@NosyCaliparent you should neither be asking us nor guessing.
go to the college website. Do the math. They will tell you (esp if the kid is doing a fairly prescriptive program like pre-med) what the course expectations are.
talk to your kid. Maybe they have changed their mind about some things - or are just checking it out. We tried to encourage our kid to take a moderately mellow (as best as they could) Frosh 1st semester, since they will be adjusting to a very new lifestyle.
Again, do the math. My guess is while they may have to play a little bit of catch-up later, they will be fine as far as credits go.
@NosyCaliparent - My eldest daughter did the same thing. At her university, first quarter freshman sign up for a 12 credit block of classes, many of which have an ‘interesting’ class they ordinarily wouldn’t be able to get into until their senior year. (Hers was Sex and Society.) The university suggests a light load the first quarter to ease into college studies. I thought 12 credits, just enough to be considered a full-time student, was too few, and she signed up for an additional 3 credit class initially.
I texted her on what would have been her first day of classes to say “happy first day of school” and didn’t get a reply, which seemed kind of odd. The next day, I asked her how the first day had been. She said “Oh, I dropped that class - they said to take a light load.” That left her with classes Tuesday and Thursday from 10 - 2! We were not happy.
But she still graduated a quarter early, because of the AP credits she went in with.
I wouldn’t be too concerned. I took only 13 credits in the fall of freshman year, but also finished that semester with a 4.0 and very high confidence/math/science background that resulted in me doing very well later on, too. I had some AP cushion, but even if I didn’t, I would’ve been able to catch up easily. Your son is looking at only 1 more 3 credit class later on – maybe over a summer. Not a big deal, and probably a very smart move strategically. Where many students failed their first semesters, or did poorly/mediocre, I transitioned into college with a perfect GPA. It was worth it.
A 12-credit first semester is a problem only if the student has no AP credits at all. Vast numbers of students have at least 3 credit hours from AP, so they can afford to start college in this less-intense way without placing pressure on themselves to take an unusually strenuous credit load in a future semester.
However, a 12-credit first semester poses one problem: the student cannot drop a course. This could be significant if one of the courses turns out to be inordinately difficult or inappropriate. So a better strategy might be to start out with a 15-credit courseload, with the intention of possibly dropping one course if that seems wise. (The drop deadline is quite a few weeks into the semester.)
@CourtneyThurston@Marian Nosycaliparent’s child appears to be at a college that is on a quarter system, not semester. I didn’t catch that at first either.
Thanks to everyone for the input. His college is on a quarter system. He has quite a few AP credits but his college will only accept Physics. So really he has 15 units which is perfect. He will need to average 15 units to graduate on time. The classes are Calculus Chemistry and Writing. He said these were very easy(easier than high school he said which surprised me). So I told him to enjoy the easy times, get comfortable with college life and have fun. I figure if he’s smart enough to be accepted and has done all the work to get himself there then he can navigate through the right classes and choose a major that he enjoys.
Re: AP credit as a buffer for taking a lighter course load
Note that some students do retake the course that their AP credit allows them to skip. An example would be a student who has AP chemistry credit taking general chemistry 1. The college may cancel the AP credit in this case since it is considered duplicate credit, so if the student was counting on it as a buffer for taking a lighter course load, that buffer may not actually exist any more if the AP credit is cancelled by duplication.
Thanks @ucbalumnus but since they only accept Physics at his school then he’s okay as long as he doesn’t take that course. But he can take higher levels of Physics without an issue correct?
Non-duplicating courses should be fine. To be sure, he should check with his school on its policies and which (if any) courses would be considered duplication of credit that he has.
My sons changed majors once they got to college. My older son entered as a chem/econ major. Decided he did not really love labs, so he changed to an econ/political science major with a math minor. He is currently in his final year of law school and already has a job waiting for him. The younger son went in as a math/econ major. He is now a finance/econ major with a math minor. He just did not like the computer science classes that he had to take with the math major. He did a banking internship this past summer, and he probably will go into data analytics.
Each son spoke with me about why he changed his major. As long as each is happy and can land a job, I am happy!
Several comments on others’ posts. I do NOT consider it “really wrong” (post # 14) to be under the radar to not discuss major changes- a good parent-child relationship does not require informing/discussing/getting approval from parents for college course and major decisions.
Paying for college gives no rights in the decision making process- your kid is just lucky you can afford to pay his/her bills and agreed to do so. I like the “ultimately their choice” comment!
Also starting with a light load is NOT a good idea unless the student is only a fair/average college student who has no plans past a so-so degree. The primary reason to attend college is the academics, not the social life- to take full advantage of what you are paying for. Most students should be able to handle the 15-16 credit average load from day one, it is assumed they chose a school where they can handle the classes. Starting out light can get a student into some poor study habits and poor assumptions about having a lot of free time. A lot easier to drop a course and to have flexibility later on. Kids are ready for college, just like they were ready for HS, middle school and kindergarten.
To answer the OP’s title question. Yes- but our radar wasn’t in full operating mode like some parents’ is. His life.
Our gifted son started college while still 16 (fall birthday, early entry and compressed/skipped a grade). We quickly learned (starting with the admissions process) that even though he was a minor our parental consent was never required for most things (legal for housing contract is about it). It was interesting to follow his choices- by the start of college STEM was his path, despite being able to do well in other fields. For his school technically you had to be in the major eventually to take certain courses but you really only had to have a declared major to sign up to graduate. So he started with honors calculus and physics sequences- his AP credits counted because the courses were different. He eventually chose math over physics and applied to top math grad schools but overreached (math is brutal- world wide competition for top US schools). A couple of weeks before graduation he cancelled it and was able to do a fifth year (public and affordable) to complete the second major in computer science. Found out when he asked who was planning to come to graduation- just a couple of grandparents and us so it was easy to change plans. He was polite and it did make sense- he did take a few grad level courses at undergrad rates, btw, for his math honors. We are somewhat disappointed he has not chosen any grad school- he is being intellectually satisfied so far with his CS work and tells us more degrees won’t matter. Since we can’t make him do anything he doesn’t want to do (and haven’t for many years) it has to be his choice.
He realizes how lucky he was to have parents able and willing to pay for his education. Grad school would have been funded by some school or now on his own. We parents translated our scholarship, work and loan money from decades ago to high incomes in professions we liked to be able to do this. Long ago I told my parents my major and plans- it was MY choice, not theirs. Also, my parents were not well equipped, as I am sure most are not, to be able to give good advice. Some parents can listen and be good sounding boards when college students outline their plans and changes. At least mine accepted my plans and I recall how my siblings did what they wanted to do (brother dropped out after three years, sigh).
@wis75 I stick by my comment that making such a big decision without telling one’s parents signals a breakdown in the parent-child relationship or at least a parent-child relationship that is very different than what is common in my culture and not one that I want.
^ Absolutely. In the best of circumstances I would always hope that my kids felt free to discuss something of so much importance, regardless of who is paying but also…
@wis75 I strongly disagree that “Paying for college gives no rights in the decision making process”. It gives me every right.
Perhaps situations where this question even comes up are those where the parent-student relationship already has problems. Assuming that the change of major does not increase costs, the student would have no reason to conceal the change of major if s/he did not fear that his/her parents would disapprove of such a change.
This is one of the more hurtful statements I’ve read on CC.
My parents and I have a relationship that I know many people would kill to have. Ask my dad who his best friend is and he’ll say me. There has never been a point in my life- ever- where I’ve felt the need to lie to my parents. How many kids can say that? (Sure, there were times when things were “omitted” and my parents knew I was omitting them, but that’s another story.)
But they didn’t know when I changed my majors or anything like that. Why? Because my parents have always trusted me to make my own decisions. My dad was a plumber and my mom was a banker (not ibanking- your local teller job). They’re in no position to tell me whether or not my anthropology major was any more or less valuable than a chemistry major… and they knew that but they also knew they raised me to make good decisions and to seek out the best possible guidance. That is NOT a slight against my parents. They’re two of the smartest people I’ve ever met. But they know themselves well enough to know they have no idea what majors are “useful” or not.
They didn’t weigh in on my grad school decisions or any other major life event either. We don’t weigh in on those things unless asked because I have never given them a reason not to trust my judgment.
However, it looks like your situation is different from that implied in the original post. It looks like your parents essentially pre-approved whatever academic choices and majors you chose, and you did not go out of your way to conceal them. The original post appears to refer to scenarios where the parents expect to have some control over the student’s academic choices and majors, and the student wants to make a choice that s/he believes the parents will not approve of, and hence actively conceals it from the parents.
Neither of my parents had even a high school education. Yet they always knew what I was studying and the major choices I made. The fact that they weren’t educated was not relevant. At all. Again, to each their own. Cultural differences.
Yes, both my '12 and '16 daughters changed majors while in college. To be precise, both added second majors on top of the majors they entered college intending to pursue. Both daughters spoke to us extensively, for a month or more, before taking the plunge. We pointed out potential pitfalls and opportunities but never attempted to influence their decision one way or another.
Financial support absolutely comes with the right to remove that support if the student makes poor decisions. The rub is how we parse those decisions. There are a lot of factors. Switching from Physics to Math would not even register on my ‘time-to-give-fatherly-advice’ spectrum. Switching from Physics to Gender Studies, would. The value of an expensive college education is to get the student prepared for real life. Paying for an expensive private school known for a particular set of fields (say Theatre or Art) is fine if that is what the student is wired for. However if that same student decided to switch to Education, I would invoke the ‘not-on-my-dime’ clause. Education is more valuable to me, but paying for the expensive art school to get an Education degree is not practical. Fortunately, my children understand the value proposition in things like this and would absolutely seek my advice even though they are paying their own way. We have no desire to control our children…I would control my money, though. They are free to make their own decisions as adults. Our role as parents of adults is to be a sounding board and to observe the results of our family training plan so we can adjust with the two younger ones.