Has anyone else been told that the recommended first semester courseload for incoming freshman in the business school is 12 hours instead of 15? The degree plans published in the 2018-19 business school handbook indicate a courseload of 15 hours per semester, however the students were told at orientation to ignore that, and that now, 12 are recommended during first semester so they don’t get too overloaded. While I understand that many will come in with AP credits, it seems like a missed opportunity to drop to 12 hours. Also, A&M’s honor roll, etc. require a student to be enrolled for 15 hours during the qualifying semester, which is also indicated in the newest handbook. Curious to know if anyone else has questioned this or has heard a better explanation.
If you take only 12 credits, and do not have useful AP credit, you will need to “catch up” the 3 credit deficit later if you want to graduate in 8 semesters.
Not sure why they would advise taking lower course loads than the written advising handbook shows. First semester is a time of adjustment to college, so there may be concern there, but students can avoid overloading be being careful with committing extracurriculars until they know how much work a full college course load will be for them.
Also, starting off with a full course load (15 credits or more) but with some courses that can be dropped to lower to a minimum course load (12 credits) can allow flexibility in case a full course load is too much work. But if you need to stay at the minimum course load to handle the work, plan to taking 10 semesters to graduate.
12 isn’t full time, are you sure that was what was said? Is this core credit vs gen eds?
12 credits is the minimum to be considered “full time” for financial aid purposes, but is not enough to graduate in 8 semesters (number of credits to graduate is 120, meaning an average of 15 credits per semester to graduate in 8 semesters).
I wasn't that impressed with the messages I heard at the Mays part of my son's NSC two weeks ago. They seem to think coming in with AP and dual credit hours causes problems for students. In addition, the semester they can start actual business courses, other than just a few, is too far into their academic career for me. My husband got the same degree from Mays my son is looking at and they were able to start serious business courses much earlier. The advisor also tried to sign my son up for electives he has no interest in, such as music. She didn't even ask him if he had any background or interest in music, which he doesn't. My takeaway from all of this is that the system is set up for students to drag this out and that makes more money for the university.
My older kids have graduated from Texas A&M and a flagship school in another state in 2 years for an easier major, 3 1/2 years for engineering, and 3 years for accounting. They wanted to save time and money.
That being said, some students need a lighter load. I can’t see my upcoming freshman son taking more than 12 hours his first semester simply because it’s going to be a big jump for him to learn all the ropes of college life. Some of his older siblings were slightly bored taking only 12 hours their first semester.
Another issue the advisors may be concerned about is the limit of dropping 4 courses their entire time at A&M. So they may be urging for a lighter schedule for the first semester so as not to have the possibility of using up one of their drops.
The advisors push classes that are underenrolled to alleviate overrenrolled classes don’t go for it unless you want to pay for an extra semester.
12 hours is considered full time and 9 hours is still okay to live on campus should one have to drop. Most kids come in with some dual credit or AP credit. I advise not to accept AP credit until you are 100% sure you want to and that it counts towards something in your degree plan OR you are not going to retake to get a firmer grasp for future classes. You can accept AP credit into your senior year, so no rush. Dual credit is automatically on your transcript. No option there.
As for 12 credits freshman year… trust me, they catch up if they need to. TAMU does not want our kids there longer than 4 years. Better funding for them to get them in and out. In fact they offer a $1000 incentive to finish on time. Yes, that’s a drop in the bucket, but hey! I’ll take it. Minimesters and summer classes are huge part of their degree plan plus study abroads and internships. They can also stay and take some at Blinn for the boring core classes.
As for music class your son was signed up for… it’s not a waste. It goes towards the creative arts requirement. He does’t have to take that one, she was probably just giving him an idea. It’s also an easy A if you put the work into it.
As for early business classes… they start with accounting and management classes plus econ and other core classes. They don’t dive into real business until professional or upper level. That’s standard these days with most majors.
Hope this insight helps a bit and alleviates some doubt or stress. Our kids will do great things!