<p>I'm trying to better understand how much time I will need to put into studying being an international student at GS (hopefully..)
I will need to support myself by working while studying, this will be hard based on the fact that I will need to put 25 weekly hours at the work I will have (I have some exams on sunday, wish me luck! ) Not to mention the fact that I will be studying in English, which isn't my native tongue... That is why it is so important to me.
Anyhow, What I'm asking is:
1. What courses do you take?
2. How many weekly hours of classes?
3. how much time you spend on the studying itself?</p>
<p>Any other comments or things you think I should know about- please feel free to let me know!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>4-6 classes is the norm</p></li>
<li><p>15-18 hours a week is the norm</p></li>
<li><p>totally depends on how quickly you learn things, how hard working you are, whether you take easy classes, whether you care about getting A's, etc. Some people drink every night. Some people work 24/7.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>As a GS student, unlike those in Columbia College or SEAS, you are allowed to take a part time load. Many GS students also work, and some are supporting a family. Also, you will have a GS advisor who will help you choose a courseload.</p>
<p>You are "supposed" to spend 2 hours studying for every hour of class. Usually it's way more (I'm assuming you want to get As). When reading these replies, know that some people like to low-ball how much time they spend/t studying.</p>
<p>If you want to do well, I think at least 6 hours per class per week would be a good estimate. Some classes will demand more time (it takes me about 8 hours just to do stat homework), others less. In your case, since you admit your English is not as strong as it should be, probably more than 6 hours per class.</p>
<p>So let's see... Most classes meet about 3 hours per week x 4 classes + 6 hours studying x 4 = 36-40 hours of in and out class work for a 12 credit load.</p>
<p>Working 25 hours with the above load is completely doable. Just know that you will spend your days running between work, school and the library without free time for much else. Welcome to GS!</p>
<p>I can't speak for GS, but there are some disciplines that, as you get better at that sort of work, reward skill with greater time savings. Math is one - the better you are at math, the less time you spend on the problem sets and studying. History, by contrast, rewards skill with very little time savings - you still have to do the readings and write the papers and nothing will get around that. I did math in large part because of this fact, because it enabled the greatest amount of free time for me. The same is true for a handful of other disciplines.</p>
<p>That is very true Denzera. This is the first stat class I've ever taken so it is particularly challenging. Had I taken it in HS or taken a lower level one, I probably would be spending much less time on it. Plus I'm the kind of person that does extra problems so I may spend more time than someone that just does what's necessary.</p>
<p>You can get away with skimming most of the readings in history; in fact, being able to discriminate among texts and parts of texts is among the skills a history major is supposed to learn. Doing all the reading for a particular class in detail is not only a waste of time (200pp/week/class is typical; I've had 1000+/week in seminars), but detrimental to developing the "historian's eye". </p>
<p>In all, though, it probably does require a more significant time investment than math.</p>
<p>I think that another big factor will be the amount of time I will spend on traveling.. I hope I will be able to sit with my laptop in the subway or bus when moving from one place to the other, This will give me more study time... </p>
<p>
[quote]
How does one develop the skill to skim and discriminate text? I'm a technical/math person so I'm not really good at it.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That skill is important in science too. In your upper division classes, you'll read these dense, boring research papers and you have to be able to pick out what's important and focus in on that.</p>
<p>As for c2007's point that you don't need to read all the reading in a humanities class, part of the reason this is true is that the class requirements are often a paper or two on a pretty specific/narrow topic. So to do well in a class, you just have to do a good job mastering the narrow topic you're writing your paper on, and don't have to know every single work you've been assigned cover-to-cover.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think that another big factor will be the amount of time I will spend on traveling.. I hope I will be able to sit with my laptop in the subway or bus when moving from one place to the other, This will give me more study time...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>On the subway/bus, you hope to be able to SIT, period. In rush hours, you'll most likely be standing. The subway/bus isn't a good way to work. If you're on a commuter train, maybe.</p>
<p>I regularly work on the subway to/from work. pop open the laptop and have at it. This only works if you can get a seat though, and I don't think I could do the same on a bus (i've tried once or twice, and if i just need a quick piece of information like a phone number I can do it, but nothing consistent). I can generally get a seat because I pick up the 2/3 express at 110th, so if the first train that comes is a #3 train, there are almost always empty seats.</p>
<p>If you're a person with a lot of books as part of your class regimen, you can even do that standing up. it all depends on how much you crave time efficiency. that's sort of the name of the game in my life, but others prefer to use the subway as a sort of mental break. whatever works for you.</p>
<p>Beats me. I read Catch 22 in about 2 weeks of there-and-back-again. Working on Daniel Goleman's new book. Maybe other people get nauseous but I never have. I can't read while in the car though.</p>
<p>I'm an engineering SEAS grad student and I've never had to skim anything for my classes. The reading material is usually dense, so it's more likely I have to read chapters more than once to fully understand everything.</p>
<p>Thank you for the info I will have to check it out myself to see what works best for me...
There is a chance I will work at JFK. I will want to get a flat at either upper east side or at morningside heights, what will be the best way to get from upper manhattan to JFK?
I checked in the MTA site and it will be the subway in 45 min but it doesn't calculate rush hour... So which is the best way?</p>
<p>you mean JFK airport? That normally takes an hour and a half.</p>
<p>if you're attending columbia, why in god's name would you work at an airport? Surely there's something less strenuous and closer to the school that you could undertake. Computer jobs, for example - programming, web design, etc - are particularly conducive to the schedules of a student.</p>