Sometimes, it did not happened in the first semester. My D took 18 credits in her first semester. Did extremely well. She took 16 credits this semester. Not sure what went wrong. It could be a combination of over confidence from the last semester’s success, underestimating the actual time commitment needed to study each of those classes, too much socializing, etc. She has struggled big time this semester. Finally, she dropped two courses ( 3+1 credits) and stays with the remaining 12 credits. Her school allows about a month before dropping out (I do like it)
Lessons learned: 1) need to have plan B regarding course replacements. She did not have a plan B this semester.
2) if a student can take more than 15 credits a semester, do it. It will help balance out overall credis needed to graduate.
At my D school, a student who takes an average of 15 credits per semester will graduate in four years. D took 18 the first semester, 12 the second so she is on par with average of 15 credits per semester. Had she not taken 18 credits the first semester, she would be in a hole right now.
I think there are two schools of thoughts regarding freshmen enrolling in classes:
- take less (12 credits) so a student will have time to adjust as everything is new at college
- take more courses because freshmen’s classes are easier. Classes won’t be this easy after freshman’s year.