<p>What's the most you've heard of?</p>
<p>Sorry about the way I structured the title. Horrible grammar. For some reason my English is failing me today ;)</p>
<p>Courses or credit hours?</p>
<p>@Fatsquirrel Courses. </p>
<p>The last two semesters I had 21 credits each. </p>
<p>It was five courses, but two of them had labs, so realistically it was seven. </p>
<p>Last fall I had General Physics I + lab, Calculus I, General Chemistry I + lab, Introduction to Anthropology, and Beginning Spanish I. </p>
<p>Last spring I had University Physics I + lab, Calculus II, General Chemistry II + lab, General Cultural Anthropology, and Beginning Spanish II.</p>
<p>I was also working 20 hours a week during both semesters. It made for a rough couple of semesters, with very little social life. I managed to maintain my 4.0 through them though. :)</p>
<p>16 credit hours is most I’ve ever taken. I had a friend who took 21 credit hours plus a part time job and she ran cross country and track. It was a very rough year for her but she still ended with a 4.0.</p>
<p>James Franco the actor took 62 credit hours in one quarter I believe.</p>
<p>That must of been all online or some really basic classes. I can’t even imagine the scheduling on that. 62 credit hours can easily equal to a degree for some people with ap credit.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t that typically be 62 hours of class time per week?</p>
<p>I’m still slightly confused by the idea of credit hours. I see it as whether or not I have a course during a period of time. </p>
<p>Also, would it be possible to do something like 10 courses per semester? There are some courses that I have a strong background in that I pass sleeping. Would it be possible to squish all these courses together?</p>
<p>I want to graduate at a faster rate, because I have a possible opportunity once I do.</p>
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<p>Typically, a course of N credit hours meets N hours per week, and expects about 2**N* hours per week of out-of-class work. So a normal 15-16 credit hour course load is supposed to take about 45-48 hours per week of work.</p>
<p>However, actual average workloads have been getting lower over time, so actual workloads for many courses are lower than the formula above gives. But course with labs, art studio, or music performance may have higher workloads.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus Thanks, I understand now. So what would be the most that a person would be able to take if they had the drive?</p>
<p>It depends on the courses and the student. The realistic maximum would be higher for courses with relatively light workload per credit, and which the student understands easily without needing large amounts of additional studying, than it would be for courses with time consuming features like labs, art studio, and music performance, or which the student finds difficult.</p>
<p>A typical heavy load comes with a sacrifice to your GPA. Someone I know took on 24 units in engineering and worked but ended up with 3.5 ish (for a high achiever) saying it is possible to get the engineering degree in 2 years. </p>
<p>So 24 units is about 8 courses? Question: Would 10 be possible?</p>
<p>If every class is 3 credits, then yes 24 credits would be 8 classes. Some classes are 4 or 5 credits though.</p>
<p>It’s nearly always a bad idea to take on that much in one semester though. The typical college student cannot handle that kind of course load.</p>
<p>Look at it this way, 24 credit hours is 24 hours a week just in class. If you figure even 2 hours of study time for each of these credit hours per week, that’s another 48 hours. That’s 72 hours per week devoted to school. If you sleep 8 hours per night, that’s another 56 hours. Altogether that’s 128 hours of your week right there. Figure another two hours to eat every day and that’s another 14 hours, adding up to 142 hours. There are 168 hours in a week. That doesn’t leave much free time. Do you want to have only 26 hours of free time every week? Keep in mind that a lot of that time is going to be idle half hour periods between classes, where it’s not really “free time” as such. You’ll be on your way from one part of campus to the next. </p>
<p>Is there any compelling reason to actually take this on? I can virtually guarantee you that there isn’t. Graduating earlier might be nice, but you’re going to be killing yourself to do it. </p>
<p>I will be taking seven classes and one lab this semester, a total of 25 credit hours. It is a lot but I didn’t just randomly decide what to do. I took 17 credits last semester while working a lot, this fall I will be working very little. I checked the reviews for all the classes I selected, the only one I have to worry about is Calculus. Honestly a person taking 16 credit hours of engineering classes would probably have a higher workload than what I will have, I will just have to spend more time in class. </p>