If you’re reading this article, congratulations! You’ve made it to the zoo! College life awaits you and it is a fun ride! It is natural to think that it is going to be harder than what you’ve seen before, academically- and it is! The most important part of your adjustment to college life is the first year of college- ‘the freshman year’. You’re probably wondering about how classes will happen; how difficult they’ll be and how many you’ll have to take- the ideal number of classes is one where you earn around 12-15 credit hours per semester. Let us know about, How Many Classes To Take In Freshman Year Of College
But what are these credit hours anyway? Why do you have to bother with them? If you’re just moving from school to college, the concept of credit hours might be foreign to you. Here’s what it is and what it’s all about.
How Many Classes To Take In Freshman Year Of College?
Credit Hours- How Do They Differ From Classes?
If you’re reading this article, you’re probably in high school where credit hours is not a term used frequently. The term credit hour stems from the idea of being able to give the students at college a realistic idea as to how much time and effort they’d have to put into finishing the ideal requisites. You should first understand that all college courses don’t usually demand the same kind of work from all their students- it differs from person to person and with the credit hour system, a student is allowed to estimate their college workload by the semester. This happens with just a peek at the credit hours they have planned to take.
The basic relationship between credit hours and the semester’s difficulty is easily put into perspective if you can get this into your head- one credit hour is equal to an hour of formal classroom teaching and another two more hours of studying on your own. A college course in general is equal to three credit hours. So, if you look at it this way, it’s nine hours per week for a standard course. But, here’s the kicker: not all classes give you the same credit hours- some may give you only one, while some others may give you five or six! The whole point of getting your classes organised in terms of credit hours is so that you formally give each class the effort it’ll need and have that be the system! Cool, isn’t it?
Now, as mentioned above, the ideal number of credit hours is 12-15- why is it so?
Why Should A Freshman Take 12-15 Credit Hours?
Every student just coming into college from school is asked to take up 12-15 credit hours because it helps facilitate a smooth transition from school to college. The adjustment from school to college is a rough time and taking up a manageable number of courses gives you the stability to deal with the general transition too. Your college life, in general, can be tough in the beginning and this can impact your studies if not dealt with properly. It takes a fair amount of time to deal with and come to terms with the growing pains associated with college.
To avoid overburdening yourself and making the study part of your college life bearable to give you time to deal with everything else, it is advised to take up 12-15 credit hours. This is the minimum for a full-time student and anyone taking less than that is considered a part-time student. However, this comes with some cons too. Here they are.
Drawbacks To The Ideal Workload
The obvious disadvantage of reducing your coursework as a freshman student in college is that it may keep you from getting a degree in four years with two semesters each. Students who want to graduate within this time frame must register for 15 credit hours per semester on average. Students who want to graduate within this time frame must register for 15 credit hours per semester on average.
First-year students who are ignorant of this fact may inadvertently derail their graduation timeline if they take fewer than 15 credit hours. They may have to make up this coursework during other semesters to graduate on time if they enrol in more than 15 credit hours. Unfortunately, managing anything more than 15 credit hours is a difficult task.
Conclusion
Going to college and managing the workload is nowhere close to easy. It takes a lot of effort to get through and more to excel. When you are aiming for success, you must ensure that you only take up as much as you can chew. As far as the freshman year is concerned, taking up 12-15 credit hour rewarding classes in the college is the ideal situation. It gives you enough time to get things into place while not lagging behind on your classes and also helps you to ensure that you maintain a proper balance as well.
