<p>I'm going to be a freshman next year and just wanted to know if 18 is too much. I went to registration on the 12th and signed up for 16 credits. My peer advisor wouldn't even let me take 17 hours. I signed up for all my classes needed one more that was 2 credits, but there was only a small selection and I ended up signing up for a class Ithat had only a small interest in. I have already fufilled the foreign language requirements, but I want to take Russian, which is 4 credits, and I'd end uo with 18 if I drop the 2 crdit class and replace it. Would anyone advise this? My other classes are aa follows: Calc 2, Psych 238 Abnormal Psych, IB 150 Organismal and evolutionary bio, Eng 103 Intro to Fiction. Any tips?</p>
<p>You’ll have eight semesters to take all the classes you want; you don’t need to take every class you would ever want to take in the first one.</p>
<p>I went in for registration a couple of weeks ago at UIUC and my adviser told me that your first semester freshman year should be easy in terms of credit hours (14-16 credits). I ended up with 14 credits for my first semester, but I’m bringing in about 20 AP credits. I think it also depends on your major too.</p>
<p>Generally I think it is best to start out with a lighter load as you adjust to the college work style. I think it also depends on what kind of student you are and how disciplined you are in terms of getting work done in a timely fashion. If you are an extremely strong student, with excellent work habits and significant amounts of AP/college type credit experience, you might take the risk (and a risk it is). Otherwise 16 credits is certainly a sufficient load. </p>
<p>Another thing to consider is your facility with foreign languages and what exposure you’ve had to Russian. My niece came into Johns Hopkins with AP French credit and signed up for Russian. She found Russian to be very challenging compared to the typical Romance languages and had difficulty in the course. She also discovered that although the course was the first introductory class for Russian, many of the other students had much more previous experience with Russian than she did, putting her at a significant disadvantage. She wound up having to drop the class to protect her GPA. Note: she graduated from JHU with a French minor and quite a few German classes + German study abroad so she’s certainly someone with decent language facility. You might want to do a little investigation into how the Russian department works at UIUC and maybe also do some preparation before taking the class. </p>
<p>The thing that concerns me is that you say you’re not very interested in the 2 credit class you added. I would investigate the UIUC course catalog for more interesting classes that can fit with your schedule. When registration for freshmen opens up again, see if you can find something more appealing. Remember- spots may open up in classes that are currently full. </p>