yourself. If you’re worried your first semester, take it light, and then bump it up if you need to (or better yet-- start out hard and if you feel like the material is too much, drop down to regular in the first two weeks of the term, which is the add/drop period).</p>
<p>You mentioned you wanted to take as many gen eds as possible. Instead, if you are planning to double major, its important to take required/pre-requisite courses in your major so you don’t get behind schedule. Gen eds can always be fit in to your schedule later. I’ve heard that BIO is very challenging at Pitt and intro course is a serious “weed-out” course.</p>
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<p>You might want to find out if some of the required courses from the second major could count towards your gen-ed. Not sure if this is possible, but it seems likely…? That would also help you save time/classes.</p>
<p>If you want to clear out the gen ed requirements quickly and easily, you might want to find out for certain through the registrar’s office if they will accept CLEP exam credit. CLEP’s website is showing that Univ of Pitt (Pittsburgh campus) accepts quite a number. These exams are set up so that you answer multiple-choice questions (for the most part) and a passing score grants you the credit so that you can bypass taking the semester class. Many universities who do accept CLEP credit have a limit to the number of credits (I have seen 24-30 as the most popular limits). Call the registrar to verify.</p>