18 credit hours... too much??

[Ahmed786]

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Hey all I'm gonna be a freshmen next year (Pre-med) and I'm wondering if 18 credit hours is going to be too heavy of a load to take for my first semester of college. I know it really depends on the individual and how they manage time but I would like to hear your guys' input thanks.

Gen Chem (4)
Chem Lab (1)
Calc I (5)
English (4)
Arabic (4) (The class I am unsure whether to take or not with my course load I really want to take it right now since I would have to wait an entire year before I could have another oppurtunity but at the same time I am very hesitant since I dont yet have a feel for college).

 

[Meatwad]

Drop Arabic; you can self-study at your leisure for now, and in the meantime get acclimated to college. Plus, when you finally decide to actually enroll in Arabic in the future, you'll have a real headstart from the self-study and probably get an easy A.

 

[corbis11]

don't do it

 

[anotherpremed]

don't do it. most people regret their first semester grades anyway- enjoy college! besides it is hard to adjust to life away from home, a roommate, ect ect for the first time anyway. count that as 6 semester hours in terms of stress ect.

 

[jon stewart]

take the first term easy to see how things are, to get used to things. There is plenty of time to take classes and going easy one term is not going to hurt you.

 

[154465]

Don't do it, just drop the Calc. You can take that anytime later one as it is not necessary for the MCAT. I'm sure you already speak Arabic and you're taking it for the easy A, thats what I did. Gen Chem with English and Arabic is not too bad for 1st semester.

 

[Bartelby]

Good advice you're getting here. Eighteen credits is actually not that bad (unless you get more than two classes with ridiculous workloads), but in your first semester you should focus on learning how to handle college classes, getting good grades, and having fun! Don't overwhelm yourself right out of the gates. I would drop either the English, the Arabic, or the Calc based on what would be easiest to take later.

 

[rinamin1011]

Hey all I'm gonna be a freshmen next year (Pre-med) and I'm wondering if 18 credit hours is going to be too heavy of a load to take for my first semester of college. I know it really depends on the individual and how they manage time but I would like to hear your guys' input thanks.

Gen Chem (4)
Chem Lab (1)
Calc I (5)
English (4)
Arabic (4) (The class I am unsure whether to take or not with my course load I really want to take it right now since I would have to wait an entire year before I could have another oppurtunity but at the same time I am very hesitant since I dont yet have a feel for college).

dont worry, i took 20 units my first semester of college. you can do it too if you can manage your time. just remember that math and chem is going to require alot of practice. english, is just alot of writing essays and stuff so that is time consuming too. if you have a choice, try dropping arabic, unless you know how to speak the language already. oh, also if you have a job, it is not a very good idea but i think you know that. good luck =)

 

[orrghead16]

18 hours is not bad. If you feel motivated enough, it should be no problem.

I took 18 hrs my first semester. It was a cake walk. However, I concentrated and really set my priorities to getting off on the right foot. A lot of it is how classes fit together and consider what the work load is outside of class. Second semester I took 19 and it was tough! I immediately thought that all 18 hr semesters would be similar. The first was all math and science courses, which just comes easy for me and requires mostly just study time outside of class. Second semester brought English, a crap prof, and some tough electives.

If you are good at Math, do it. Calc should be easy then. If not, drop arabic. If you had that kind of work load in high school, do it. Consider how much prep you have had for each of the courses (i.e. if you already speak arabic or how much chem you had in HS). Which classes do you think will come easy or require more work? If you are dreading any of the classes, don't do it. If you think you might, maybe struggle, don't. In the end, it is very worth it to get stellar grades with 14 hrs compared to so-so marks going on overload.

 

[Arc]

If this is your first semester in college, that's a good way to blow your GPA.

 

[GoldShadow]

Depends on how confident you are in your own ability. I took 17 first semester and 19 second and did extremely well.

 

[mvenus929]

It can obviously be done, but like others have said... you're not used to the college climate yet, and you don't want to burn out after a single semester.

 

[Medicine929]

18 credits seems a bit much. I made the mistake of working 35 hours a week my first quarter while taking 15 credits and wound up with a 3.3 gpa (A in Physical Science, and two B's in Social science) I still regret over working my self my first quarter and my gpa suffered. If you really want to dive into college like this that is your choice, but over working you self can be very stressful and this can be hazardous to your grade point average.

 

[Meatwad]

What kind of student were you in high school?

NOTE: I'm not asking what your grades were like in high school. I had practically a 4.0 with honors, AP, all that stupidity and NO study skills whatsoever. Putting someone like me when I was fresh out of high school into an 18 credit semester at a tough school would be a recipe for disaster.

However, if you have really good study skills and dedication, you could do it. I told you to drop Arabic because I assumed (probably falsely) you didn't speak it already. I noticed your username and figured maybe you are of Arabic descent and wanted to learn more about the language of your people, etc. However, if you are fluent, I'd probably just keep it on. Should be cake, then.