<p>D1 has 14 credits which consists of 4 classes and a 1 credit 'reading class'. When she got her schedule she thought it was light, but met with her advisor earlier this week who told her it was fine, as 2 of the classes require lots of writing, however one other is Calc 1 (she got a '3' on BC exam, so it should be mostly review) and the last one is fluffy elective. </p>
<p>Husband took 18 credits every semester in college & I took 21 my first 2 years, including 2 lab classes Freshman year. </p>
<p>Does anyone think this seems a bit light for a kid who is used to taking all honors & AP classes and is a science major?</p>
<p>My D is freshaman at Cornell. She registered for 17 credits but during orientation her academic advisor advised her to drop a class and only carry 14 her first semester. I guess we’ve got to just trust the advisors.</p>
<p>Error on the side of caution! I’m sure she’s a bright girl; she did get into Cornell after all. But 1st semester freshman year is tough from a transitional standpoint – especially at Cornell. Let her get a lay of the land and establish herself socially then if she feels its justified she can ramp up the hours second semester.</p>
<p>My S1 (who is now a sophomore) only took 13 his first freshman semester and 14 his second. We weren’t too concerned because he came in with 16 credits to start with. Now that he’s adjusted he’s taking 17 credits this semester and holding down a part time job.</p>
<p>CBug is right on the money. Better to come in and have a great first semester, less stress, make friends, engage in the community and come out with strong grades than trial by fire and barely scrape by, or get grades they are not happy with.
I advise my students to go for between 12 and 15, depending on the major, and selecting the right “mix” of classes to balance the workload. Best of luck to her!</p>
<p>It does seem light, considering that you did not mention any lab courses (which are more time consuming than non-lab courses). If her school is like most, she will need to average 15 credits per semester to graduate on schedule.</p>
<p>How was her AB subscore on the AP Calculus BC test? If it was a 5, she may want to go to second semester freshman calculus.</p>
<p>Also, what science is she majoring in? Some of them have long prerequisite chains that may require starting the science courses in the first semester to avoid delaying graduation.</p>
<p>She’s an animal science major and only needs 1 semester of calc. (also got 3 on AB subscore, she’s bummed, as a 4 would have exempted her). She entering with over 25 credits via APs, including the full year of Bio & Chem, so I’m not worried that she won’t get enough credits overtime, it just seemed like a light load for her.</p>
<p>Our son has 13 including 5-hour Physics, which has a lab. 5-hour Honors Calc II, 2-hour Physics Seminar (for Physics majors) and 1-hour Honors Seminar called “Science Wars.” Physics and Honors Seminars require presentations, papers and group projects. And he is expected to do six hours of research per week for his fellowship grant.</p>
<p>His Honors College advisor suggested the same thing as cbug and USFAlumna. First semester is an adjustment time. He has 19 credit hours coming in, so he will be a sophomore next semester and can start averaging 15 per semester then.</p>
<p>DS’s adviser also recommended 14 credits, to ease the transition to college academics. DS ended up with 15.5 credits, but some of those are one-credit music courses without reading & writing homework (e.g., Concert Choir, Madrigal Singers, piano lessons). I think it’s a good plan to start off relatively light. DS does not even have that many credits going in (six, I think), but I don’t think that’s a problem.</p>
<p>Those are some difficult classes. I would give her time to adjust to college life and all the studying that it entails. My D1 is a dance major with 17 credit hours but the classes are not nearly as intense. Although, I was surprised by the outside requirements for a number of her classes, she has to go to so many performances and such. This does not include papers she has to write for her ballet class. I thought it would be just taking a ballet class, not writing papers and having a textbook. She is thinking about dbl majoring but I want her to get used to the rigors of college life first.</p>
<p>Dd has 16 credit hours this semester. Normal is 16 hours and the students can not take more than 19 without additional charges. She is a chemistry major. She is taking 2nd semester sophmore year Spanish, freshmen core class(course which all students are required to take to teach them what is expected of college papers) Chemistry II, and Calculas I. She went in with 24 credits. She will have junior standing after this year. </p>
<p>Wanted to add most classes at this college are 4 credits. I find this strange. When I was in college classes were 3 credits except those with labs.</p>
<p>20 hours for the first billing period (fall sem and J-term); it’s the max allowed. Counting classes is tougher. She has 5 classes and then 4 hours of music and non-credit music seminar. </p>
<p>The killer is going to be anatomy. Music is very time-consuming.</p>
<p>D is taking 16 credits; school limits freshman non-engineers to 16.5. Also they cover the first semester freshman grades (they are graded & GPA is calculated, but does not appear on the transcript & is not included in the “official” GPA). 1st year Spanish (she had Chinese in HS but “doesn’t feel like working that hard”), Calc III, Bio&lab, & Engineering for non-engineers.</p>
<p>My kid took 4 classes fall and spring terms and with one of them being Arabic and another a colloquium with ridiculous amounts of reading - he barely kept his head above water. Starting slow is not a bad idea. </p>
<p>Your daughter took AP and honor courses in high school and was probably at the top of the academic heap, but at Cornell everyone did. It’s hard to predict who will do well and who will have some struggles. It’s not just a matter of preparation and the quality of the high school, it’s also a matter of course choice and sometimes the luck of the draw. (Bad prof and/or bad TA.)</p>
<p>His college just counts courses as 1 credit.</p>
<p>S1 started out with 16 hrs. but dropped a four hour Calc. class and ended up with 12. He had tons of AP credit so it didn’t hurt him. He averaged taking at least 18 hours/sem.(took 20 one sem) the rest of the way through college. He was in NROTC so that added an extra 3 hr. class every sem.</p>
<p>S2 started out with 16 but dropped a 2 hr. class to put him at 14 for his first sem. Since then he’s taken 15 every sem. and has taken 12 credit hours worth of summer school classes. He’s not the kind of student who would do well with more than five classes to manage at the time.</p>
<p>If ours goes to the Canadian engineering school that is top of their list next year, it will be a total of 46 credits the first year (23 per semester). You can’t get credit for AP courses. So its about 11 3-hour courses, each with a 1-3 hour lab or required tutorial (about 16 additional hours). </p>
<p>It sounds brutal to me. One reason I think US schools would have been better: as they seem to offer far more flexible schedules with less credit hours required, and much higher average graduating GPA.</p>
<p>DS started out with 16 credits; week after classes started he changed majors, got a new schedule, and now has 13. Big relief on his parents’ side. </p>
<p>It’s OK to start college with a lighter-than-usual course load. In fact, it’s smart.</p>
<p>DS is taking 4 courses and at Bates each course is 1 credit. He got 3 out the 4 courses he wanted but was randomized out of Micro Econ. He is taking Cultural Anthro, Geology, States & Markets, and his Freshman intensive writing seminar is Poverty.</p>
<p>DS is taking 15, which is plenty for an engineering freshman, I think. The classes are: physics & physics lab (5), calc 2 (4), and 2 engineering courses (2 + 4), which puts him at 15. He also comes in with numerous AP credits, which really help take the pressure off as far as taking 16 credits/semester in order to graduate in 4 years. Yes, he will jump into “upper level” tuition sooner than we’d like, but I believe the trade-off is worth it.</p>
<p>I keep waiting to get notice from the school that my child has imploded, but so far, she is happy and thriving with 21 semester hours (18 is full load). She’s a musical theatre major, and 14 of those were required in sequence for her major…and before you think, “Oh – musical theatre…must just be playing around with props…” it’s turning out that she’s even planning in when/where she will eat around the cracks. There is quite a bit of reading/writing for those theatre classes – this is a robust program. The other 7 hours are an honors course that meets in the evenings. She is physically in classes many hours…</p>
<p>She’s doing: music theory, piano, sightsinging, “performance lab” (a workout/exercise class for actors), acting, advanced ballet, voice lesson and a weekly master class, theater aesthetics, and that honors seminar. In addition, she needs practicum hours. For many kids, that’s working backstage on one of the U’s shows. Would love to do that, but her evening seminar got in the way. Amazingly, the dean of the honors college connected her to a theatre prof who is writing a book, and she’s now his research assistant. </p>
<p>Most days run from her 8 a.m class to one that ends at either 6 p.m. or 7:30, then on to homework and research…but she reminds me it’s the life she was leading in h.s…in reverse. She would do a full day of school, then spend evenings/weekends in rehearsals, ballet classes, voice and piano, etc. She calls it the same thing…without the commute (and better wifi to do her homework). Since this is the way she’s experienced her life/schedule for as long as any of us can remember, she’s used to organizing/working ahead when she can (and is loving syllabi for a whole semester…so she knows what’s coming up). </p>
<p>For spring semester, she can audition to be in a show on campus, so hopefully will be able to lesson her academic load a bit if she is lucky enough to be cast as a freshman. She has a lot of AP credit that will help with the electives…but knowing her, she’ll fill her schedule with more dance classes.</p>
Best of luck to her!</p>