<p>I am an undergraduate student from germany and I got accepted to Penn state as a transfer student for spring 2014.</p>
<p>In spring 2013 I was an exchange student at the dickinson college and my advisor was telling me that three classes per semester are fine and even I can schedule a 4th class, he told me that I will have to do a lot of assignments, homework .... and I should may just take 3.</p>
<p>My academic advisor at Penn state has told me now that it is normal to schedule 5 classes per semester and I am a kind of worried that this would be too much for me. I am already used to the university-system, also to the american one. But when I would schedule a 5th class, I would have three classes every day, because most of the courses are three times a week.
Of course I want to study and learn a lot, but I also want to gain from the amazing social life at penn state and I am worried that I will not have time to do anything else than studying, when I have so many classes.</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me how much additional work the classes at penn state require? (like homework, readings, learning for exams, papers ....)</p>
<p>A fulltime classload is between 12 and 18 credits. Most (but not all) classes are worth 3 credits, so that is at least 4,more likely 5 classes. 3 classes makes you only a part-time student, which effects your financial aid, health coverage, insurance, and most of all, your ability to graduate in a timely fashion. My student has 3 classes MWF and 1 on Tue/Thur, but he took 6 credits this summer to lighten his fall workload (he has a difficult lab-based class right now). In the spring he will have 16 credits on his schedule.</p>
<p>Rule of thumb is often at a bare minimum 2 hours of work outside of class for every hour in class. That is going to vary with your own ability, and the difficulty of the class. Despite its party reputation, the most successful PSU students do in fact spend a great deal of time studying. It is, after all, the point of being in college.</p>
<p>(As for your supplemental housing questions? You really, really, should call or email housing to have those answered. You don’t want to get here in January with no idea where you are living!)</p>
<p>Thank you for the answer greenbutton!
At Dickinson a normal class was 4 credits, but also most classes were only 2 time per week and 75 Minutes long.
Right now I am trying to schedule a 5th class at penn state, but most of the classes which would make sense are already full or I would have a schedule conflict with classes I really need.</p>
<p>In regard to housing: Yes, I am really worried about not getting a contract, maybe that is the reason why I would be happy to get a supplemental contract
I have emailed the assignment office housing twice and both time the person was telling me that he cannot garuentee me a contract, but normally they are able to offer contracts to everyone on the waitlist.
Do you think it would change anything when I call, as well? I am pretty sure I would call the same person and since I emailed him twice I think that could be a little bit annoying?
What do you think I should do? I am really thankful for any advice!!</p>
<p>The organization is different: Dickinson has 4-credit courses, whereas Penn State has 3-credit courses.
A normal load at Dickinson is 4 classes, because those require a LOT more reading than the Penn state classes, especially the 100 level classes (for example, a Dickinson freshman class can involve 50-80 pages of reading per class period, whereas a Penn State freshman class would involve about 30-50 - and seriously they’re recommended not to assign more than 30.)
For this reason, a Dickinson class is at least 4 credits and sometimes worth 5, so that a “normal” load of 4 classes ends up being about 16 credits (and up to 18). Often, international students are recommended to take only 3 classes due to the heavy reading in English and seminar/discussion format that requires a lot of participation, which is difficult when your English is still getting totally fluent.Dickinson classes function like Penn State’s Shreyer Honors Program - except Shreyer scholars typically handle 5, not 4, classes.
A normal load at Penn State is 5 classes because a class is typically worth 3 credits (4 credits for beginning language classes) and it’s not unusual for good students to take up to 6 classes (18 credits). There’s less reading in freshman classes as mentioned above but remember that it has to be multiplied by 5, not 4, so that the total may be very similar…Furthermore, many freshman classes are in lecture halls, so that there’s less participation- it does NOT mean there’s less work, but it’s a different type of work and for an international student it’s not as difficult. The material is less in-depth (it’s 3 credits, not 4) but there’s more coverage: the students can take more classes, explore more subjects or, since they take 10+ classes per year rather than 8, they may focus on more specific aspects of their major and develop specialties. You’re expected to devote 2 hours out of class for every class period (vs. 3hours for Dickinson - you can also measure how fast or slow you are compared to what’s recommended).
So, in a nutshell: 4classes worth 4 credits = 5 classes forth 3 credits + a lab.
In short, your adviser is correct and you shouldn’t worry, especially if you did fine with 3 classes at another American college which brought your reading and speaking skills up to par. Schedule a 5th class, either a general education requirement, or perhaps a class you find fun and wouldn’t take otherwise - there are literally THOUSANDS of possibilities for you.</p>
