18 hours really is a lot! Why so many, ITBgirl? That would make me nervous.
D is feeling overwhelmed again, I can tell.
fingers crossed
D will register for classes on her orientation, which is 3rd week of July
I thought D would register at orientation, but now they emailed and said do it now and go over with advisor at orientation. Some classes are already full which I don’t understand since registration starts on 6-1 for non HC kids…
18 is a lot but we figured she could drop down with Advisor or after start. Some of them look really easy like gym and health. But I don’t want her to over load. Honestly, we don’t know what we are doing…
@ITBgirl, one rule of thumb is that (on average, for the average student, for the average class), one should figure on about 2 hours (to 3 hours) of out-of-class preparation for every hour of class. With other demands of "finding themselves (extracurriculars, hobbies, down-time, job/work, commuting time) factored in, this gives a suggestion of taking 15 hours as “normal.” 15 hours corresponds to an expectation of 45+ hours a week spent on academics. 18 hours gives a suggestion of 54+ hours per week focused on academics.
I hope that is helpful!
S is getting emails from Emory saying he is missing FA info… funny because they are just coming now and that is one of the schools that he contacted asking for more merit aid and he never got a response at all…not even an auto response.
Last 3 finals tomorrow!
Is it 18 hours because there’s a long lab session for one class?
My son’s college has 4 credits as a basis, not 3. Might make it a little difficult for transferring credits.
Because of that, the few semesters he has five classes, he will have 20 credits.
My college had a 1 credit system, and I took between 4.5 and 5.5 credits per semester and graduated on time. Labs were 0.5 credit. All labs were separate from lectures.
And yes, the rule of thumb is 2 to 3 hours outside of class for every hour in class each week. A 3-credit course = 3 hours per week = 3 + 3*3 = 12 hours per week. If a student is taking 15 credits, that is 60 hours per week between going to class, studying, doing homework, and reading the textbook. I don’t envy college athletes therefore, although they tend to get a lot of help with time management.
Etiquette question. At his grad party, DS received monetary gifts from friends who also have DCs that are graduating. (In fact, he only received gifts from people who have DCs graduating.) One is having a grad party but the other two are not. Is it customary for us to give all three DCs the same amount of $$ that those families gave our DS? DS thinks we should only give to the one having the party. I guess we could make the case that we gave a Bar Mitzvah gift to one that wasn’t ever reciprocated (since DS didn’t have one) but still it seems like we should reciprocate in kind. Opinions? <:-P
You should give to all of them. The bar mitzvah gift is irrelevant. :). It is the occasion that is being celebrated.
@PhxRising we will be in the same position, I think. I kinda wish the parents of all my sons guests who are graduating could get on the same page without it being awkward or tacky…something like, “Your presence is all that is required to make John’s day special! Please, no gifts”. But I don’t want to offend or assume they were going to be bringing a gift. I think it’s too late now, so we will stock up on chipotle gift cards and movie tickets!
@rhandco That rule of thumb for 3 hours of study for each hour of class is an imagining of someone who wants to scare high school kids. I graduated from college in 2008, rarely studied for any class, much less 3 hours for each hour of class, and graduated with a 3.7 GPA - double major, double degree, plus a minor that was two classes short of a third degree. The exception is group projects, which many college classes don’t ask for. A few hours here and there through the semester to cram or to write a paper is usually plenty, as long as the student is actually paying attention in class.
Some 18 hours are harder than others. ThaT said, it is far easier to drop than to add. It wasn’t that unusual to sign up for 18 credits with the intention of dropping a class, maybe two classes.
18 hours is a lot of hours, even if one class is PE, for an incoming freshman.
It depends on the class and the college, YMMV. The average time I spent outside of class as an undergrad was around 6 hours. I loved taking an art class, virtually no homework.
It is not meant to scare students, it’s meant to inform them that going to college is a full-time job, and if they are lucky enough that they can get away spending 3 hours per week for every 3-credit class and pull an A or B, that’s great.
I have many students who work 40 hours per week and expect to spend an hour per week outside of class on the classes I teach. None of those student pass. One student I had failed the first time, and I spoke with him. The only students who pass while spending only 3 hours per week outside of class are the freshmen who took AP of the class I teach and therefore already knew the material (and not all of them do). The ones who did not take the subject at all in HS, of which there are a few, are lucky to get by with 9 extra hours per week.
As for projects, in my major all upper level classes have at least one project that varies from 10 hours to 40 hours total work (percentage of grade dependent on hours/difficulty). It depends on the major and the college whether the professor assigns projects or not.
But yes, on the other point, it is suggested to sign up for one more course than required and drop one once the level of effort in each/understanding of basic material is determined. The problem is that certain majors require core courses that are pre-requisites, and dropping a pre-requisite can delay the student’s graduation. The other problem is that if a student sticks with a heavy load and gets an F, some colleges do not allow retaking the course outside of the college. This is an issue for students who live far from campus; they have to either stay on campus or have to pay for an extra semester (or more).
@ITBgirl DD is registering next week. She found some 2014-15 syllabus on the department websites. It gave her an idea of how much work the class requires, even if the exact demands vary this fall.
She appears to have plenty of free daytime hours on her proposed schedule; however, I have a feeling the workload is going to eat them up. I just hope she doesn’t sleep through all her free time, as much of it is in the a.m. 
Classes are done. Only a rehearsal remaining for this weekend’s graduation.
My daughter already picked classes (aside from the classes she has to take for her major program).
She was nominated for a regional high school musical theater award - Best Leading Actress in a Musical. The awards ceremony is next week and they invited her to perform. They give a $1000 scholarship at the event to a student who is planning to major in music or theater, so she eligible for that.
I packed my last school lunch as a parent this morning. It’s never been clear to me why I get through the “big” stuff and choke up over the little things, but I do. I’ve been in the lunch-making business since 1998 and have never been all that good at it, but the kids never complained too much about the lack of variety and seemed to enjoy the colored pencil drawings that used to go on the outside of the bags.
The kid will be on his own for lunch next year, but I hope he finds something decent (and healthy) to eat and remembers all those crazy things we discussed in the car on the way to school as fondly I will.
So, if you’ll excuse me for a minute, I’m going to sit here and remember what it meant to drive a kid with a really vivid imagination and a lot of big dreams to pre-school.
[Lyle Lovett – “If I Had a Boat”](Lyle Lovett - If I Had A Boat - YouTube)
We survived daughter’s graduation Saturday. I did not cry. Came close, but my Mom tough-loved me through it.
It’s actually been more emotional for me after graduation. Realizing it’s the end of both my kids being in school in the same building, etc. Emotions are sneaking up on me and sucker punching me.
@SomeOldGuy, I feel you on the lunch thing. I packed 2015 daughter’s lunch for years, and taped the bag with blue painter’s tape. I wrote silly/funny/famous quotes on the tapes. I’m a weirdo. Anyway, when I was putting some stuff on her bedroom desk the other day I saw all the saved tape strips in a box. Sat down in the empty room and cried like a tiny baby. This is hard.
I still have a few weeks of lunches to pack, but I do think about that number dwindling every morning.