The Average Workload at Case

<p>How many hours of homework do you get in each class?
How many pages of text do you need to read per week?
How many essays do you usually have to write?
How long do those essays usually need to be? (I'm not very good at writing them).</p>

<p>I'm interested in double majoring in history/physics (astronomy) and working towards premed (just in case). I know that's a lot of classes (and I may have to drop the history major if I can't manage it).</p>

<p>I know that the answers vary by professor, but please tell me your about your experience.</p>

<p>This may be a deciding factor picking which college I'll go to.</p>

<p>Could somebody please respond?</p>

<p>astronomy? have you seen this...</p>

<p><a href="http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/Schmidt/Virgo/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/Schmidt/Virgo/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/dept/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/dept/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/dept/obs.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/dept/obs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/dept/history.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/dept/history.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>it seems like Case brings in a lot of prominent speakers; I saw that Rudy Guiliani is speaking at the management school.</p>

<p>hopefully a current student will answer your questions about workload....</p>

<p>BabuMohan - What do you mean as a deciding factor? If they give more work or less work? Even if someone tells you it's a lot or a little you have to remember that it is all relative to that person. I do know that Case is very proud of the fact that double majoring there is possible and encouraged. Just to let you know I have a family full of MD's & they have all told us that med schools are not always choosing the students who necessarily chose a "pre-med" (science) course load. They are looking for well-rounded students too.</p>

<p>I just don't want to spend all my time working. I want to have time to participate in student organizations, play the occasional video game, and definitely hang out with friends. I don't care much for parties. Don't get me wrong. I'm prepared to do a reasonable amount of work. I just dont want to have to do several hours of homework in each class.</p>

<p>I was required to read about a hundred pages of text in US History last year. 50-75 pages in bio. and then AP english was a nightmare. I was given the boot at the end of first semester for getting a C. I just don't want to do something like that in college.</p>

<p>I read some of your other posts (Emory & U. of Chicago) and I don't really know what to tell you. College is vastly different from high school. However, I think that any selective college is going to be harder academically than perhaps lesser known colleges. When I was in college you did have to read alot because you are not in class as often as you were in high school so keep that in mind. I think that the reason they have added the writing section to the SAT is because most schools are requiring far more essays than in the past. However in high school I don't ever remember having to read more than 10 pages per day. Was it an AP class? Even 100 pages per week sounds incredibly excessive. </p>

<p>Again, I think that it is all relavent to the person. My sons both read incredibly fast & they have become extremely good at writing essays due to fabulous English teachers that they have had in school. If you are a slow reader & it takes you longer to write an essay then you are at somewhat of a disadvantage because it will take you longer to do your homework.</p>

<p>Ask yourself what kind of a student you are now. Does it take you longer than others to get your work done? Do you have to study hard to get good grades? You have to remember that GPA/SAT/ACT scores are only a part of the story. My oldest son rarely has to study because he is genuinely just smart while some of his friends study for hours to get the same (and in most cases lower) grades that he does. I would imagine that the students that have to study like crazy now are going to have to study like crazy in college. Also, keep in mind that unlike high school you may only have 3 or 4 tests in each grading period. This does not give you much room to increase your grade.</p>

<p>Good luck in your decision and as far as wanting to participate in clubs it is possible at Case. We know students who are majoring in engineering, physics, etc. and they manage to belong to clubs & organizations.</p>

<p>I am not a great essay writer. That is part of the reason I had to drop out of AP English. I mean I know that my writing sounds bad or even confusing, but I lack the imagination to organize the sentence better. My paragraphs rarely flow. However, if I'm editing someone else's essay, I just don't seem to have this problem. Unfortunately, I never learned much grammar in school. After learning a little in 5th grade (like identifying nouns and such),very little in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, none in 9th or 10th grade, I was woefully unprepared for my 11th grade class where my peers were actually reviewing the grammar (they'd learned in 8th grade, and I had joined the school in 9th). Well, let's just say I did very poorly. So my essays aren't great.</p>

<p>I should qualify what I said in my post. I was responsible for about a 100 pages a week. 50 of those pages would encompass two chapters in the history text book and make up the multiple choice and maybe one of the essays. the other 50 pages would be the subject material of an essay. And yes, this was an AP course. I ended up with a 5 on the AP, but my tests averaged out to a low B in the course.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, it does take me longer than most people to read assignments. And sometimes it doesn't get done.</p>

<p>Oh well. I speak too much about myself.</p>

<p>BabuMohan - Please ask your English teacher(s) for recommendations on books that explain how to write essays in detail. I homeschooled my sons and I know that the books we used were very straight forward on how to write an essay complete with a checklist to make sure you were heading in the right direction. This might serve you well wherever you decide to go to college.</p>

<p>I need more help organizing my sentences than working on an essay. I mean i've written plenty of essays for school. It's just that in individual paragraphs, my sentences don't connect that well (possibly because I have a very limited vocabulary and therefore a limited number of connectives that come to mind when I want them to). and the sentences themselves are odd and muddled. If I could improve this, I would have no trouble writing essays. I've had plenty of training and practice in organizing essays. Maybe I'll post one of them to show you as an example. Actually, nevermind. I don't feel comfortable about having that essay on this forum.</p>

<p>BabuMohan - I understand about your posting an essay on this forum. Not a good idea. What about asking your English teacher if there are any good books that just talk about sentence structure and the structure of a paragraph. There are workbooks that you can get at stores in the US called Holcombs. I would definately check them out. I am sure that they are on-line. Another suggestion would be maybe taking a basic English class (could even be lower than a 101 class) at a local community college over the summer. Good luck, but I would really consider not loading up on classes your first year in college. It would be far better to take the minimum amount of classes until you feel comfortable with a higher workload. I have seen so many students crash and burn trying to take too many classes.</p>

<p>Thank You for the great advice.</p>