<p>I’m just wondering if it’s too much to take 18 credits for my first semester at Northern Virginia Community College (aka. NOVA). It’s a long story but I really need to catch up. BTW, I’d 3.9 GPA in high school (we don’t have A+ 4.3) and my goal is to get 4.0+ GPA.</p>
<p>Here’s my courses that I enrolled in :</p>
<ul>
<li>Calculus I (5) > Mo&We</li>
<li>Chemistry I (4) > Tu&Th</li>
<li>Composition I (3) > Tu&Th</li>
<li>Introduction to Psychology (3) > Mo&We</li>
<li>Introduction to Engineering (2) > Th “hybrid”</li>
<li>College Success Skills (1) > Mo “hybrid”</li>
</ul>
<p>I would think about dropping the psychology as it will give you more free time on Mon and Wed to do the work needed for your Tues and Thurs classes, study for tests, etc… Psychology requires a good bit of memorization and the college study skills class may be helpful to have completed first. If papers are required, the composition would be helpful too. You can make up time more easily with summer courses. The hybrid classes may require more time weekly than you may think and it’s usually critical to stay in touch and submit assignments on time. Yes it can be done, but at the least you should be aware of the policy and dates for dropping a class(es) if needed.</p>
<p>I’m with all the comments so far. That’s a heavy load for first semester, plus the points angelss2012, SoMuch2Learn and entropy42 mention are very true. I’d add that the composition class may include a decent amount of reading before writing (though not always). When a student is taking a ‘college success skills’ class… either by choice or because the college requires it, it sometimes means the student had some difficulty perhaps in the past or placement/assessment testing shows a need for developmental classes (which you do not need per your proposed schedule). </p>
<p>You do mention ‘catching up’/some sort of pressure on you to take that heavier load… so, I’d say go to all those classes the first week if you can and then decide about dropping one if you face no $$$ penalty the first few days of the semester. You wouldn’t want to drop one now without finding out that maybe it’s ‘better’ than the classes you decided to keep, right? At my school, students can drop/ add classes the first few days of a new semester with no penalty. Check at your college to find out how many days you have to check out all of those classes before solidifying your final schedule for spring. Maybe you WILL end up with all those credits, or maybe by visiting each class, seeing the syllabi/meeting the teachers, you will come to a decision that works best for you.</p>