<p>I'll be taking 5 classes:
Beginning Japanese 1
Freshman Writing
Freshman Evolution Seminar
Calculus 2
Programming Structures 1 (first course in my major)</p>
<p>How much free time will I honestly have?</p>
<p>I plan to go to the pool 1 hour, maybe 4-5 days a week to swim and keep up my health.
I'm not worried about socializing time/partying and stuff like that, I just want to now that I can have some free time on my computer (like at least 2 hours a day?) and maybe some time to go volunteer at a hospital for 1-2 hours, just 2 times a week
And maybe another 3 hour slot each week to explore the city and university or something like that</p>
<p>normally schools only allow 18 credits (for more than that you have to have permission i believe).</p>
<p>I take it that each of those classes are 4 credits each? Rule of thumb is do at least 2 to 3 times that about of study time for an individual class (ie: 4 credit course would be at most 12 hours of study).</p>
<p>Add into that you are taking a language course, and a somewhat difficult one at that (i should know, i’m a taking high level japanese), i would double that rule just for that class alone.</p>
<p>But trueth be told, we don’t know how much you will have, because: A. we don’t know your school, B. we don’t know the days those classes fall on, and C. we don’t know how the professors of those classes work.</p>
<p>Japanese is 6 credits (which is fine with me, I love Japanese ^^)
Calc 2, Freshman Writing, and Programming Structures 1 are each 4 credits
And the Freshman evolution seminar is 2 credits</p>
<p>It’s going to be busy. Anything that’s 18+ seems to be. But it doesn’t seem terrible to me, considering none of those have labs with them (?) and none are music ensembles that require a lot of time. The general rule I’ve heard here and elsewhere is 2-3 hours of homework/studying outside of class per hour in class. I’m trying to do something similar. As a music major, we end up taking more anyways. I found out I’ll be allowed to take at least 19 credits this fall (we sign up during orientation). My school goes by course units though, so 4.75 units * 4 credits/semester hours per unit = 19. I might be allowed up to 5.5 units, or 22 credits. That will be busy, but I’m in a double degree program so I need to. </p>
<p>Try the 20 credits, but have one in mind to drop if you need to. You won’t have a lot of free time, but since, like me, you said you don’t care about parties and such, that will make it more possible.</p>
<p>Honestly it depends on how good you are. Freshman classes aren’t really that difficult compared to junior/senior classes. Looking at the list of classes you provided, I’d say that if you have the focus factor it shouldn’t be a problem. You can always drop some if it gets too hard in the first month.</p>
<p>Japanese 1 - When you say you love Japanese I assume you are already somewhat literate and semi-conversant in it? If so I would guess Japanese 1 would not be a problem, since intro level language classes typically assume no knowledge of the language. Thus, the workload should be far less for you than it would be for others. </p>
<p>Freshman Writing - I really have no idea. My “freshman writing” (which was 2 credits of technical communications) was very easy. No idea about yours. </p>
<p>Freshman Evolution Seminar - Freshmen seminars are typically low workload</p>
<p>Calculus 2 - Depends entirely on how good you are at math. I would expect to spend 6-8 hours outside of class per week, less if you are good at math, more if you are bad at math. Calc 2 classes aren’t going to be too different at similarly ranked schools, it’s pretty standard. </p>
<p>Programming Structures 1 - Is this intro data structures? Like the 2nd programming class in the intro programming sequence? How much experience do you have in programming? If you’ve worked with recursion and classes before you’ll have no problem. If not then it will depend on how good you are at learning. </p>
<p>All-in-all, I’m guessing you’ve seen a lot of what you’ll be learning before (at least in Japanese and programming) and if that is the case then I think you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Beginning Japanese 1- I’m just gonna assume that you have experience with the language since you say you love it. So i think this course will be pretty easy for you since its beginning.</p>
<p>Freshman Writing- Even if you’re not spectacular at writing and are just mediocre you should do pretty well. All your work will probably be just papers and some reading. Shouldn’t be too hard as long as you stay on top of the reading. </p>
<p>Freshman Evolution Seminar-You’ll hardly have any work.
Calculus 2- Are you good at math? Cause that’s the difference between partying the day before the exam and still getting an A, and having to spend the week before the exam isolated in the library.</p>
<p>Programming Structures 1 (first course in my major)-Don’t really have any experience with this course. Sorry.</p>
<p>Overall its gonna be a little heavier than most freshman take, but if you’re dedicated and willing to make some sacrifices you’ll do fine.</p>