<p>Is there much more freedom than high school? Is it possible to have all of your classes in one day and have the rest of the week free? Do most people have ample time to participate in extracurriculars? </p>
<p>And I am referring to a 4-year university, not a community or technical college.</p>
<p>no.</p>
<p>almost all courses are 3-4 hours/week in most semester-based colleges. Usually load is 12-16 hours per week for 15 weeks. You cannot do all those hours in a day, of course, and so your courses are spread out over M thru Th or more often M thru F. Some courses will meet mwf, some tth, some mw, and so on. Many upperclassmen try to take most of their courses mwf or tth or mwth if those options are available, or they want all afternoon or all morning classes, but freshmen will be glad just to have courses to take and some of those will be at 8 and 9am (so at some schools, it’s a lot like high schools’ bright and early starts).</p>
<p>I mentioned the upperclassmen. I generally recommend my upperclassmen not try to squeeze all their courses into 2 or 3 days because that means they are going to class from 9-5 and they have no room for lunch, in some cases, but more importantly they have no time to make professors’ office hours. Generally, professors’ office hours will be on the same days they teach. Usually those hours are 3 or 4 hours each week, often at the same times, so YOU need some flexibility in your schedule to make the office hours. Many people find visiting their professors integral to their success in college. Almost all would benefit from visitation, so try not to pack everything into two or three days, even if you have to work 15 hours a week. </p>
<p>Ideally, from a best learning practices point of view, neuroscience would have you spend an hour between most classes to relax and review material you just learned and prepare for the next class. You won’t need all of that hour between every class all semester, but even 15 minutes/class between classes can serve your education quite well.</p>
<p>It’s not generally possible to have all of your classes in one day. Most college courses meet at least twice a week, and many of them have additional lab or discussion sections as well. I’ve always tried to spread my courses out evenly throughout MTWTh. I’ve avoided Friday classes successfully the entire time I’ve been in college, but next semester I don’t have a choice. My physics class meets MWF. That’ll be a bit of an adjustment, but it’ll be okay. </p>
<p>@jkeil911 said it very well. I just want to iterate a few things myself:</p>
<p>You most likely won’t have a lot of options your freshman year. You’ll take a lot of gen ed classes that only meet at certain days/times, so do your best at finding classes that don’t overlap and won’t overburden you.</p>
<p>Also, don’t overdo it on the number of classes. I wish someone told me this before I started college, but college is very different from high school in that classes are longer and more difficult. With that said, don’t expect to take the same number of classes as you did in high school (4 or 5 per semester is normal). I only took 4 my first semester but they were tough classes with labs (science major), so don’t do that, either.</p>
<p>As your college career goes on, it’s not uncommon to have very light days (1 or two classes) or even an off day. This will depend on your major, of course, and how many classes are required. I had a few semesters where they bulk of my classes were on T/Th (very long days) with maybe one class on M/W. There will be some trial and error, but take the advice you received in here and don’t be afraid to talk to your academic advisers!</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>There is more freedom in a sense. Depending on what classes you take, you could have classes that meet MWF for fifty minutes each, Tuesday and Thursday for an hour and a half each, or once a week for three hours each. </p>
<p>The fun thing about college is that you can pick your own classes and what times and days they meet. It also depends on what school you choose because larger colleges will have more options regarding days and times, but smaller colleges might only have a couple sections of one class. Sometimes, a “perfect schedule” isn’t plausible. </p>
<p>My schedule has me done with classes at noon everyday, which is wondeful. It gives me time to relax and do work in the afternoon.</p>
<p>Next semester, I will have a schedule that only requires me to be on campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which will be awesome.</p>
<p>It really does vary a lot. My schedules have typically been a Monday through Thursday schedule, but this semester I have no classes on Tuesdays and only my physics lab on Thursday. That’s just the way it happened to work out. My classes are all on Monday and Wednesday, aside from the physics lab. I only have 3 classes this semester though, which makes a difference. </p>
<p>Next semester I’ll be in a physics class that meets on Thursday and Friday morning, which is a rather odd schedule. Tuesdays all I’m going to have is Calc III from 1-2. </p>
<p>It’s a lot different from high school. It isn’t structured so that you’ll be in class from 7:30-2:00 every day (or however your high school was scheduled). You’ll have some heavy days and some lighter days. </p>
<p>My university has a large chunk of classes that meet either MWF or T TH. The MWF courses are typically 3 credit hour courses that meet one hour each visit while the T Th courses are typically 3 credit hour courses that meet 1 and a half hours for visit. Of course we also have 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 credit hour courses etc. Sometimes a class will only meet once a week. </p>
<p>Freshmen at my school register last so they are more likely to get stuck with 8 am classes. Extracurriculars are usually scheduled at 5-8 pm at my school since most people are done with class by then. There’s always those students that have night labs. Labs kinda screw over your schedule because they can have you meet for 3 hours per week and be worth only one credit hour or something like that.</p>
<p>The most important thing for me when scheduling classes is the topic of the class and the grade distribution for the class. I don’t preference time of day as that important (despite the fact I hate night classes) because there’s such a big difference in grade distribution between professors. One of the difference for college registration is you typically see the name of the professor who is going to pick the class and may or may not have the option of choosing from a list of multiple professors which one you want. There’s websites like myedu to help you figure out more information about the professor and his/her grade distributions etc.</p>