I’m going to be a freshman in the fall and I’ve just picked my classes and set up my schedule. Here’s what it looks like:
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday:
Wake up at 7:45 am
9:05 - 9:55 (class)
1 hour and 20 minutes between
11:15 - 12:05 (class)
Tuesday and Thursday:
Wake up at 8:10
9:30 - 10:45 (class)
1 hour and 45 minutes between
12:30 - 1:45 (class)
15 minutes between
2:00 - 3:15 (class)
I feel like this is a lot of free time compared to high school which was from 7:20-2:30. Is this normal?
How many credits is this? How many credits is average for someone to take per semester at your college? You definitely have more “free time” than in high school, but the time is spent studying, working, eating, exercising, doing extracurriculars, etc. You most likely won’t just be sitting in your room doing nothing during that time, although I did admittedly find time to watch a LOT of netflix.
Completely normal. In college, you spend a lot less time in class than in high school. That’s because in college you are expected to do much of your learning and studying outside of the classroom. You may have reading, assignments, papers, etc, to work on, but you might also just have the lecture and then a midterm and a final. It’s up to you to make sure you learn and know the material and that’s what use your free time for. There’s often not as much busy work in college when compared to high school.
College is also more than school. At some point, you should start using your free time to work, get an internship, do research, etc.
Looks like 5 classes which is a pretty full schedule. For each hour in class figure another 2-3 hours outside of class doing studying, labs, homework, etc. For STEM classes the ratio is even higher.
Don’t think you can wake up early because you did it in hs. Second semester, I don’t think I was ever awake before 10:00am, and usually slept until 11am.
It is possible to wake up early. I’ve had an 8am for the third semester in a row. I’ve gotten used to it. Yes, it’s hard to wake up when you don’t try enough sleep, especially during midterms and such, but it’s possible.
Your mileage will vary. Are you a morning person? You’ll find out!
You will have a lot more free time. You are expected to use that free time wisely, however, with extracurriculars and homework assignments. Professors expect you to study and review the material outside of class, so you will spend that free time doing such. I have to say, however, that the extra time is nice. Like you, my school was from 7:30-2:30, and when I got to college, the extra time and less-rigid schedule was nice and refreshing. Make the most of that free time!
You will need to learn to manage your time yourself instead of having a school day to do that. Things will seem earlly easy at first but if you don’t stay on top of it it will be a nightmare at finals and when a paper is due.
Ditto to all that was said above. It looks like a lot of free time, but it really is not. When I was in college (studied engineering) I spent time in class for 1 to 1 hour and 45 minutes at a time (not including 3 to 4 hour labs). But I spent all my “free time” doing homework, writing lab reports, and studying for exams. In reality, I had on average 2-3 hours of actual free time a day.
Of course, this varies from major to major and person to person.
I’ve never used the two hour for every credit rule because imo schoolwork doesn’t take up that much time but yeah it’s normal. You do have much more free time in college. Think of al the things you can do: go to the gym, go to office hours (most teachers do this instead of having you ask questions after class), learn to cook, go to clubs, etc. There’s plenty to do in addition to study. If you feel that te coursework is too light you could add more but 5 classes (assuming they are like 3 credits each) is pretty normal for a college freshman
^I was going to say the same thing as @shawnspencer. Theoretically, you’re supposed to spend 2 hours for every hour in class; in practice, you only need to spend as much time as you need to understand the material. There’s no easy formula for that and it takes some trial and error. I was a psychology major, and although I love psychology - on average it’s pretty easy and doesn’t require 6 hours of studying per week per class for a 3-credit class. (Also, at my alma mater, all of our courses were 4 credits - so that would’ve been like 8 hours per week per class.) I spent more time on certain classes - problem sets, advanced psychology classes with research papers, and projects in statistics were much more time-consuming, and my senior thesis took a lot more than 8 hours per week especially close to the deadline. But in some classes like philosophy, acting, and intro psych, I definitely didn’t spend 8 hours a week.
SO yes, you will have a lot more free time (or unstructured time) in undergrad than high school. Some of that will be filled up with homework, papers, and projects, plus studying. And some of that can be filled with extracurricular activities, an internship or a job. But some of that WILL just be free, idle time - and that’s okay! You need to give yourself some downtime to just chill out and do whatever you want, or nothing at all. Otherwise you burn out.
It seems pretty normal. For freshman year, it’s better to be on the lighter side versus heavier. This way you can gauge how much you can handle without being overwhelmed. You’ll find ways to fill that time for sure.
