<p>A young lady I know(not my daughter in this instance) is being pressured by her parents to take a fifth course her first semester at Smith...in math, no less. I think this is a bad idea but would appreciate former or current STUDENTS to chime in...lol. :D</p>
<p>I think her parents should not pressure her 
</p>
<p>Look, everyone is different. Some students can handle five courses, or even six or seven. I am a member of Phi Beta Kappa and graduated from Smith Cum Laude, so I’m no academic slouch, but I only took five courses at a time once at Smith and it was the worst decision I ever made. I never did it again. For me, it was just way too much work. I know other students that did it every semester. Of course, I also had a part time job and took part in several campus orgs, so I had to be very judicious about how I divided my time. </p>
<p>Particularly first semester, I would strongly STRONGLY urge that she not do that. If she wants to take a math course, they are offered every single semester, so she can always take one in the spring or the next fall if she wants to. I do think taking math (at least statistics) while you’re in college is a smart idea. It’s a useful course to have under your belt later on for grad school and other opportunities. But I see no reason why you have to do it first semester. Plus, I’m assuming since her parents are pressuring her to do this, math isn’t her favorite subject. To set up a five course schedule your first semester and hav one of those courses be a serious academic subject that the student is already averse to and doesn’t need for her major sounds like setting someone up for failure to me.</p>
<p>S&P thanks and you have read the scenario correctly. She doesn’t like math and has no intentions of pursuing a major that would need it.</p>
<p>I would suggest that she tell her parents that her first semester, she should really only take 4. (maybe an extra ESS class) If that goes well for her and she wants more, she can always 5 classes in the spring. I took 20 credits spring my first year, including 2 senior-level foreign language classes, because I knew that I had had the high school academic background to handle it and took 17 credits my first semester easily. That’s not true for everyone, and it’s not a good or bad thing despite what her parents might think (my parents would probably agree with hers).</p>
<p>Since the math course would be extra and not for her major, I don’t think there would be much harm in trying it, but with the intention of taking it S/U (and knowing that first year you get a free drop). If she is doing well, she can take it for the grade. If she is doing not up to her usual standards but still passing, she can take it for the S. If she is doing neither of the above, she can use her free drop. She can also take advantage of the shopping period to get a feel for her course load.</p>
<p>Reiterating what has been said, high school preparation can be a large factor initially in college. She may find that her high school prepared her really well even though she may not have been the star student there, or she may find she was the star student but her high school really wasn’t that great and she has some catching up to do. It is hard to gauge that until she starts taking classes.</p>
<p>Also, normally for your advisor to sign off on 5 your first semesster you need a VERY compelling reason. That girl’s pressure should disappear once it’s seen how frowned upon 5 is.</p>
<p>There’s NFW I’d recommend five academic solids for someone’s first semester at Smith. I don’t care how well prepared you are—even if you went to Boston Latin or Harvard Westlake—the “speed of the pitching” is more than you’re used to. Sure, you may do “okay,” but this is a marathon, not a sprint.</p>
<p>Going 17+ is defensible if you have some easy 2-unit courses to throw into the mix, like an instrument or a dance course…and I hear even 2-unit computer programming courses can be treacherous…but even they take time. And you should explore activities. Have something of a social life. And have sufficient sleep.</p>
<p>Someone may adjust to Smith just fine. (D did.) But there are always a fair number who have never been less than #1 or some top sliver of their class who suddenly aren’t.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, what was everyone else’s first advising meeting like?</p>
<p>Mine was super short. I went in, presented the schedule I had planned on, she said okay and gave me my reg code. That was it. The professor had also been out of town for the group advising meeting, so this was the first time ever meeting her.</p>
<p>My first advisor was from one of the science departments, she was nice, but I wasn’t interested in classes in the department she was familiar with, so our first meeting was brief. By the end of first semester, she suggested that I declare my major early, because then I could choose a new adviser who was more familiar with the subjects I wanted to study. Even though I wasn’t 100% sure I had made up my mind about my major, she reminded me that I can always change majors as many times as I want if this first choice didn’t stick. </p>
<p>So I declared early and picked a new advisor. Who was also very nice, but basically gave me free reign. I would go in, present my schedule, he would say Ok and give me my code. That’s pretty normal. Some advisors are really hands on, and others are only hands on if they feel like you really need it. Fortunately, I was a little OCD about my schedule so I didn’t really need or want advice once I had made a decision about it. Still, I definitely didn’t have one of those close personal relationships with my advisor that some people have. We liked and respected each other, and he signed whatever I asked him to sign, wrote me letters of recc when I asked him, basically did what I wanted.</p>
<p>Also bear in mind if any classes have labs you will already be on a heavy sched. My d has never managed to have a day without classes just of a 4 course load. Re advisor - D not impressed - meeting was short and he recommended a class that didn’t fit into her sched and she basically hasn’t used him since. It is one thing we were disappointed in although she will now pick her own advisor so hoping for a better outcome.</p>
<p>Speaking second hand, D lucked out: good initial advisor, picked up a whole batch of unofficial advisors. I don’t recall whether her initial advisor was via STRIDE or not. Never got any bad advice, got lots of advice about options and implications of those options.</p>