<p>One of my students just received an admission notification from Columbia GS, and while I was checking out the degree requirement and the course listings so that I can advise her what to take in her first semester, I noticed a few things that would make all you freshmen very happy.</p>
<li>12 units are considered a full time.</li>
</ol>
<p>3 units courses = 2 lectures a week, 1 hour 15 minutes per lecture, thus a total of 2.5 hours a week.</p>
<p>4 units courses = 2 lectures a week, 1 hour 50 minutes per lecture, thus a total of 3 hour 40 minutes a week</p>
<p>thus, a typical student would have only 10 hours or so of lecture a week. And the remaining time is free. Well almost, since there would be a lot of work for you guys. But regardless, this is a very favorable lecture schedule for all of you guys who want to take advantage of living in the big city.</p>
<li>No classes on Friday.</li>
</ol>
<p>There are a very few classes that meet on Fridays, but mostly, the lectures are either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday. </p>
<p>Thus, most of your guys should have Friday off. Wow, isnt it awesome?</p>
<p>Anyway, good luck to you guys, and try to utilize some of your free time doing some meaningful work for some clubs/organizations/volunteering service agency.</p>
<p>At 12 units a semester it would take at least 5 years to graduate and Columbia charges by the semester. It's in your best interest, financially, to graduate on time.</p>
<p>Usually labs meet on Fridays and some last about 5 hours.</p>
<p>Yes, you do need 124 units to graduate, which would be 15 units per semester over the four years.</p>
<p>But still, 15 units=12.5 hours per week is pretty awesome. And as to your pointing to lab courses, how many of those would each student take over the course of four years?</p>
<p>Most students would probably only take 1 or 2 semesters, pre-med would need like 4.</p>
<p>I agree with you about the short time in class. I was looking over possible courses for next year and realized how much free time I'd have. However, some courses, other than the labs, are worth less than a credit per hour; so I guess it averages to about 1 credit per hour in class per week.</p>
<p>Well, I can tell you that my son is signing up for six courses next semester (will be sophomore). Columbia students are known for doing more work than necessary, not less.</p>
<p>No, actually hasn't chosen a major yet. It just seems the thing to do there, I think because there are so many Core courses, so if you want to try out a lot of other things, you need to take extra classes. He had only four this term and felt like a slacker.</p>
<p>The "full time" thing is for legal purposes in terms of student visas and such and such, I believe. I'm taking 18 credits now, which is pretty typical.</p>