<p>I was wondering if I would be over whelmed with taking 18 hours this first semester. I'm doing bio I, chem I, comp I (online), intro to music, German III. Is that manageable or not? Because I want to graduate early and my goal is to make 4.0 the first two semesters.</p>
<p>Personally, I wouldn’t take that many going into your first college semester. At most, I would say 16 or 17, as 18 to me seems a bit overwhelming. If you feel you can do it, go for it, but seeing as one of your goals is to make a 4.0 in the first two semesters, it may be best to take it slow & easy. You can always take summer and intersession courses to fast-track your diploma.</p>
<p>So do you think it’s better for me to drop chem which is 5 cr hrs and take history which is 3 cr hrs instead?</p>
<p>It depends largely on how you are as a student, and how prepared you are for those courses. I took 18 units as a freshman and I was absolutely fine, but it just depends. I generally say that if you think you can do it, go for it, and if you think it will be too much once you see the syllabus, get reading lists, exam schedules, etc, just drop a class.</p>
<p>One thing I would say about dropping chem is to take a look at any classes you might need that take chem as a prerequisite. If you are a bio or chem major, you might have to take o-chem or a chem sequence. Going off track in a sequence is typically what forces students to stay longer than the would like, so if you want to graduate early definitely don’t get behind on any classes that you have to take in sequence.</p>
<p>No what I’m saying is that if I drop chem, I will have to take it second semester anyway. And second semester I have to take evolution and that is one of the hardest classes at my college. So I was thinking of taking chem for the first semester instead of the second semester and switch it with history that I wanted to take the first semester. And yes my major is biology</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for the help btw</p>
<p>I would say Begin the semester with 18 credits. That way you have the cushion to drop some if you find it overwhelmimg in the first 2-3 weeks into the semester. And if 18 Credits is doable you have advantage anyway.</p>
<p>There is no one-size-fits-all advice on credit load.</p>
<p>I knew people who took 18+ first semester and were fine. Others dropped. Others made it through, but not with a very high GPA.</p>
<p>The only thing I will say, then, is this:</p>
<p>Why are you eager to graduate early?</p>
<p>Having gone down that path myself, it is not something I really recommend to people who do not have a legitimate necessity (i.e. financial) to rush through college.</p>
<p>I’m not even talking academics, either. Socially. Give yourself four years to grow as a person, if you can afford to do so. It sounds weird, but time helps. There will be confusion, crises, and other dramas along the way. The picture gets clearer as you go, but the more you rush, the less time you get to figure it out. Sometimes, keeping up with the Joneses isn’t just being a lemming; occasionally, the Joneses are doing things in the way that’s actually right for most. Not everyone, of course. Some people can handle it socially and emotionally and academically. Others have a financial need to go quickly. Whatever the case, do think it through. Consider your motivations, where they may be misguided, and how they might be right.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t just because you want to get a feel of what college is like. I took 15 credits my first semester which included a really easy seminar so more like 14. I then took 17 credits next semester. It’s better this way so you don’t overwhelm yourself and have plenty of time to meet new people and etc.</p>
<p>If you feel like you can do it, then go for it. But make sure you know what the time limit is for add/drop/withdrawals. If you get part way into the semester and decide that you can’t handle it, then drop one of them. </p>
<p>It can take a while to get used to how college classes operate. But, there are plenty of people that take 18 credit hours their first semester. My main concern would be the two science classes, but it’s manageable either way.</p>
<p>It depends on the class. Also, how do you pay at your school? Is it a flat rate or do you pay per credit hour? If you pay per credit hour, definitely weigh the pros and cons of taking on heavy loads. It can be beneficial if you wanna cut costs and graduate early.</p>
<p>two lab sciences might be a lot for the first semester</p>
<p>People come and ask this question on this board every year.</p>
<p>My opinion, since starting college, has not changed. First semester freshmen should not take more than 15 or 16 hours. Ever. Even students with extremely stressful backgrounds (all AP’s, a job, lots of extra curriculars) have NO idea how college is going to affect them.</p>
<p>You’re going to be living however many miles away from home, in a completely different environment, around completely different people. You’re also not going to be facing the same consequences as you would at home. If you don’t go to class, no one says anything. Classes could be really manageable, but they could also be really hard.</p>
<p>I personally, think freshmen should take a normal full-time load first semester and see what happens. If it’s not too bad, then loading up later on is fine. And if you’re super worried about graduating early, then you can take summer school. A LOT of people do. It isn’t like high school where it’s really only for remedial work. You can actually get ahead and lighten your load during the fall and spring by taking summer school courses.</p>
<p>Is there really that big of a difference between a 16 credit schedule and an 18 credit schedule when the extra 2 credits are for a really easy freshman-seminar class about transitioning into college and stuff? It’s known at my school to be an easy A and only meets once a week for 2 hours. Only downside is that it would be in the evening (4:45pm-6:45pm) which I’m not thrilled about.</p>
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<p>In the case of a freshmen seminar type class, not really. Those classes typically just involve going and sitting through the class. You might have to take a couple little quizzes, and complete a couple extremely simple take home worksheets, but it’s nothing complicated. When I took mine, I had to write two short little one page papers for it too. The first one was more or less “why are you in college, and what are your goals?” The second one was basically “what are your college plans, and how do you plan to stay on track?” It was definitely an easy A. An effortless A really.</p>
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It really depends. My freshman year, my hardest class first semester was definitely my University 101 course. I took it because it was supposed to be a GPA booster and it was supposed to be an A. That being said, in my small class of 20 people, THREE people failed it. That’s a pretty high fail rate for a course that’s supposed to be a GPA booster.</p>
<p>Don’t mean to hijack the original poster’s thread but how is this schedule for a freshmen:</p>
<p>ENG 151 - Academic Writing (Mon, Wed, Fri) 4 credits
MATH 135 - Precalculus (Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri) 5 credits
COMP 164 - Essentials of CS (Mon, Wed, Fri) 3 credits
COMP 164L - Essentials of CS Lab (Tue) 1 credit
MUS 332 - Pep Band (Mon, Tue, Wed) 2 credits
SOCI 101 - Intro to Sociology (Mon, Wed, Fri) 3 credits
Total Credits - 18</p>
<p>I intend to major in Computer science so the COMP 164 is necessary as is COMP 164L. I decided to take PreCalc instead of Calc I first semester because I only got a B in High School PreCalc…mainly due to doing no homework…ever.</p>
<p>SOCI 101 and ENG 151 are to start covering my Gen Eds and MUS 332 is graded entirely on class and game attendance (Most games are in the Winter as the only games it covers are Football in the Fall)</p>
<p>The difference in credit hours is not the class time (well, kind of), but the work associated with it. A lab is 1 credit, but writing a quality lab report takes time, etc.</p>
<p>So, it completely depends on what courses you are doing and their associated work loads. I did 18 credit hours once, and I will never do it again. I definitely wouldn’t recommend it as a freshman; do 15 to see how well you manage, and maybe next semester bump up the hours if you can do it.</p>
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<p>That seems fine for a freshman (to me at least). If your majoring in comp sci, you should definitely get started with your comp sci classes. Pep band seems like more of an extracurricular, and should be fun! Sociology and writing might require a decent amount of reading and writing, but if you stay on top of it, you shouldn’t have a problem. Precalculus will likely be pretty straight-forward and likely will be mostly a review for you.</p>