<p>Has anyone here taken five classes during a quarter? I seriously need to take an extra class, but I don’t have the confidence that I will do well with more than four classes. I have to take a prereq for my major that is basically a regurgitation of what I had learned in another course, and I could be taking another class other than this. The fifth class would be something that does not involve major papers, just mini-assignments. I also have to take a Stats class (that may take up a lot of my time.) Please share your experiences!</p>
<p>Yes, I did. There’s nothing magic about that; you just need to switch to a “boot camp” mode and be disciplined and constantly remind youself “no more goofing around!”. Actually it was kinda fun because your friends would know you take 5 classes and that’s the time when a little ego helps–I wanted to show my friends I could do it and get it done nicely. That motivated me to succeed. It was one of my best quarters in terms of GPA. Do you have some free time to goof around and waste when they take 4 classes? If so, that means you haven’t really maxed out and as long as you are willing to sacrifice that for your extra class, it’s doable. If all the classes you will be taking are interesting, it would definitely help. I knew a very ambitious girl at Tech who took 6 classes. She graduated with econ/comp engg + co-op certificate in 4 years.</p>
<p>Sam Lee, this is what my schedule looks like:</p>
<p>Intro to African American Studies
Intro to Statistics and Research Methods
Sociology of Work and Occupation
Harlem Renaissance</p>
<p>3 of the 4 classes involve some type of research paper.
I was considering adding Adulthood and Aging (a required SESP course that just involves short assignments). I’m kinda afraid of the Stats requirement. Furthermore, this Fall quarter I got 3 As and 1 C (i regret not droppin this class). Should I just take four classes and figure out how I’m going to squeeze Adulthood before I graduate??? (I’m a junior).</p>
<p>It depends on how comfortable you are with stats. Have you taken any before? I took stats in CE department before and that one got fairly mathematical. Stats can be pretty difficult/theorectical at the advanced level. Quite a few people have problems with hypothesis testing. If you think you may want to become a researcher, you may indeed want to put in more time on it because it is an important tool. </p>
<p>I’d say just go ahead and attend all the classes for those 5 courses for the first week. By the end of the first week, you will already have skimmed through the syllabus and textbooks and should have a much better idea than you have now. You can always drop one within the first 2 weeks? (don’t remember the policy anymore) When I took 5, I did think to myself I could drop one of them if I started to feel uncomfortable. But after the first week, I had a pretty good idea that I could handle it and never look back.</p>
<p>Thank you so much! I know I wouldn’t have any classes on Friday if I did consider five classes. I just want to get those nasty pre-reqs out of the way so that I don’t have to drag myself into one during my senior year. I still need to take a science distro! Argh!</p>