I’m going to college this fall as a freshman, but for a typical schedule, how many courses should I actually take? If I consider in working, how many hours should I do?
First, if it’s at all possible to avoid working during your first year on campus, avoid it. College is a big enough shock. You can pay off student loans…you can’t ‘pay off’ damage done to your GPA.
Without knowing which school you’re attending, as a general rule the first two years are devoted largely to breadth requirements. Taking 4-5 classes is typical.
Find out the total number of courses or credits needed to graduate with a bachelor’s degree.
Divide by the number of terms in 4 academic years (usually 8 for semester system schools, or 12 for less common quarter system schools).
That is the number of courses or credits to take on average each term to graduate in 4 academic years.
I agree with @ProfessorD : DO NOT WORK YOUR FIRST SEMESTER!! Focus on your academics and adjust to college life. Also, you need to make sure that you do enough hours to be full time (minimum is 12, but i suggest 15-17). I also suggest to get all of the required courses done to the best of you ability, because if you fail, it will really come back hard, and you will be in college longer.
I’ll give another perspective, since I took a job within a couple weeks on my first semester. If you think you’ve established a good work ethic during high school, and if you find a job - preferably on campus - that is flexible with your schedule, then a job can be a great thing. It can be a way to network with others, to earn some spending money, and to start off college with some accountability to others. It’s up to you, since you know yourself better than anyone, but I definitely wouldn’t discourage everyone from taking a job their first semester.
In general, I think 15-16 credits is the recommended amount to take per semester. Talk to your adviser to be sure! Also, I personally had a job during my entire freshman year. It was an on campus job, and I loved it! I worked about 10 hours a week, and my manager scheduled our shifts around other activities and classes we had (we turned in times we were available before the beginning of each semester.) I think that if you want to work, it’s best to try to find an on campus job. In general, I feel that places on campus recognize that you are a student first, and are more accommodating to your needs when it comes to scheduling shifts and things like that.
At the end of the day, only YOU can decide if you can handle working or not. I do not feel that my job impacted my GPA at all, and I know multiple people who worked more than me and were fine. I actually think having a job since the beginning of my freshman year forced me to learn time management skills and HELPED my GPA. If you’re unsure, you could always wait a couple of months into the year and see how things are going before getting a job!
You’d typically take 4 4-credit classes or 5 3-credit classes per semester or a combination of both, or three per term or four per quarter… With sometimes a 'kinesiology’ie sport activity added and sometimes first semester you’ll have a 'methods /how to be a good college student’s class for 1 credit.
All on all, make sure you have at least 14 academic credits and up to 16 total first semester.
Jobs depend on your high school experience but first semester I’d choose on campus only, 6-8 hours (10 of you were working 15+ in high school and need the money).