<p>Now that all the new Frosh are in and settled, I was wondering what you are hearing about the workload for classes?</p>
<p>DS seems to have a TON of work. It isn't that the work is too hard, but the sheer volume seems to be crazy. The first week of calc he had over 450 pages of work with problem sets plus doing the past two semester final exams. And that was just for one class. </p>
<p>Other friends are complaining that it seems their kids have no work and wonder what is going on at their schools and if they will actually be learning anything.</p>
<p>I just wonder if there is that much difference in workloads from school to school (both schools I am referring to are considered very good schools). I know different majors can have more work, but I'm not talking about engineers that tend to have more work. </p>
<p>So again, just wondering what you have heard.</p>
<p>My daughter is overwhelmed with how much work she has to do. She is in an honors program, I don’t know how much different that is from the rest of the school, but she has very little time to relax.
Tons of reading, papers to write, and like the OP said, huge amounts of problems to do in calc.</p>
<p>D in an honors program also and the workload is huge. She is spending on average 3.5 hours a day in class and 6 plus hours a day on work. Mostly reading, some blog writings and continuous prep for exams. Some classes only have two exams for the only grades so she is keeping an “exam” notebook as a study guide. It is freaking her out a bit that there is no “daily” work or “projects” to offset two tests. She does have time for a mild social life and the football games, but all this “down time” she felt she would have…well…that is a big NOT.</p>
<p>On another note, she does feel she is putting in more effort than most of her classmates. She says everyone wants to be her “study buddy” at exam time but she declines.</p>
<p>^^That is about right for an ordinary college workload…generally figure two to three hours of prep time for each hour of class. Then add in additional time for papers, projects etc.</p>
<p>The advertised “free” time in college isn’t really “free”…it’s just not on a rigid schedule. Instead of 7 hours daily in class, and 3+ hours of homework every night, it’s now 3 or 4 hours in class during the day and 6 or 7 hours of work outside of class.</p>
<p>Texting conversation between S2 and me on August 27:</p>
<p>“Ima need some help with time management soon. I have too many things to do and not enough time.”
“Call me.”
“Can’t I’m in the library. But I have a lot of school work plus i wanna do club running and I was gonna do crew but its such a committment so maybe I’ll do club swimming instead and then there’s the jazz combo, and I’m trying to find a job for work study.”</p>
<p>Conversation on September 7 after about 2 weeks of classes:</p>
<p>“I think I have mono.”
“How much are you sleeping?”
“Well, I’m getting to bed at around 1, and then I get up at around 7 for my 8 o’clock classes.”
“What else are you doing?”
“Well, yesterday after classes I ran with the club team, and then I tried a swing dance class, and then I played soccer in the rain for a couple of hours with some people from my dorm. I just don’t understand why I’m so tired in the mornings. This morning I almost fell asleep in my chem class. Do you think I should get tested or something?”</p>
<p>Things seem to have settled down a bit in the past few weeks. Lots of homework, but mostly realizing that he can’t do EVERYTHING!</p>
<p>LOL, yes, why so tired. I guess DS has the same issue of wanting to do everything and schoolwork is getting in the way. So it seems that he is not alone.</p>
<p>capenn15 I think it is calc that is really taking up all of the time. One more semester of it after this one and that should be it. I guess he just wants to get it over with.</p>
<p>pop (lol): DS wanted to get used to college without taking a class that he doesn’t like (but he is good in) that takes that much time. He chose a Biology class instead. He has to take a group class this first semester that takes a lot of his time, as well as a writing class.</p>
<p>I’ve always been concerned that students can comfortably work 20 hours a week in a part-time job and keep up with their full course load and social life; or that recent studies shows a ridiculous percentage of students are working very little outside of class (what, 12 to 15 hours a week?) but maintaining a high GPA. To me, going to school should be at least like a full time job. It just suggests if its this little amount of involvement, they aren’t learning much for all the time and money spent. </p>
<p>At the engineering college our chid isn’t at yet but wants to attend, they say it’s about a 60 hour work week, between classes, labs, tutorials, team projects and homework. If it were truly 60 hours- of course that will vary by student- that would seem about right.</p>
<p>We are not happy. S’s school works on a 4-4 curriculum. Just before school started one of the classes was cancelled. We encouraged him to take another course, but the excuses flowed like a river; it’s too late…nothing is available…my advisor says it’s okay with three. Way too much free time. With only three classes he’d better get great grades. Although he is an athlete I am demanding that he find some work.</p>
<p>Forgot to mention…my S works 10 hours a week…he does “stuffo” at a nonprofit. It’s a work study job and he makes his spending money and will pay for his books.</p>
<p>By the way, I put the word “stuffo” in parenthesis because that is what he told me he does…I could go on…but this isn’t the how little does your S communicate with you thread LOL.</p>
<p>Our S had now been in class for 4 weeks. He reports that he got behind a bit at the beginning due to a canceled class and a couple of missing textbooks but is now caught up. He averages 5 to 6 hours a day of study time including reading, writing and general study review. He says the reading is nearly overwhelming and the pace is hard but he likes the challenge and says it makes him work harder than he did in HS. Fortunately, he has found his dorm room nearly as good for studying as the nearby library building. Last night at 11:30 he emailed me a 5 page paper to proofread. I am glad he was the one writing it as I barely had a clue as to the validity of his analysis and interpretation of the book he was writing about. He also has gotten involved in several activities and likes to work out a few times per week. He says the most important thing on his schedule is the Ultimate Frisbee practice two nights a week from 9 to 11. :eek:</p>
<p>My D is doing 16 credit+mandatory CLP(Cohort Leadership). She is also part of MUN club and just been selected for CMUNNY. Two of the courses have a lot of reading and writing involved and then there is Math CALC and lab work for Bio. The MUN meetings are held twice a week. This past sunday it was 1-5pm.</p>
<p>I just wonder how she is coping as whenever i call her she is with friends or doing some chores or eating or in the library. I know for sure that she is hitting the bed at 2am everyday that is also because her classes are scheduled at 11am. She is always on the run on account of something or the other. </p>
<p>As I have an access to her college account I know so far she is doing well in terms of her preparation, quality of writing and assignment submission. If she is tired she has not complained as yet. But I do worry about time management. She will have to learn to balance to avoid a burnout. Ha ha as parents we just can’t stop parenting i guess.</p>