<p>How much work does the College give out? Since Penn’s an Ivy league school, does it give out a lot of work (by normal peoples’ standards)? Is it extremely stressful trying to get work done</p>
<p>bump............</p>
<p>Well I think it depends on class selection, major, and the number of classes you take, but I'd say that you can't come here and be too lazy. That being said, I hear the sociology majors have a lot of free time on their hands...</p>
<p>yep...it depends almost entirely on your major and course selection. The real key is not to overload yourself. For most majors there's no reason to take any more than the regular 4 courses each semester though sometimes its hard to resist adding that 5th class.</p>
<p>Once you get here, you'll quickly get a feel for what you can handle without too much stress. Some clues from Classics:</p>
<ol>
<li>Elementary Greek: 3 hours a day, every day</li>
<li>Upper Level Latin: about 60 minutes a day for about 200 lines a week. I have a tendency to do the coming week's work on Sunday, then review it before class.</li>
<li>300 level "topic" courses: up to 2 hours a day. Lit. based classes tend to take me more time than art & architecture.</li>
</ol>
<p>On any given day you'll only have 3 or 4 hours actually in the classroom, so even if you need 5 more hours of study, you still have plenty of time to have fun.</p>
<p>Other tips: </p>
<p>Read and understand your course syllabus. For most courses you will be expected to have read the week's material before class. The syllabus will also tell you when essays and midterms are due.</p>
<p>The required writing courses can involve a large amount of reading as well.</p>
<p>Freshman seminars vary wildly in the amount of work required. </p>
<p>Avoid scheduling multiple lab courses in a single semester.</p>
<p>Watch out for time crunches:</p>
<p>Prepare essays well in advance, most profs will read and comment before the final version is due. They tend to all come at the same time and even when the basic references are on reserve the good stuff will be checked out. </p>
<p>Mid-terms: again, tend to all come at the same time. </p>
<p>Finals: "Reading days" will make you think you have more time than you actually have. Final papers are often handed in at the final, so if you've let a paper slide you can get into a crunch. </p>
<p>Plan your work and work your plan!</p>
<p>Well, if you want to see a humorous perspective as to the life of a chem major, visit the DP's website and find the editorial about it. Even better, read the orgo chem prof's reaction to it. Words cannot describe how priceless the professor's reaction was.</p>
<p>EDIT: Since I was in the need of some humor, I found it again. This series seriously had the entire campus cracking up last year.</p>
<p>Original Article:<a href="http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/434ca0c40f303?in_archive=1%5B/url%5D">http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/434ca0c40f303?in_archive=1</a>
Prof's Response: <a href="http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/434f72aa1f8da?in_archive=1%5B/url%5D">http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/434f72aa1f8da?in_archive=1</a>
3rd Student's Response: <a href="http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/43572e86ac35d?in_archive=1%5B/url%5D">http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/43572e86ac35d?in_archive=1</a></p>
<p>did no one see how funny the prof's response was... if this is representative of the student body then we take ourselves way too seriously =</p>
<p>trip, don't worry about the freshman year workload. The worst off are the engineering kids, followed by nursing and wharton. Those who have science courses are kinda dicked cuz you have the 3 hour lab, 3 hours of lecture, lab lecture, and recitation. However the average class time for intro courses is 4 hours a week, and most of the classes/recitations don't take attendance. If you feel like you know the material or party too hard one night, skipping a few classes won't kill you if you don't make it a habit</p>
<p>And as for work outside of class, it depends. I would say that 4-5 hours a week per class would be a reasonable estimate for homework and studying. So a 5 credit schedule would net you a 40-45 hours a week academic commitment, which isn't too bad at all. Lots of time to fornicate</p>
<p>awesome...thanks for the responses. the whole ivy league thing is intimidating.</p>
<p>Just keep this in mind: When you apply to an Ivy League the thought of doing little work should not even be in your head. If you want to go to a top college/university, then realize that a lot of work comes with that choice. Of course the actual amount of work (in terms of hours per week) is based on what classes you take. That is even the case in high school and any school in general.</p>
<p>of course eating & fornicating are really all ill pay 45K a year to do.
and why not!? </p>
<p>ps: the whole "orgo chem is a premed weedout class" deal is incredibly intimidating. turns out, this is true at any college. =/ any thoughts by those who've taken it?</p>
<p>Well said. Who wouldn't pay that much to eat and fornicate all day? I think it's a deal few could refuse.</p>
<p>i knew a lot of people freshman year who said (I spend so much money on this education, I'm going to all my classes (I was one of them). After 2-3 months though, you realize how bad some classes really are and realize you'd be better off spending your time doing hw or even just unwinding. Examples for me were lab lectures and econ recitations</p>
<p>Or Poli Sci 001 with Professor Lustick. That was by far the worst class I've taken so far. He's so full of himself.</p>