<p>I started out with 16 (Psych, Comm, Italian, History, and Bio 102), but the first week here has been a whirlwind of emotions. I was extremely homesick (still am) for the first 4 days.. I cried all the time... hated it here.. I've made a few friends since then. I dropped Italian yesterday, though. I have a very hard time grasping foreign languages and with having no background in Italian, it was too much. (The professor spoke in Italian 90% of the class. I cannot learn that way.) My parents encouraged my dropping it. So, I dropped it and am now at 13 credits. I need 30 this year for scholarship renewal (along with a 3.0 gpa). I think 13 credits is good for me as I adjust to being away from home (I'm really close to family) and such. I'd rather get a great gpa with just 4 classes the first semester, then second semester go with 17 credits/5 classes and will have better knowledge of campus/library resources/study habits.</p>
<p>You could also look into doing a winter session class if your school offers them. </p>
<p>Another option might be to pick up one or two one-credit classes - sometimes there are shorter health/exercise type classes for credit or even practicum classes where you can earn a credit for participating in something like chorus/newspaper etc.</p>
<p>I think 13 is not enough. I took 19 my first semester. As the semester goes on, you won’t be as homesick and things will improve.</p>
<p>Just be aware that you’ll have to do more hours in spring and won’t have that freedom to drop if you hate a class. I assume you have 13 hours because bio has 1 hour lab, so unless several of your spring classes have labs, you might have to take 6 classes (18 hours) not 5, to meet your requirements. Hopefully your school has some 1 or 2 hour classes. Check to verify, but many scholarships will include summer work as way to get to 30 hours so you don’t have to overload in spring.</p>
<p>Another option is to try to add another general ed class in…if you need something like music, dance, art appreciation…not that these can’t be hard/tedious but might be less stressful. I definitely understand homesickness, but it will get better.</p>
<p>College language classes can be pretty intense so no shame in dropping Italian your first semester. If you’re concerned about overloading spring semester or not getting your 30 credits in, I agree with the above posters; try picking up a low-stress gen ed class. Something you’ll enjoy and won’t take too much attention away from your other four classes.</p>
<p>I think you were right to drop the class and I think you picked the perfect one to drop. If you are worried about the units, I like the suggestion of taking a one or two unit class. Maybe an exercise class, or a very,very easy GE class. </p>
<p>If you take at least 15 units next semester you will only be two units short, so I think a great idea would be to look for 1 unit PE class and take one each semester.</p>
<p>There is absolutely no cause to stress yourself out first semester. If dropping the class helped then it was the right choice. </p>
<p>17 hours isn’t that high of a course load. But if you’re still worried about it, see if your scholarship allows you to take summer session classes to count towards its requirements. Or if not, it should be a lot easier to manage once you’ve been there a few months.</p>