Thesis Masters Schedule?

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I'm trying not to get ahead of myself, but just in case I do decide to run straight for a masters, what is a normal (not too light, not too heavy) expectation for time/credits per semester (more specific below):</p>

<p>part 1
As I understand it, 6 research credits time ~= 6 credits of coursework time and can really balloon depending on the difficulty of the topic/helpfulness of adviser. true/false, anecdotal evidence?</p>

<p>part 2
With regard to straight coursework, lets say if a normal senior year semester is 5 classes and 15 credits of coursework and takes 45 hours per week of time (lecture+lab+project+hw), how much time per week would be required if 2 of the classes (6 of the 15 credits) were graduate level courses?</p>

<p>part 3
Lastly, if doing a thesis based masters, is it typical to stick to 3 grad coursework based classes + research credit per semester or should coursework be treated like undergraduate courses (12 credits per semester minimum for full time status)?</p>

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<p>Usually those research “credits” are just schedule filler. How much time it actually takes up in the lab is more akin to working a full-time job (or often more) while taking classes. Most advisors would prefer you treat your research as your primary responsibility, and most of the time you will be inclined to do that anyway.</p>

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<p>That is going to depend a lot on the university and how they structure their courses. At many universities, taking a 3-hour graduate course is the equivalent of probably ~1.5 times that in an undergraduate course. That is an estimate, of course, but in my experience most graduate courses tend to be a bit more time consuming than the undergraduate courses per credit hour, but not so much as double the time. There are generally no labs, though. This is probably a better question for some current graduate students in the department that you intend to study in.</p>

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<p>Again, it will vary by school, but most people I know at a handful of schools tend to take 2 to 3 classes per semester plus research.</p>