<p>Is it generally better to choose classes by priority of time over professor or professor over time.</p>
<p>Also, is it bad to have classes on Friday?</p>
<p>It’s better to choose classes based on professor generally. A good professor will make you more motivated to get there at 9AM, whereas a bad one could have you sleeping through an afternoon class. However, if its a class where most of the professors aren’t anything special and one where you’ll be learning most of the material on your own then I’d pick the better time slot.</p>
<p>It’s not bad to have classes on Friday. It’s not fun having class at 9AM on Friday. I like to start my weekends on Thursday, but not everyone does (some stat Wednesday, others study constantly). I’ve gotten by with having class on Fridays at noon. I really hated having math recitation at 9AM Friday freshman year but it wasn’t awful. If you can avoid Friday class, go for it. If you can’t avoid it (taking chem, bio, or physics), try not to start too early on Fridays.</p>
<p>Bump for this thread. Would it make a difference if you took a writing course and freshmen seminar in the fall semester as opposed to doing one in the fall and the other in the spring? Would doing both in the fall create more workload?</p>
<p>Writing seminars are easy and not that much work (if you take one with Prof. Kennedy, then it is very hard and a LOT of work, but otherwise yeah), and there’s nothing wrong with doing a writing and freshman seminar at the same time. If you can’t get into a freshman seminar, it’s not the end of the world, fyi.</p>
<p>As for class on Friday, it’s all about what you want. Personally I’m not a big fan of it, so I don’t have it this coming semester, but I’ve had to have it every semester before this one due to my foreign language! Friday classes are <em>generally</em> recitations, which are usually more interesting than lectures (well, okay, they’re more interesting for the social sciences and humanities).</p>
<p>Venkat, I feel your pain about the early MATH recitation. Mine was scheduled for 8:00AM every MONDAY (it was literally the only one I could get into). When I went, I went to the 9:00 section, and I’ll be honest, I only went to that recitation three times all semester. </p>
<p>However, last semester I had a German class at 9AM on MTRF, which really wasn’t bad at all. I went to the Friday class feeling interesting a few more times than I wanted to, but it’s fiiiine.</p>
<p>Actually, yma, if I could suggest anything, try to get Wednesdays off! I had that two semesters ago, and it was really good since nobody really does too much on Tuesday nights. That allows you to wake up early on Wednesdays and catch up on all of your work so that you can pretty much keep your weekends free!</p>
<p>^I think I drank on more Tuesday night second semester freshman year than some of my friends did the entire semester. Something about celebrating the primary elections made Tuesdays a lot more interesting. However, if you don’t have a drinking problem what chris said is probably a good idea.</p>
<p>is it bad to schedule classes back to back? i did a mock schedule and it looks rly good, no class on fri and only one on tues. but the thing is poli sci. ends at 11 and italian starts at 11. 2 days a week. will it be a problem?</p>
<p>oh and also i changed it up a bit and looked at a diff. italian class thats longer but at a diff time. does it suck having a class from 6-8 two days a week? alot of ppl. complain about morning classes but wouldn’t u want to have the nights open for hw or going out?</p>
<p>I have found large gaps between classes[last semester I had 10-11AM and then 4:30-9:00 PM] as problematic. The night classes have never been an issue for me, but everyone is different. I personally am trying to avoid Friday classes and the gaps[at the expense of 6 hour class blocks next semester, but there is always going to be some negative].</p>
<p>Back to back classes are no problem. All classes end ten minutes before the scheduled ending time in order to accommodate students with back to back classes. Having gaps usually just makes things annoying, honestly. Maybe an hour and a half around lunch time, but otherwise yeah.</p>
<p>Penn has a great language program in just about every language, but the LPS sections (anything with a course number -601) are watered down and generally not as good.</p>
<p>…Everyone said you spend a lot less time in actual class in college (and more doing homework), but I just realized, with my schedule I think I’m going to be spending more time in class in college than I did in highschool (barring the fact that I won’t have Saturday classes). And I already had like 3-4 hours of hw (more if I was lucky, ha) every night!
oh well. at least, if I get the schedule I want, classes won’t start until 11/12 (except Wednesday…9, ew).</p>
<p>If you’re doing a lab science course or two, that would give you around 27 hours of class a week with five total classes… how’d you manage to have less than that in high school?</p>
<p>Granted, second semester senior year I only had 12 hours of class a week and did basically no homework since I arranged my schedule to kick ass and stopped caring about school, but still!</p>
<p>I’m not even doing any science/labs. I have 5 classes, 3 of which have recitations (math, econ, mgmt). That means I have 18 hours of class (well that includes the 10 min break between classes–if classes really end 10 min before they say they do, though, then I guess it’s 15.5 hours).
In high school we were only allowed to take 5 classes a term (trimester system), and as you got into the upper levels, you met less often but had more homework. So when we actually had saturday classes (not every saturday but often), and not including kind of mandatory sports (not pe) winter term I had…not quite 16 hours of class (and 15 if my Japanese teacher cancelled class once a week as she was wont to do). (Add in assembly and it’s 17.5 hours, but assembly’s not class)</p>
<p>So I guess it’s basically the same (and mind, those weren’t slacker courses by any means). I can’t believe I just spent time calculating that.</p>
<p>i have 3 classes (all lectures – bio, chem, math) back to back on MWF. would this be advisable?
also, i won’t be carrying textbooks to class at all, right?</p>
<p>Yes, that’s advisable. You won’t need to carry your textbooks with you to any classes except language classes, so it won’t be that bad. But don’t forget, you can carry a schoolbag so it’s not like you’ll be running around with your books in your arms and worrying about dropping them all over Locust Walk.</p>