Too much on my plate or what

<p>I will be taking 18 credits this fall,
Human Physiology, Organic Chemistry 1 & Lab, Physics 1, Reading Poetry and Arabic 3</p>

<p>There are so many extracurricular activities that are open for me, but I fear doing all of them will end up making things impossible.</p>

<p>To clarify, I want to join the Student Government Board on the allocations committee,
Participate 1 night a week in Operation Safety Net- Helping the homeless - 4hrs
Become a columnist for the school newspaper
Will have my EMT-B, so get a patient care job, casual, 1 day/week, probably weekend
Continue my research, 10hrs/week
Join my school's Raas team (Indian folk dance), committing 8hrs/week.</p>

<p>I know it may seem unlikely that I will get every position, but if hopefully I do... Do you think it's too much?</p>

<p>I know I have heard 'with proper time management' its possible. So...</p>

<p>You are going to die. And while you are dying you will be declining academically. I don’t meant to underestimate your abilities, its just that it really is a lot. What we’re taught is that 3 hours in class = 9 hours in class. I think thats an overestimate but w/e. So you have 168 hours/week - 56 for sleeping. Which leaves you with 112 hrs. 112 - 18(3) = 58hrs - 18 being in class = 30. 20 hours after research. 12 after dance. 8 after the homeless thing. The other 8 will go to your student government.</p>

<p>Hence, if you want to do well academically and still have a semblance of sanity, you might want to drop a course. I’d advise a science or arabic</p>

<p>thanks for the input</p>

<p>I am just thinking what would be the best to drop, although it would have to be ECs before some classes go.</p>

<p>I had a semester like that and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would. Just have good time management skills and you’ll be fine.</p>

<p>I am thinking I will start out by trying everything together. Then I will see if its too much- I’ll drop something.</p>

<p>I am assuming that you are not an incoming freshman? If you are I would HIGHLY advise against taking 18 hours your first semester of college. Does Physics have a lab?</p>

<p>ORGO lab reports can be very long and time consuming. </p>

<p>With everything you are planning I think you are setting yourself up for a disaster. Something needs to go before your sanity does.</p>

<p>No, I will be a sophomore. I have taken 18 credits before, as well as research.
Physics lab is a combined 2 credit lab for both semesters I will take in spring.</p>

<p>I will definitely agree at what eadad said.</p>

<p>I think my child was pretty stressed out by the long orgo lab report. A part of the reason is that, at the time he took the orgo I, he had not been “toughen” by many science courses yet. He took orgo I in the spring of his freshman year. The maturity of a student could help a lot.</p>

<p>Oops. BurghStudent, you and I happen to post at the same time. I did not know you are a sophomore. Still, depending on the difficulty of the course, the workload seems to be a little bit high. (For example, physiology is a very demanding course at my child’s school. I heard that 40-50 percents of students in that class are either the medical school students or the graduate students. It is not that easy to compete against those high-achieving students. The undergraduate students who dare to take that class only hope to receive a grade of a B+ or lower, a likely GPA hit.)</p>

<p>I took Chemistry for Engineers 2 last semester. Big mistake but it taught me to be efficient with lab reports. They were often several pages long. Although this would be my first O Chem lab.</p>

<p>EDIT: Yes it is a grad level course I am taking. The prof is my research prof.</p>

<p>Oh, how I miss the gen chem lab reports. Wait until (if you are on this track) biochem and biophysical chem labs. 30 pages or more was pretty standard. Burgh, depending on your university that may be pretty rough. Do you go to a really competitive or grade deflated school?</p>

<p>Its competitive in the sciences. And I do have to take biophysical chem later on.</p>

<p>I’m in the burgh, it has a top med school, I think you can guess ;).</p>

<p>Pitt has a top-notch medical school, but that doesn’t have much to do with Pitt undergrad.</p>

<p>Right, but separately, it’s undergrad sciences are still hard.</p>