<p>How hard will it be to take 13-15 credit hours this fall? I'm scared of getting to college and completely being thrown to the lions...</p>
<p>And while taking 13-15 credit hours how difficult would it be to work 4-5 hours a week?</p>
<p>If you're going to be a freshman, it's not a bad idea to take an easy course load during your first semester. Get your feet wet and have plenty of time for the social aspects of college. </p>
<p>I'm a big believer that if you start out a lot of activities early, they become the norm for you and you get used to working around significant time commitments. Whether that's a job or a fraternity/sorority or a number of different campus orgs, it holds the same. Plus, your resume will be better if you've done a lot of things from the start.</p>
<p>The difficult part of your second question will be finding a job that will allow you to work such a small number of hours. After that, the difficulty will depend on what the job is. Waiting tables at a busy restaurant is different than scanning ID's for people going into the the Campus Rec (you'd probably be able to study some at this job).</p>
<p>I took 16 hours my freshman year---Five 3-credit classes and a 1-credit lab. I didn't work until about halfway through my 2nd semester.</p>
<p>I now take 12 credits in the fall while working ~5 hours at our Rec Center and 40+ hours with the football team. I take 15-18 credits in the spring while working ~15 hours at the Rec and ~20 hours w/ the football team. </p>
<p>At football we're always running around and the only time I can study while at football is if it's my laundry night and waiting for the dryer to get done, or when we're on the bus or plane traveling to an away game.</p>
<p>I can't study at the Rec Center because my boss says so--we swipe people's IDs but nobody seems to realize that we also walk around to do participant counts, check out sports equipment (basketballs, racquets, etc.), raise/lower hoops, set up volleyball/badminton nets, clean the student lounge tables, sell passes, etc. During the day it's generally pretty slow and we could probably get some studying done if it were allowed, but my shifts are at night and we're constantly swiping people in or away from the desk setting something up. Some jobs look like a cake walk where you could get some schoolwork done but check into it before you decide to work there if you're planning on studying at work.</p>
<p>I am also consider getting a different job while in college and I have decided that I'm going to see how my semester goes before I get a new job. You might think about doing that.</p>
<p>It really depends on who you are.
Some of us managed 16-20 units freshmen year and worked 5-10 hours/wk, but other people struggle to keep their heads above water with 12-15 units (maybe because they party too much... don't have time management skills...)...but I really doubt 15 hours will kill you and 5 hours/wk of work is nothing. You really should be fine with that.</p>
<p>^^
I agree, you can manage if you have the proper time management skills.</p>