How many hours do you study/work per week?

mavirta160 · 08-17-2009, 05:48 AM

Hiya. I saw this in other thread

Quote:

I'm an incoming freshmen for undergrad and I was told by many people that for the first semester to only take like 12 hours so you can accustom yourself to college life. Then decide if you can handle more hours after that.

I was just wondering if only taking 12 hours would hurt me for graduate school admission. Most likely i plan on taking 15ish hours the rest of my time at college but I am kind of curious if the amount of hours is taken into account for grad school.

and was wondering what that 12 or 15 hours actually means. I haven't studied in the US so I can't possibly know, forgive me.

So, the question is how many hours on average an undergrad student studies per week and how it is related to that "hour" amount. How many hours of lectures and independent working such as calculations, projects and reading? I am mostly concerned about A-level math or phys/chem students, but every input is helpful.

And because I posted this here, it is obvious I am interested also (actually mostly) in grad student workload. How many hours per week you spend in lectures, studying independently, working on thesis, RAing, TAing, etc.

I imagine the amounts must be quite close to what students do in other countries, but especially the 4-year versus 3-year bachelor degree might change something.

Thanks!

aldo003b · 08-17-2009, 09:40 AM

"Hours" usually refers to the number of hours you will spend IN class. So a 3 "credit hour" course will usually meet three times a week for an hour (or twice a week for 90 mins). How much time you spend studying outside of that will vary hugely by student, major and likely institution.

mavirta160 · 08-17-2009, 10:05 AM

Thanks, this makes the term is fairly logical. I remember someone somewhere writing that he should study two hours independently for every credit hour, which translates nicely to a 39 to 45 hour week.

sarbruis · 08-17-2009, 10:51 AM

Universities usually suggest studying 3 hours for every credit hour per week (outside of the classroom). It really depends on the classes more than anything; 15 hours of math or engineering classes is much different from a spattering of gen eds and an intro biology class or something.