<p>Do your own research online. </p>
<p>I highly doubt you would be allowed to take five classes. I have never met anyone taking five classes. I think that you are being over-confident and need to re-evaluate. You can get all the challenge you need with four tough classes. I have never heard anyone complain about not being challenged while taking four hard classes.</p>
<p>Hey Corranged, thanks for all the great info in this thread, just wanted to say that.</p>
<p>Also, one quick question, do most students take 3 classes or 4 classes? Personally I'd <em>prefer</em> to take 3 classes since I'd have more time to myself (probably), but I also want to graduate in 4 years...</p>
<p>Hmm, okay. I'll take your word for it that four courses are rigorous enough, if you've never met anyone taking five courses. Thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>Also, from corranged's link:</p>
<p>"Course Load. Students register for three or four courses per quarter. Over the typical four-year program (twelve quarters), a student normally registers for at least six four-course quarters and as many as six three-course quarters. Although students may progress at varying rates toward the degree, no student may register for more than fifteen quarters without the permission of the dean of students in the College."</p>
<p>I suppose this also has to do with how many AP credits you have and the like. IIRC, 47 credits are needed to graduate, but of course, this number goes down if you have some AP credits. If you do the math, you'll see how many credits you need per quarter if you want to graduate within 4 years. You'll also need to factor in PE, which gives you credits but really doesn't 'count' as a 4th class.</p>
<p>I think students split pretty evenly between three and four courses. I like the idea of taking four when possible in order to take advantage of the school, but sometimes times and classes just don't work out well, or a schedule with three time consuming classes is enough. Some take three, and some take four. People don't look down on students taking three classes (exception would be someone taking the three easiest classes they can find). Almost everyone has a mix of quarters with three and quarters with four. Three classes is also more desirable if you're playing a varsity sport that season, prepping for the LSATs/MCATs/etc., or applying for jobs or grad/professional schools.</p>
<p>Thanks corranged... How hard is it for a student to drop a class if they feel a little too burdened?</p>
<p>Oh, it's easy. You have a period of pre-registration where you pick up to six cources you'd like to take and list up to three choices for which section of the class you'd like. You state your preference for three or four. Then you'll somehow be assigned three or four classes, though sometimes you'll want four and only be placed into three. After that the add/drop period begins. This is all at the end of the previous quarter. During the add/drop period, you can change your mind about what you want to take as long as the sections are open. After classes start, people can try to get into courses that you can't "add" online because they're full. You get the professor to sign off on a "pink slip" letting you into the class, and you drop off the pink slip with the registrar. Professors stop letting new people into the class after the first week, if they let anyone additional in at all. You can drop a class anytime in the first three weeks. That's another reason why it's smart to sign up for four classes--so that you can drop one without worrying about adding another. Everyone adds and drops classes. It's really common.</p>
<p>Interesting... so I guess that is Chicago's version of "Class shopping"</p>
<p>It's not that you'll get more homework than in high school. In fact, you'll probably get a little less, but the grading here is MUCH more stringent (i.e. you probably can't ******** a lot of stuff if you're taking tough class), and for honors courses in the hard sciences, some problems are hard, while some are damn impossible to do without instruction from the professor. Homework here is more time consuming.</p>
<p>Trust me on this one - if you're really looking for four tough courses...you can probably expect upwards of 35 hr of homework a week (probably more) As for my own experience, I took Calc BC sophomore year, got my 5, and then I blew past Diff. EQ and multivariable Calc Junior year, getting A's without too much effort, so I thought that, naturally, math here would be a breeze. Then, after 20-30 hours a week of studying and homework for my 1st quarter math, I ended up barely squeezing by, with a B, no less.</p>
<p>Phuriku, it would be insane to take 5 courses in a quarter. 4 would be a heavy load if you have a language or a lab; if not, I think 4 courses would be very doable. Quarters are very intense, there are huge amounts of reading assigned, constant tests and papers.</p>
<p>I see. I will, actually, be taking Japanese, so that might make things a bit difficult, but since it's not required, I can drop it if the workload gets too tough. By the way, is the required biology course a lab class?</p>
<p>My D actually took Japanese and Chemistry in her first quarter, and got really swamped. She ended up dropping the Japanese and adding a humanities class, using a pink slip. Language classes are also (very often) early in the morning, but I could be wrong there.</p>
<p>If you do take a foreign language, you could do a study abroad in that country.</p>
<p>S took 4 classes per quarter his first year (Calc, Physics, Mandarin, and Greek Thought & Literature). Completed a year of chemistry over the summer between first and second year, and now only has to to take 3 courses per quarter for his last 3 years. He has signed up for another one of those "do a year in 9 weeks" courses this summer, so with AP credit, he could graduate at the end of year 3, having completed both his humanities concentration requirements and fulfilling all premed requirements, but won't. He plans on taking a full year of electives, or perhaps Big Problems. By taking the 4 courses and then the summer "year," he left himself with many choices and reduced pressure for year 2 through 4. I was skeptical when he said he wanted to do this (I was an advocate of taking 3 the first year), but he turned out to know what was best for him. He found he still had time for a very active social life.</p>
<p>idad, are you the father of god? ;)</p>
<p>seriously, i'm impressed! and slightly intimidated...</p>
<p>No, not unless God is kind of a goof-off. He did this to decrease the pressure, which he thought would build as the years passed. Interestingly, he is taking 3 courses per quarter this year and says he has realized he misses a 4th course. I told him to take a cold shower and slap himself...</p>
<p>If one only read that last sentence they would be very confused :D</p>
<p>he should take a beer and then haf the cold shower!
missing the 4th! haha...cool.</p>