<p>Is it possible to enroll in more than 4.5 credits through ACES? Im doing FOCUS, a chem elective, and want to enroll in a house course (.5 credits). Or is the only way to overload course credits in person during orientation, cuz Im afraid that all the spots will have filled up by then. thanks :)</p>
<p>You can register your fifth course after everyone else registered.</p>
<p>is it still through ACES?</p>
<p>is that standard procedure for every semester? i am going to have a few semesters of 5 classes... just like everyone else i guess.. but how can we be required to do that (34 credits required) if we have to add the 5th class in the add drop period</p>
<p>Well most people use AP or pre-matriculation credits to take care of two required credits, lowering the overall number to 32 and getting rid of the need to overload.</p>
<p>bsbllallstr8, i read that our 1st semester is limited at 4.5 but after that it's 5.5 in ACES. So, you can enroll in 5 classes after 1st semester.</p>
<p>isnt the 4.5 limit for the first two semesters? (ie, 1st yr)</p>
<p>See the thing is Im planning on double majoring in biology (biochem conc.) and chem (biochem conc.) and Im trying to complete it in 5 yrs. so Im gonna need to overload on most if not all my semesters. I was just wondering whether you can somehow call and arrange for an overload through ACES rather than always in person.</p>
<p>Also, generally speaking, what is the maximum # of credits anyone should enroll in a semester - 6?, 7? I'm not a genius at all but a hardworker so I want to try my best to maximize my courseload each semester so I can finish a double major asap.</p>
<p>Also, does financial aid cover courses beyond the 4.5 (first semester), 5.5 (subsequent semesters) and the summer terms?</p>
<p>Thanks for your input, Will.</p>
<p>Geez, I got tired just reading your message... Personally, I plan on double majoring in biology and music, and I don't see myself having to worry about taking more than four years. Granted, I'm not trying to major in two different sciences, but I believe that Duke's whole credit system is set up to encourage double majoring. I think you need something like ten classes per major and five per minor... which means that if you were to double major as well as minor in something, that would take up 25 credits out of 34 required credits. Anyway, I vaguely remember a question about extra credits on the admissions website. The answer was that extra credits do not cost more. I also seem to remember the question asking about 5 or 6 courses. In my opinion... 6 classes=death :)</p>
<p>yeah its really awkward the way they schedule courses, I spent a few hrs today looking over the courses required for a chem and a bio major and a lot of them are offered only fall semester but not spring and vice versa. Plus a lot of the labs are shceduled at very inconvenient times, once a week for like 5 hrs...geez! So even tho its only 1 day out of the week, that pretty much screws up any other classes being around that time that also meet on on days including that one.</p>
<p>You're limited to 4.5 your first semester, but second semester you can overload to 5.5 (but most people don't overload like that during second semester... even getting to 5.0 credits is a little on the rare side). Financial aid will cover anything (I'm not 100% of summer session, but I imagine...) but Duke won't let you enroll past 5.5 credits a semester, so there's no point in worrying about that.</p>
<p>thanks bluestar, thats what I wanted to know. One more question, how difficult is the courseload (aka how much work is it) to do 5 - 5.5 credits in a semester. Im doing a lot of extracurricular stuff on the side, and taken Im very good w/ time management and can function on 4-5 hrs of sleep or less, this is Duke so Im a bit worried that I'll be on overdrive.</p>
<p>It really depends on the course.
There's going to be a bit of reading in almost everything (tons in political science and English) but there are some classes where you can survive without doing all the reading (simply because it's not realistic to complete everything that's assigned) and whatnot.</p>
<p>I've never overloaded, and I think I might spring semester because I want to go abroad through a non-Duke program in the fall (so I'll overload and maybe stay for summer session 1). I have two friends that overloaded second semester, and one of them says that she'll only overload if one of the classes is a complete joke that requires little to no work. She takes a "joke" science course (like Chem 83, Psych 11, etc.) as her overload and just sort of studies for the test, but slinks by the rest of the semester and just goes to class. That's not bad, because that's just keeping you occupied three more hours out of the classday week. My other friend who overloaded did it with legitimate classes with a lot of work, and she couldn't do all the work she wanted... whenever she had tests for like three classes at once it was miserable, and finals time was like hell for her. I mean, I remember taking 5 or 6 finals in high school, but really, taking four final exams here with final papers is enough to make me want to die... I can't imagine how rough it is to have even more.</p>
<p>My opinion is test out the water a bit first semester and see how involved you get (and stay) as to determine whether or not to overload in the spring. There really shouldn't be a NEED to do it that early, just a desire. You say you can function with little sleep-- see, I can't, but I do anyway because of my four classes and living in a social dorm and a social room. I am pretty solid with time management and learned that Lilly Library is my favorite place to study (need to change that in the fall!), but I also learned that you're not going to want to stay up all night doing work unless it's due the next day. </p>
<p>also-- as for overloading spring semester, factor in basketball games (tenting is longer this year) and greek life rush/pledging if you're interested</p>
<p>Duke's can be pretty flexible with that limit, but it depends on HOW you want to exceed that credit limit. First semester I had 4.75 credits (.5 for trumpet lessons, .25 for orchestra), second semester I had 5.75 (once again, the music courses taking me over). Also, it's really not the "credits" that matter, per se. It's the required courses for your major that will dictate how much you will take. </p>
<p>And I noticed it is far from normal to take 5 or 6 solid courses unless you HAVE to (i.e. as a senior in order to graduate), and definitely not something you should attempt your freshman year. Don't feel like you'll be "behind" if you don't take a bunch of courses early on - the idea is to adapt to working in a college environment and, by take a wide breadth of courses, get an idea of what you want to major in, etc.</p>
<p>As they say, you won't remember that 10:05 lecture, but you'll remember the crazy nights when you didn't get back til 6am or talked to you hallmates until dawn. It's the "college experience" that is irreplacable - you'll have years and years afterwards to work yourself into the ground (that isn't to say you won't do a bit of that in college regardless - but avoid burning out!)</p>
<p>amen (10 characters)</p>