<p>Alright, the dreaded question that makes current students and staff groan and roll their eyes at foolish incoming freshmen:</p>
<p>What’s the maximum number of credit hours I can take in a quarter?</p>
<p>For the record, I’m not thinking of killing myself here with another Chem, Math, Physics, English, whatever class. I actually want to know if I can fit in Athletic Band (not the Marching Band, the other one) and a really cool freshmen seminar I found.</p>
<p>I think it might be 18.</p>
<p>Unless you ask for it to be bumped up. And I'm not sure that that would be allowed first quarter.</p>
<p>But I'm an incoming freshman, too, and could therefore be entirely wrong.</p>
<p>My son, who will be a sophomore at OSU next year...says you need approval for 21 credit hours or more per quarter. My son feels that 16 hours per quarter is the ideal and most do-able.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>We visited OSU earlier this month.
Our tour guide told us that most kids take about four classes (12 credits) each quarter (though not really quarters at 3x per year).
What's the norm?</p>
<p>I honestly don't think 12 credit hours is the norm. Most "regular" classes are 5 credit hours each. Usually students take about 3 of those to start...or take two and fill in with other "non-gec" classes...some can be 1-3 credit hours each.</p>
<p>My son is getting ready to start his second year. He took 17 to 20 credits per quarter last year. That seemed pretty typical. He wants to take 25 next quarter but will need approval for that, so the "over 21 with approval" suggestion seems like it might be about right.</p>
<p>As an experiment, I just tried to register 22 credits via the web app and received an error saying I was over the maximum allowed. Tried again with 21 and they went through fine, so the limit must be 21 (unless they have separate limits based on seniority/transfer/other status but that is unlikely.) You can take more with permission (within reason)</p>
<p>IIRC anything from 12-21 credits costs the same so taking a heavier load will just be getting your money worth, in fact, I would recommend it to just about anyone that has genuine interest in college and is motivated.</p>
<p>21 is technically the max - you can get permission for more. Normal is between 15-20. Min is 12. Almost every class is classified 5 credits. </p>
<p>As for difficulty: I've had one quarter with 20 credits that was easier than another with 15. My friends in the sciences and engineering stick to the low end; because of things like labs and workloads their "5 credit hour a week" course is often more (take that into account when looking at a schedule.) In comparison, I have one 5-credit political science class that only meets for 3 hours a week (though it may include an internship. Not clear on that yet.) Not all '5 credit' classes are timed equally.</p>
<p>You should definitely find 10-15 credits + a seminar and band manageable.</p>
<p>(Generally, you might consider signing up for 20 credits, even if you're unsure: it's easy to drop a class, and that way if you do want to drop you won't go under 12 credits.)</p>
<p>I've seen references to extra cost per credit hour over 21 or 22.</p>
<p>What is this cost?</p>
<p>So the average amount of classes per quarter is about four?</p>
<p>Yeah. Almost everyone takes either 3 or 4.</p>
<p>It doesn't sound like much but you spend much more time in an individual class than you would on the semester system.</p>
<p>My daughter likes the idea of the quarter system very much.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>So, just to confirm: </p>
<p>-- you can take up to 21 credit hours.
-- you can take more than 21 credit hours so long as you have permission.</p>
<p>Do you pay extra after 21 credits?</p>
<p>I'll e-mail one of my friends who took more than 21 and get back to you if I get an answer.</p>
<p>Yeah, I've heard that scholarships don't cover more than four classes. I don't know how much extra it would cost, though.</p>
<p>She didn't end up taking 21, so I can't help. There's no posted standard amount anywhere, though, because I suspect it is very rare. If one of you, for some reason, wanted to I'd simply ask your advisor.</p>