<p>Wow Mihcal - what a crazy schedule! 50 hours of committed time before you even start your homework is a lot!</p>
<p>She’s signed up for 4-unit classes, so 16 units. It’s the labs that add so many extra hours! The 29 hours also includes 2 hours of a 3-D printing class she’s auditing – she cannot take it for credit because half the lab hours overlap with her math class.</p>
<p>If she drops one class, she’d have 12 units – the minimum for fulltime status. </p>
<p>I’d always heard that one should plan on three hours outside of class for each hour in class. But I’m not sure whether that includes discussion sections, or just lecture. Also unsure how lab hours figure into that.</p>
<p>^^^ that should’ve read “<em>four</em> 4-unit classes, so 16 units.” Three of those classes have labs. </p>
<p>Is that a typical engineering load? For those of you with engineering students, what are their workloads like? How many hours/week are they spending in class & labs?</p>
<p>I talked with my D very late last night. She decided not to drop the class. She’s going to try to do it all. Godspeed…</p>
<p>Mihcal - I wish her well… none of mine are doing engineering and it’s been ages since my other half did it, so it’s not necessarily the same now.</p>
<p>Mihcal1, my son is in Engineering (Computer Science with a focus on Software Engineering) and is taking 16 credit hours. Currently he has 2 software engineering classes, one computer science class, an astronomy class and an honors liberals arts class that is heavy on reading. I’m not sure how many of the classes have labs, but I know at least two do, probably three. I’m also not sure exactly how many hours all his classes & labs take up- I know that he has them all crowded into two and half days so that he use the other two and half days to work at a paid internship in the security engineering field. So I’d guess about 20 hours for the classes and labs. He is doing well so far but wishes he could work fewer hours at the internship - he loves the work but just wants a little more free time. He is thinking of asking them to reduce the hours and/or he will take spring semester off from the internship and return to it in the summer. So your daughter is not alone, Engineering majors have it tough! But if they love what they do they will ultimately be rewarded.</p>
<p>As for the car issue, my husband bought a new car today and son took possession of our good 6-year-old car. Yes, weatherga, I feel much safer with him driving a newer car with more safety features (as opposed to a nineteen year old car that was acting up)! It is a big relief.</p>
<p>Michal, my D is friends with a number of engineering majors in various concentrations. In general, it seems that they take a lot of credits to fill in all the requirements (which are many), and that it is quite challenging. However, quite a few took summer courses to get some requirements out of the way. Many combined a summer course with research/project team work to get out of the classroom experience. With lab courses, you end up with nearly double the class time than the course has credit hours - eg. 6-8 hours of class and only 4 credits. There can be hw and quizzes to study for the labs as well. (In contrast to many liberal arts courses where a two hour seminar could carry 4 credit hours - I know I studied liberal arts and had two majors in this way.) To me, many of these engineering courses would be impossible. Lots of required math, and other impossible sciences. (I tried linear algebra for two weeks my freshman year, and when I understood almost nothing (and I had been a very strong math student in HS), I dropped it for anthropology and never took another math. When I got to my MBA program, the only math I was missing from HS was statistics (which I never needed in undergrad).)</p>
<p>My personal feeling is that it is good to have a manageable workload, and if it is too much, it is better to take something in the summer to balance things out. If you love the work, and don’t mind being in class or studying all the time, I guess it is ok.</p>
<p>Just wanted to check in and do a quick catch up on how everyone is doing. </p>
<p>Creekland I have been thinking about you, I hope your upcoming trip is wonderful. Sending T&P’s your way. </p>
<p>Nellie- sounds like your son is finally in a good living situation, sorry he has had such bad luck on roommates.</p>
<p>Michal- My D had 16 credit hours last spring it was very tough on her, it can be done your D just need to stay focus, organized and healthy.</p>
<p>D is doing well very busy as usual. Just finished first round of test and did fairly well. She is playing flag football for the sorority this fall, with her dance background it has been a challenge for her but she is having fun.</p>
<p>my engr D has 5 classes/17 credits, but only one lab. Now in her third trimester, she hasn’t had a lab for any of her chem classes, but did for both physics, which is kind of strange to me. So besides the 3x/week of lecture time she has 1x/wk lab and 1x/wk recitation for another class. </p>
<p>She doesn’t have the ECs that michal’s D does, and she isn’t working a campus job. She started with 5 classes each term last year but ended up dropping one each time. She is still ahead with AP credits. We have told her that if she needs to take a lighter load and an extra semester, it is fine with us and an option if she can’t handle the load. She is doing ok this term, but I think that is partially that all 5 of her classes are STEM which is her strength and no reading/writing classes.</p>
<p>My son is also an engineering major. The classes always seem to have recitations. This semester Physics is the only one with a lab, a recitation and a workshop. </p>
<p>That really surprises me jackief that her Chem did not have a lab. I didn’t think that you could take chem without a lab.</p>
<p>My sophomore mech eng is taking 4 classes (16 credits) plus 2 research credits. She’s scheduled for exactly 800 minutes of class/lab/studio time each week and her research meeting is another hour. She has both a campus job (that’s supposed to max out at 15 hours a week, but doesn’t always) and an online job that is another 4 or so hours a week.
Only one of her classes is project focused this semester, though, which cuts the number of outside-of-class hours involved. </p>
<p>Last semester, she was taking 4 courses (15 credits) with 2 credits of research. Then, she had 960 minutes of weekly class/lab/studio and another hour of research meeting. That semester she also had only one project-focused class.</p>
<p>Anyway, Michal, it’s nothing like the number of hours that your daughter is currently carrying. It sounds like she’s carrying the equivalent of more than a full-time job before she starts any reading/studying/coding/homework.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone who has sons and daughters juggling such demanding schedules.</p>
<p>I have to add that in addition to 16 credits as an Engineering student and 20 hours per week of paid internship, son also has to commute and hour and a half round trip on the days he works at his internship (3 days a week) - plus he is getting up at 6 am to work out every day at the university facilities! I asked him if he would be getting enough sleep if he gets up at 6 am and he replied that he would because he would go to bed earlier. However, you know how dorm life is - it is not always possibly to go to sleep early even if that’s your intention. At least his roommate is quiet. However, he appears to be in great shape physically and is still maintaining a 4.0 so I’m very proud of how he is managing his time and career goals. He does plan to cut back on the internship hours eventually so that should help.</p>
<p>Lakemom, when D was (briefly) considering premed, there was a Chem lab that one could take in addition to the chem class. I think 3 credits for the class and an additional 2 for the lab. premeds took the lab. AFAIK there is no corresponding lab for her Orgo class this term.</p>
<p>D went to a job fair today! The companies were looking for graduates for permanent positions, but some were also talking to applicants for coop and internships. D hopes to start a coop in the summer. One company came to talk to her ChemE class yesterday and told them their application is due on Sunday and they will be interviewing in a couple weeks. According to the coop website, the process doesn’t start until the spring term, but this company says they start early “to get the best of the best” I hope that is the real reason and not to tie up students before a chance to compare to other companies. Hope she can get some guidance from the career office. But I helped her work on her resume in advance of the fair and any experience will be helpful for future interviews and opportunities to talk to employers.</p>
<p>1012Mom - that’s a neat idea. Our DD is narrowing down the list (she was on the phone for an our last night going through her thought process with us.) there are certain subjects she likes and certain faculty she likes - she is trying to match them up. Thanks for the advice - will pass it along.</p>
<p>I just booked Barnardgirl’s flight home for Thanksgiving. It kills me how much they charge for flights that weekend. It is so ridiculously inflated. Delta wanted more than $700 so she’s flying Spirit for a mere $500 plus luggage fees. Sheesh. For an hour and a half flight. It’s criminal. Detroit to NYC shouldn’t be that expensive (and usually isn’t!). </p>
<p>I really hope my S’14 picks one of the schools in driving distance (or gets into one of the schools in driving distance). I can’t imagine flying both of them home for Thanksgiving. Maybe we’ll all meet in NYC for Thanksgiving next year- go to the Macy’s parade. It would be cheaper for me to drive there and pay for a hotel! I guess it will depend on where S’14 lands.</p>
<p>Premed requirements seem to be different in each subject. D has Chem classes but chem labs are separate from that class with a regular credit and same goes for biology. The labs have about 35-40% credit value with actual grades. Physics was 4+1 credits each class where the 1 was a pass/fail lab each quarter.</p>
<p>2016BarnardMom – We’re lucky that D1’s college is near my mom’s house, and D2’s HS has the whole week off for Thanksgiving. So we’re just going to celebrate the holiday at Grandma’s house. We plan to drive up there on Tuesday (to miss holiday traffic, and so I can help my mom with turkey dinner prep) and back on Saturday (to miss holiday traffic going the other way). Possibly we might even sneak in a Wednesday tour for D2 at one of the other nearby colleges.</p>
<p>On chemistry and physics labs, D has had a lab with every class so far. In first year general chemistry, the lecture was 3 credits, the lab a separate 1 credit class with its own grade. Lab was a co-requisite for all students (no special track for pre-med like jackief described). Physics was 4 credits including the lab, which contributed to the grade. This year she has organic chemistry which once again has a lab, for 4 credits overall. I’m not sure whether the lab is separate again, or included in the class credit, but regardless, lab prep and write-up seems to take quite a bit of time every week. I too am surprised that jackief’s D’s college doesn’t require lab work with these chem classes.</p>
<p>That is nice, michal! Sadly, S’14 has finals M, T, and W of Thanksgiving week as it is the end of their trimester. No skipping out early for the holiday!</p>
<p>^^^ At least he has finals before the holiday and not hanging over his head. I hate that our HS has semester finals after Christmas break. Very much prefer D1’s college schedule (start mid-August, finals before Christmas; return mid-January, finals mid-May).</p>
<p>Checking in…now that S is in a good place with his living arrangement (yay!), we will move on to other things. He is hoping to live off-campus next year and possibly do study abroad.</p>
<p>Off-campus-it seems he should really start the process now. I’m not sure how easy it will be for him to find a RM. The nice thing is he will know who the person is before he moves in vs getting thrown in a room with someone. The tricky part is, you don’t have an RA anymore to help you move to another room. He knows all of this. Has thoughts in his head of who he may see if they are interested, and also has a thought of the type of place he wants. It’s just a matter of getting it to all come together.</p>
<p>Study abroad-he will be getting $ from the university that he can use toward this adventure, but he will not get it until the end of the year. He was thinking of doing it in May. Since they are supposed to appy now, I am wondering if maybe he should hold off until the May of his junior year to make sure he can fund it. </p>
<p>He just has a lot of big things to think about and it is nice for a change that these are his problems. :-)</p>