So I’m in a bit of a dilemma right now. As my classes have started to get harder, I’m not sure if I should try and take as many credits that I’ve taken in previous semesters. I’ve never taken below 15 credits before (and I’ve taken around 18 credits for 3 out of the 4 semesters that I’ve been in college). Currently, I’m 24 credits ahead of where I need to be, so graduating on time isn’t my biggest concern. However, I’ve heard that recruiters may question when someone suddenly takes fewer classes overall. Now I’m stuck between choosing to take 12 credits -the minimum for a full time student- and having an easier semester (and using the time to apply for internships and doing other things) or try and push it to 15 and take the chance that I might not do as well overall in my classes. I’ve tried going to advising but they won’t really give me their opinions, so I wanted to know what you guys would recommend? Thanks in advance!
I really doubt an employer would calculate how many credit you take every semester. They notice which courses you’ve taken.
You need to be careful to stay at 12 credits to remain a full time student.
Go ahead and take 12 if it’s easier on you.
I agree with @twoinanddone though. You should make sure you can do well in these four classes, so you don’t have to drop one.
Take the twelve, but genuinely work on those internship applications, make a plan for the tasks and timeline involved. It may seem counterintuitive but busy students often perform better than less busy students because they have to really stay on top of things to keep up.
Generally you need to take about 15/16 credits a semester to graduate in 4 years.
If you are planning to graduate in 4 years, and if you have extra credits there is no issue with taking a light semester. My DD is doing this as she is taking Organic Chemistry and a Biology Lab course at the same time.
I don’t think recruiters would be looking that closely at your transcript…if they do just say that you wanted to concentrate on the classes this semester and you have extra credits to do so.
I was a recruiter for an “education sensitive” employer. We never, ever cared how many credits someone took per term, and we didn’t even look at that.
Thanks for the input guys! I ended up dropping down to 12 credits. Hopefully this will make it easier for me to focus more on my internship search and applications (especially since I’m a junior).