How are semester hours calculated?

[aslan91]

Hey everyone, I will be applying to American schools during the next cycle but I just wanted to see if I have enough "semester hours" for eligibility. Since, I am not sure how these hours are calculated, if someone could help me out here, that'd be much appreciated. For instance, some schools require that you have at least "8 semester hours* of biology, and say "6 semester hours of English." I really have no idea what this means, could someone please explain this to me.

I am finishing up my third year (will be done by April 30th), and as an example, this was my first year (per week):

Fall 2010 Semester: (Sep-Dec)
Biology 1 (3hrs Lecture, 1.5hrs Lab)
General Chemistry 1 (3hrs Lecture only)
Calculus 1 (4hrs Lecture, 1hr Lab)
Physics 1 (3hrs Lecture, 1hr Lab, 1hr Tutorial)
Computer Science (4hrs Lecture, 1hr Lab)

Winter 2011 Semester: (Jan-Apr)
Biology 2 (3hrs Lecture, 1.5hrs Lab)
General Chemistry 2 (3hrs Lecture, 3hrs Lab)
Calculus 2 (4hrs Lecture, 1hr Lab)
Physics 2 (3hrs Lecture, 1hr Lab, 1hr Tutorial)
English 101 (3hrs lecture only)

That is what I had in my first year at university, how many semester hours is that supposed to equal? Any feedback is much appreciated!

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[Doctor Strange]

Semester hours = credits

 

[aslan91]

Hmm. I am looking at my undergrad course calendar and each of the course that I took in first year represents 1 credit unit. So, if what you say is true, and semesters hours = credits, then that means I would need to take 90 courses to be elibile to apply? That doesn't sound right lol because we're supposed to take 5 courses per semester (1 credit per course) for a total of 10 courses per year. We can take more courses during the year if we want but it just becomes too hectic, so usually full-time students need to take at least 4 courses per semester to be recognized as full time students. I've only taken 5 courses per semester in my last ~3 years of undergrad. So, by the end of this year (April 30th), I will have taken 30 courses.

I also took 2 english courses (one in my first year, and the other one I'm taking this semester), so does that mean I have fulfilled the "6 semester hours of English" requirement? Both of these english classes met 3hrs per week over the course of a semester. So 3+3 = 6 semester hours? I am really confused...

 

[aslan91]

bump!

 

[sunflower18]

My school does the whole 1 class = 1 credit thing too, but we are supposed to take 4 credits a semester. Each credit is 4 semester hours.

 

[aslan91]

My school does the whole 1 class = 1 credit thing too, but we are supposed to take 4 credits a semester. Each credit is 4 semester hours.

Oh, but what about classes with labs? Semester hours surely differ for such classes right? I found this on another forum, is this correct?

1) Full credit courses w/ lab (1.0 course weight) = 8 semester hours
2) Full credit courses w/o lab (1.0 course weight) = 6 semester hours
3) Half credit courses w/lab (0.5 course weight) = 4 semester hours
4) Half credit courses w/o lab (0.5 course weight) = 3 semester hours

Using this information, I would have accumulated 38 semester hours in Fall 2010, and 38 semester hours in Winter 2011

 

[sunflower18]

Oh, but what about classes with labs? Semester hours surely differ for such classes right? I found this on another forum, is this correct?

1) Full credit courses w/ lab (1.0 course weight) = 8 semester hours
2) Full credit courses w/o lab (1.0 course weight) = 6 semester hours
3) Half credit courses w/lab (0.5 course weight) = 4 semester hours
4) Half credit courses w/o lab (0.5 course weight) = 3 semester hours

Using this information, I would have accumulated 38 semester hours in Fall 2010, and 38 semester hours in Winter 2011

Classes with labs are no different for us than non lab classes, which is stupid because they meet for twice as much each week.

Our lectures meet for 3 hours a week, and labs are also 3 hours a week.

 

[aslan91]

Anyone?

 

[mehc012]

My school does the whole 1 class = 1 credit thing too, but we are supposed to take 4 credits a semester. Each credit is 4 semester hours.

That's what I thought, until I asked my registrar. Each class has its own conversion value, which the registrar should be able to supply upon asking. For example, my non lab courses were 3.25 credit hours each, whereas my regular lab courses were 4.75 and my chemistry lab courses (which were grandfathered in at 1hr longer than other lab courses) were 5.25 credits each. It was all a bit messy, and resulted in me having to do a LOT more gpa repair than I would have had to if they'd been a straight conversion to 3 or 4 credit hours, because I went from a calculated load of 12-16hrs/semester to an average of ~17hrs/semester.

At the end of the day, it seems to be APPROXIMATELY 1 credit per hour of class per week, and 0.5 credits for hour of lab per week. Then again, YMMV, it's best to check with your registrar to see if they have any specific conversions.

 

[aslan91]

Registrar. Perfect, thanks. I'll drop by his office tomorrow to inquire about this.

 

[sunflower18]

That's what I thought, until I asked my registrar. Each class has its own conversion value, which the registrar should be able to supply upon asking. For example, my non lab courses were 3.25 credit hours each, whereas my regular lab courses were 4.75 and my chemistry lab courses (which were grandfathered in at 1hr longer than other lab courses) were 5.25 credits each. It was all a bit messy, and resulted in me having to do a LOT more gpa repair than I would have had to if they'd been a straight conversion to 3 or 4 credit hours, because I went from a calculated load of 12-16hrs/semester to an average of ~17hrs/semester.

At the end of the day, it seems to be APPROXIMATELY 1 credit per hour of class per week, and 0.5 credits for hour of lab per week. Then again, YMMV, it's best to check with your registrar to see if they have any specific conversions.

Interesting!!! My registrar said it was all a straight conversion. Weird how different schools have different policies.

 

[candbgirl]

Where do you go to school? I'm not sure why this is so confusing. When I registered for a class I knew how many hours I was registering for when I was doing it.

 

[mehc012]

Where do you go to school? I'm not sure why this is so confusing. When I registered for a class I knew how many hours I was registering for when I was doing it.

Then your school probably uses semester credit hours. Lucky you!
Some schools don't. There are several who do "one class, one credit" and some which use quarters or trimesters. All of those schools require some form of conversion

@sunflower, straight conversion can either be terrible or awesome...in my case, I found myself wishing that I had fewer credits/semester because then I would have had to do substantially less for a GPA repair. For someone with a killer GPA, it can kind of suck to realize that you took 2-3 labs/semester and received no more credit than someone taking 0 labs!

 

[sunflower18]

Then your school probably uses semester credit hours. Lucky you!
Some schools don't. There are several who do "one class, one credit" and some which use quarters or trimesters. All of those schools require some form of conversion

@sunflower, straight conversion can either be terrible or awesome...in my case, I found myself wishing that I had fewer credits/semester because then I would have had to do substantially less for a GPA repair. For someone with a killer GPA, it can kind of suck to realize that you took 2-3 labs/semester and received no more credit than someone taking 0 labs!

This is basically the story of my life. Haha. It's a bit of a bummer for sure.

The one credit one class thing is definitely intuitive and simple to keep track of, but it doesn't make much sense to do that when most other schools and grad programs will require conversion.