I’m required to take Intro Statistics and Gen Psych over the summer for my degree, but my college’s summer schedule for classes is awful. Most of them are several days a week and either in the afternoon or evening without much of an option for anything else.
So, I want to take those two classes online. I also want to throw in U.S History and American Government, mostly just to get them out of the way, but I need to be a full time student so that I can get certain financial benefits as well. I usually have no problem managing my time and I’m planning on getting ahead if the course allows me to. I do not have a job so my attention would be completely on school.
I’ve tried to make a decent schedule with all four courses on campus, but nothing works out without me going to class for five days a week from practically morning till evening.
Why do you need to be full time over the summer? Most people are not.
Can you get financial aid for summer classes?
How long are these summer courses? Remember, most classes in a regular semester are about 16 weeks long with 3 academic hours/week. You are also expected to do 2-3 hours of homework/studying/reading/lab per academic hour.
So colleges/federal rules expect that you should spend 9-12 hours per week per class.
If you have 8 week classes, you have to spend 18-24 hours per week per class.
If you have 4 weeks classes, you have to spend 36 to 42 hours per week per class.
I would only take as many classes at a time that would have you working 40 hours per week.
Then ask yourself if you could take 3 4 week classes, do you want to work full time all summer on your school work?
I know most people are not full time, but I just wanted to be for the VA benefits I receive. I get a certain amount of money each month just for going to school as a full time student. Like I said, Intro Statistics and Gen Psych are required this semester for my major, but that would only account for 6 credit hours. I would need two more classes to be full time, which is at 12 credits. A few years ago I used to practically teach myself when I was home schooled, so I suspect that four online classes would not be a problem. I’m trying to divide them as well, as in two online and two on campus, but the schedule is not that great. My community college has roughly two or three different choices for on-campus lectures for each class, then multiple other choices for an online class.
I’ve never taken an online college class, but I’m assuming you would have to take a few hours out of your day to focus on it, just as you would be required to going to a normal lecture. The semester is from 5/30 to 8/04. Also, I’ve been a student for two semesters and so far I have never had to study 9-12 hours PER class. At the moment, I’m only in two lecture/lab courses and I am bored out of my mind at home. I enjoy a decent course load. The only summer trip I have planned is at the beginning of August, so I can seriously dedicate a lot of time to studying.
Double check with your school. Often full time in summer is only 9 units even thought it’s 12 during the year. If your school agrees that 9 is full-time, then they will certify you as full-time for your VA benefits.
Even if you don’t study 6-9 hours per week per class, if you take a summer course you have to double or quadruple the amound of time per week per class.
I’ve completed six lower-division courses online (music appreciation, intro to stats, two semesters of history, two semesters of English). Their time requirements really depend on the professors - music appreciation and the second history semester demanded a lot of work (took them in summer), but the first semester of history and the first semester of English barely required anything. My intro to stats required very little work and I could have easily taken it in a 2-week session, while the second English semester required a lot of work and I wouldn’t have comprehended much in a short session.
You might want to get an idea from RateMyProfessors about the online teachers you have and how their courses are. My intro to stats was basically just homework and tests, while one history class was quizzes, tests, and minimal writing and the other was intense writing.