Hopefully some current yale students can answer this, but I was planning out my schedule and would like to take 5 courses my first semester this fall:
portuguese 1, intro microecon, intro cultural anthropology, multivariable calculus, and the intro poli sci class
I have some experience in portuguese and plan on studying multi over the summer, so i will be familiar with the material. would taking 5 (seemingly not difficult) classes be too much as a first semester freshman?
Shop and see. I always started with 5, and dropped as needed.
Most incoming freshman start out taking 4 courses their first semester so that can get acclimated to college life and the amount of work each class requires. If you speak with a Yale advisor they will tell you same thing. In addition, it might also be difficult to schedule 5 courses given that first-year language classes meet Monday to Friday (5 times a week) at the same time, which oftentimes wrecks havoc with logistically trying to fit other classes into your schedule.
Yale lets you drop classes right up until the end of midterms, so no downside to taking 5. You can bail with no penalty, and no indication on your transcript that the class was ever taken.
Meh. One downside might be less social time and more study/reading/P-Set time. And until you drop the 5th course, your grades in the four other courses might also suffer.
@jmorrow, Congratulations and welcome to Yale! I am a freshman and took 5 courses in the fall and 5 this (spring) semester, and it is fine. The @gibby post about scheduling around first-year foreign language classes is valid (I placed out and took a higher level that met less frequently). I have no direct experience, but hear that Intro.Micro can be quite time consuming, particularly if you have not had it before. PM me if I can be of help.
The answer: it depends. None of these is a lab science, so that makes it more doable. The language intro is an issue–are you sure that isn’t 1.5 credits? If it is, your residential college dean may not want to sign off on 5.5 credits.
Whether this makes sense may also depend on how heavily invested in other activities you plan to be.
Remember, you don’t have to win Yale.
It’s a trade off. Every semester at Yale, you’ll find classes that you wish you could insert into your schedule. The offerings are fantastic. But like @Hunt said, you’ll find activities and people to be an equal draw on your time/energy/efforts away from strictly book work.
As Hunt says, Elem. Portuguese is 1.5 credits. The language courses at Yale move at a fast past and take a fair amount of time, in and out of class. I would not suggest more than 4.5 credits this first semester, but that is just based on my own Yalie’s (and several of his pals’) experiences. Give yourself a chance to breathe and acclimate before taking more than 5 credits.
@jmorrow - If your foreign language is 1.5 credits, then I modify my previous response and suggest that you may be taking on too much as a first-term freshman. Might be best to shop the 4 other courses with the intention to keep 3.
In retrospect, DS wishes that he’d had a lighter courseload during his first semester. He untimately caught up socially, but it was more uphill. We get the temptation, you’re like a kid in a candy store, but take your time.