<p>UW-Madison freshmen are commonly advised during SOAR to take no more than 12-13 credits during their first semester. This study concludes that there is no evidence that lighter course loads result in higher GPAs.</p>
<p>The last paragraph of the study is particularly interesting: if incoming freshmen are no longer strongly advised to take a lighter credit load, this will result in a higher demand for classes which would apparently be the equivalent of having an additional 500 students enrolled.</p>
<p>Sorry if I misunderstood, but are you suggesting that Madison has an economic incentive to prevent freshman from taking a heavy course load?</p>
<p>The state subsidizes tuition. Don’t you think that the University would prefer hiring a few more lecturers if this would significantly increase 4 year graduation rates? Students graduating on time because they took a heavy freshman load would be fantastic for the budget.</p>
<p>BTW, there’s some self selection problems here. What type of students will choose to take a heavy course load even though the recommended load is 12-13 credits? The study adjusts for past GPA and current retention, but it can’t adjust for work ethic and motivation. If we didn’t have such recommendations, there might be way more undermotivated students taking difficult loads they can’t handle.</p>
<p>The Madison Initiative has sufficient funding to offer more classes to freshmen. Most hiring under the plan is to allow more sections of basic level classes in high demand areas. There was a discussion of this report months ago.</p>
<p>This surprises me. My son signed up for 14 credits and I thought THAT was a light course load, but since he has well over a semester’s worth of AP credits I thought it was fine for him to “go easy” in his first semester. (Granted, any one of the three courses on his schedule would have brought me to my knees as a college freshman!)</p>
<p>I have always advised students to ignore that light load recommendation, it is good to see test results supporting taking more than the minimum credits. I can see where students with too much time waste more of it, find it harder to be in study mode. I didn’t read the whole study- what percentage of students actually take fewer than 15- 16 credits their first semester? It can be easier to concentrate on 4 courses for 16 credits than 5 for 15 credits…</p>
<p>I attended SOAR a few weeks ago and they told us to take not more than 15 credits…they said nothing about taking 12 or 13. I actually had 12 and was advised to take another class, which I did.</p>
<p>Just got back from SOAR yesterday. D has 14 credits for her first semester at UW. I would have liked it if she would have added the 1 credit Wisconsin Experience seminar but she wasn’t that interested in it and obviously I wasn’t there when she enrolled in her classes. She felt it would be too much additional work for just 1 more credit - which may be true. Anyway, we’ll see how it goes…</p>
<p>That sounds reasonable- she would have 17 or 18 credits if she added another typical 3-4 credit course, a load she may feel is too heavy. Taking a course just to get a magic 15 or 16 credits isn’t always best. Adding a course should only happen if she actively likes the course, not adding a filler she won’t have any enthusiasm for. It’s a lot easier to study for a course you want (or need) than one just to have x credits. Having AP credits does change things.</p>
<p>My son initially enrolled in the Wisconsin Experience course last fall. He attended one class and then dropped it - too much work for 1 credit; lots of reading, writing, and a project that involved interviewing one professor from any of his other courses. Later that semester he ran into someone who stuck it out - she said she wished she had dropped it.</p>