I’m taking five classes (15 credits) and my mom thinks I should only take four. One of my classes (gov and politics) is only once a week though. She wants me to drop my design symposium class, I don’t want to drop it without talking to a counselor first because I didn’t make my schedule my school made it for me. Also they gave me an earth science course and I went on rate my professor and this teacher has forgotten to post grades and messed up students gpas, should I try to change the class to a math class. I prefer math to science any day. I don’t know if it looks bad me trying to change my classes so early on before school even starts. I’m a political science major by the way, incase that matters in this question. Thank you for any advice you can offer. The science teacher doesn’t sound too bad but I have to maintain a certain GPA for the grad school I want to go to so I don’t know if I should risk it.
Your reputation will not be impacted by changing your schedule; you can most likely do it online. What your school advising center has most likely done is constructed a schedule that will help you meet various requirements for graduation in an efficient way, so be sure to become very, very familiar with your college’s requirements before changing anything.
Something you and your mom might take note of: at most schools with 3-credit classes, you need to complete 15 credits a semester in order to stay on track for graduation. If you don’t mind paying for a summer class, or overloading in a later semester, or paying for an extra semester or year of school, then a 12 credit course load is fine. Many people decide that they’d rather do well in 4 courses and spend the extra time and money.
Also, if you keep the 15 credits and it turns out to be too much for you to handle, you can drop a class and still be counted as a full time student with 12 credits (this could affect your housing if on campus and any financial aid you might receive). If you drop a course with a 12 credit load, you would drop to part time status (again, check your school’s specific policy).
@stradmom Thank You, I don’t think it will be too much since I looked up the class descriptions and read professor reviews. The only classes I’m concerned about is my science and politics class. I know I need the politics and government class for my major and I’m looking forward to it but the professor is apparently not good. The science teacher forgot to post the grades and messed up the gpas of her students and apparently left one of her classes mid semester and didn’t come back, she also didn’t go all the time. Is that a valid reason for changing a teacher or should I wait for the first week of class to see how I like the teachers.
Wait through the first week. If the science teacher behaved as you understand it, she may not be returning. Do take teacher ratings with a grain of salt. High ratings could indicate an easy grader, the difficulty of the material or even the class itself; or example, statistics which is not as likely to be popular with all students. After you get to know students, you will learn more about particular classes and faculty. You will then start making more informed decisions.
Schedules were probably made months ago so current students could preregister in the spring. In my experience, the courses are secure on the schedule, but the faculty may change. I found some classes were dropped because of low enrollment, but there were very few. In 20 years, I didn’t lose any.
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College is a very new experience. My friends and I found the first semester in college resulted in the poorest grades and grades in majors classes are really good.
@zannah so I should hold off on getting the text book until the first week. The reviews I read seemed honest and they described the class mainly even people who did poorly in classes said the reasons why but still gave a teacher a good review. I just don’t want to start off on the wrong foot, I’ll see how the first week pans out even though I’m not looking forward to that design class as my first class.
@awkwardcity I think it’s a good idea to wait and see. Also, RMP is a data point that includes anonymous postings (typically either from people who really liked or really disliked the prof), so you should not trust it completely.
If you’re going to drop the class in the first couple of days, the bookstore may refund the cost of the book if you buy it on campus. However, you can probably get a better price online (with the associated problem of resale).
Is there any way you could switch professors for the earth science class? I would do that, or try to switch to a different class that fulfills the same requirement if possible. However, if you need this class eventually and there is no other professor to take it with, I’d just get it over with this semester. Also, take 15 credits
^ I agree. Try to switch professors, or switch classes. Also, do you have any AP credit? This would impact your choices.
If you don’t take 15 credits, you won’t have enough to graduate in 4years. It’s better to start out with 15 and to drop one if you need to, than starting out with 4. ( Some colleges have 4-credit classes so you only take 4of them. The same situation applies :you take 4and may dropbro 3.)
As a future political science major, you should be taking your first year (provided you don’t have AP credits):
Freshman English or honors freshman english
Statistics for social science
Political science 1&2
Macro economics
1science class
1art class
Make sure at least of your classes first semester fit into that.
Professors don’t know who’s in their classes yet. You can switch classes, change sections, etc, with no consequences. No one will think anything of it. You will have between a week and a month at the beginning of the school year to switch, too, and then one more month to drop a class (check the academic calendar for the date for ‘last day to withdraw without a W’).
I know many people that took 12 credits during their first semester. I thought about doing that, but the thing that stopped me was the number of credits needed for graduation. Most colleges require at least 120 credits for graduation, which means you need to take at least 15 credits each semester. Of course, this can be manipulated so that you can take 12 now and then 18 later or take a summer course. Honestly, I felt that I could’ve done more than 15 credits my first semester, but that totally depends on what kind of classes and instructors you have. My classes were easy general-education classes with easy professors, so that’s why I felt that way. If you are taking more intense courses, 15 credits might be perfect for you.
Try finding out if the science course is needed for your major or if it is just a general education requirement that can be satisfied with a different science class.
You can drop/add classes as often as you’d like all the way until the drop/add deadline at the beginning of the semester. I changed my schedule countless times during the summer and first few weeks of freshman year. Make a schedule that will make you happy.
@MYOS1634 the schedule they made me is College Writing, Understanding Culture, Design Symposium, Enviormental Earth Science and Introduction to Politics and Government (once a week). I think I’m going to call the school and ask if I can switch out a class for a history class if I don’t need it because I would prefer it. I’m going to send an email to my advisor. My mother hates my schedule so much but I think I’m going to stick with 15 credits because I plan on transferring after two years and to have a junior standing I need 60 @NewBeginnings3
Don’t you have a computerized system that allows you to switch classes online?
Try to take statistics instead of Environmental Science if you like math better.
Note that you typically don’t transfer after you have 60 credits, but during the semester at the end of which you’ll get the 60 credits (ie., when you apply you have 45 credits and are registered for 15 more.)
Note that 15 credits per semester is what you need to average to finish in 8 semesters if you need 120 credits to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Taking 12 credits per semester would put you on a 10 semester (5 year) schedule to graduation.
@MYOS1634 we can’t make or change our schedule I have to wait till orientation to ask if they can make any changes and they have to approve.
Make sure you have 15 credits a semester if you don’t want to graduate in 5 years.