Workload?

<p>I do understand that that thread about all work and no play is wrong, but what is the workload? As someone who does not come from a prep school and usually gets As without studying much at all (I read a lot, just not for tests or school in general), I am not sure I would even know how to "study."</p>

<p>You're in for a rude awakening.</p>

<p>The students who didn't need to study in high school but got good grades are going to struggle in many college classes, as A.E. puts succinctly.
In college, you are surrounded by people like you, so no longer do you stand out just for being smart. That's a common thread at schools like Swarthmore. Your best bet is to be ready to study, and then get in a study group for every class. Be ready to learn how to study so you get the most out of class. College is structured for you to learn outside of the classroom. You pay alot of money to do that, so be ready to get to it. Use the college resources the very first semester to help you with your study skills. Swarthmore is a wonderful experience and it teaches you to be inquisitive, independent, and to interact with peers and teachers. It is not for students who want to listen in lecture and then show up for tests. You can be succesful there, you just have to accept that you are there to learn how to learn, not to practice listening! And in the real world after college, you'll need the learning skill!</p>

<p>You got into pretty selective and well-known colleges, so you're probably not totally unprepared for college-level work. Otherwise you probably would have been rejected. With that said, you'll probably have to adjust to what college is like. That's why first semester for freshmen is pass/fail.</p>

<p>The workload really depends on the classes you take. Some classes have lots of work; some have much less; some are considered really easy classes. The general guideline is 2 hours for every hour of class. So if you take 4 classes, each 2 1/2 hours a week, then that's around 20 hours a week outside of class, which means around 3 to 4 hours of good, hard work on the weekdays with some free time on weekends. I find that I usually stay up later and have to work more when there are major papers and exams coming up. I usually am able to go to bed by 1 am.</p>

<p>If you find that you don't know how to study for specific classes, then you should probably ask students who took the classes you plan to take how they studied, and talk to the professor and go to study sessions if necessary.</p>

<p>If you come in prepared to work, and seek out resources to help you if you start struggling, you will be fine. Do you know yet what kinds of classes you'll be taking (mostly humanities, mostly sciences, etc.)? </p>

<p>You will need to learn how to study, but, as others have said, there is pass/fail as a cushion while you figure it out, and there are Student Academic Mentors and classmates to help you figure it out. There are also Writing Associates to help with papers, and in the sciences there are study sessions/problem sessions run by upperclassmen (Science Associates in Bio, for instance, or Ninjas in Comp Sci, or Wizards in Engineering). </p>

<p>If you enjoy learning and are ready to work hard, you will be able to adjust to Swarthmore. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>dchow08 and RedFish,
My S graduated from Swat in '07, and he always told me the "formula" was more like 3+ hours of work outside the classroom for every classroom hour. Notwithstanding that formula, there was still plenty of time left over for him to participate heavily in a couple of extracurricular activities and just generally "hang out." As several posters have noted, the first semester is graded as pass/fail, which does help many students adjust to the workload and expectations.</p>

<p>momof3sons,</p>

<p>Yes. I don't disagree with you, and I hope that you're not disagreeing with me, just adding on to what I've said before. It really depends on the courses you're taking. It's never exactly 2 hours/class period, sometimes more, sometimes less. Actually, the average could be more than 2 hours/class period now that I think about it.</p>

<p>I think my daughter would agree with the 2 to 3 hours prep for each hour of class estimate. That's on average. Some courses take less; some take more. Every semester and every mix of courses is going to be a little different.</p>

<p>A few things that she found really helped:</p>

<p>a) Make it a habit to go to the library with friends every night after dinner for several hours of study time without the distractions of the dorm. It's still "social" with breaks every hour in one of the library's lounges or going to wake up somebody who has fallen asleep in a big comfy chair and is drooling on their book! Carry a book to read during an odd hour of downtime between classes or before dinner out on Parrish Beach, or on the train going into Philly or while doing laundry. Knock out a couple of the novels for second semester over Christmas break.</p>

<p>b) Mix up the courses each semester. She tried to take a literature course or something where the reading was fun reading like novels to balance off an evening of reading Foucault. Tried to balance reading with a math or stat course. Tried to mix in an art history course where learning paintings was a different type of studying at finals time (she was the master of art flash cards in the dorm!). Tried to mix in one large lecture style course each semester because they are so much easier than small discussion classes.</p>

<p>c) Pick the professor, not the course. This is not always possible, but it increases the odds of getting great courses.</p>

<p>d) Learn to prioritize. Figure out what the main reading for discussion in each class will be and prepare to discuss that. If you run out of time, skip the stuff that won't be discussed. </p>

<p>e) Use the resources. Professors office hours. Get your papers WA'd. Go to the science and math study groups. One of the defining qualities of Swarthmore is that it is SO collaborative. Friends take classes together. Discuss their papers. Help each other study.</p>

<p>Two things about college are incomprehensible to high school students: there are so many free hours in a day. You are only in class 12 hours a week or so. And (at least if you pick your courses well), the stuff you are studying can actually be really interesting and "fun" to learn.</p>

<p>Basically, as others have said, it'll be hard but not impossible. I have plenty of friends who breezed through high school and then had to buckle down once they got to Swat - they all graduated, many with honors. </p>

<p>My biggest piece of advice would be to really take advantage of that first pass/fail semester. Don't just slack off during it because you can. Take the opportunity to figure out what works for you for studying. For some people, that means studying in big groups in the library, for others it means a lot of time in their room by themselves.</p>

<p>Also, one piece of personal advice: don't fall into the common Swat trap of losing sleep to do work late at night. If you plan out a little in advance, you can get eight hours of sleep a night. This, in the long run (I've tried both ways) dramatically increases daytime productivity.</p>

<p>"Also, one piece of personal advice: don't fall into the common Swat trap of losing sleep to do work late at night. If you plan out a little in advance, you can get eight hours of sleep a night. This, in the long run (I've tried both ways) dramatically increases daytime productivity."</p>

<p>I second, third, fourth and fifth this. Hard to follow, but great advice.</p>

<p>I found this data on hours per week from a Swarthmore senior survey. I can't remember where it came from -- perhaps a Phoenix article. Remember, these are averages, so (for example) the varsity athletics would be an average of 1 in 4 Swatties saying 12 hours and the others saying none. Also, remember this is from surveys of seniors during graduation week, so their responses will be skewed towards things like thesis writing, meeting with profs (for Honors Prep, etc.).</p>

<p>


**Swat       Hours per week in Senior Year **
14.3        Scheduled classes or labs 
15.8        Work on scheduled courses outside of class or labs 
6.6     Other academic work (e.g., thesis, research) 
3.4     Talking with faculty outside of class 
3.3     Intercollegiate & club sports 
0.8     Intramural sports 
4.9     Other exercise/fitness 
5.6     Partying 
10.9        Other socializing with friends 
4.1     Clubs/organized groups 
2.1     Watching TV 
6.6     Computer games, surfing the net, etc. 
7.3     Electronic communications (e-mail, instant messaging) 
8.1     Working for pay 
2.3     Volunteer work 

</p>

<p>

Isn't there a lot of evidence now that the whole "eight hours of sleep per night" standard is largely cultural and not a biological need? Can't strategic napping practices allow human beings to function just as well, physically and mentally, as sleeping eight hours per night?</p>