@homerdog yeah I was being optimistic when I told D that kids take 5 classes in college. I think I only remember taking 4 a semester. College seems like eons ago for me.
The number of classes taken at a time in college differs between institutions. The two most common: At most publics and lots of privates, 3-credit (or equivalent) courses are the norm, and so students need to take 5 per semester to graduate on time. At a good number of privates, 4-credit (or equivalent) courses are the norm, usually reflecting somewhat more faculty-student contact time, and 4 per semester are needed to graduate.
Quarter-system schools and the occasional one-course-at-a-time outlier may result in different course loads, naturally enough.
FWIW, my D17ās school (Muhlenberg) uses course units rather than semester credit hours, (1 regular semester course=1 course unit), but it appears that they follow the 4-credit course model. First-years are limited to 4.5 course units(ā 18 credits) per semester, but students in later years can take 5.5 course units(ā 22 credits) a semester, though that seems to be discouraged.
@dfbdfb Geez. Thatās so confusing. When I was at NU, we just all took four classes per quarter. They donāt even use credit-hours. If you needed to know that info, there was some sort of conversion chart. Five college classes at once seems like a lot.
@4MyKidz I think I remember reading that qas for SAT takes 6 weeks? S19 didnāt request it. Does anyone know if SATs link with Khan Academy the same way that PSAT scores do? If so, it seems like that would be almost as helpful as the question and answer service.
I think four college classes is typical on a quarter system and 5 is typical on a semester system.
In our school district you either take APUSH or regular US history. There is no honors or pre AP. last year S19 took regular World and it was way to easy, so he is in APUSH and getting a B. What I am really mad at him for is that he has a B in AP comp sci, which is what he wants to major in. This is due to not turning in work properly. UGH!!
S19 has had his license for about 9 months but sucks at driving. So he drives to school the two days he has clubs and then other places locally. So different from his sister. I hope one day he will be able to drive everywhere. With lives at stake we take it slow. He is on the spectrum which is part of the reason why.
He will take the SAT on Dec 2nd. Will wait for thanksgiving week for him to study.
My D had some AP credits so she took Bio 1 w lab, Chem 1 w lab and German 1 her first semester. Which totaled to āonlyā 13 credits, but she spent close to 20 hours actually in class, because in addition to lecture she had a 4 hr chem lab/recitation and 3 hr bio lab/recitation.
I have been told my S will have 10 classes per semester, many are only .5 or 1 cr, but total 18 credits per semester. He will be very busy as a music education major. In addition to classes he also has to participate in two ensembles.
@homerdog: 5 classes/semester is the nominal norm most places, actually. (That is, since the most usual course size is 3 credits, and 120 credits are needed to graduate at nearly all schools with 3-credit courses at the norm, doing the division yields 5 courses per semester.)
I said ānominal normā, however. At many of those schools, students still take only 4 courses/semesterāhowever, this leads to graduating in 5 years, not 4, and thus also leads to lowered graduation rates.
(At most 4-credit schools, of course, 4/semester is the nominal norm.)
I canāt remember where you graduated from, but if by NU you mean Northeastern, a glance at their catalog shows 4-credit classes and a graduation requirement of 128 credits, and so 4/semester; Northwestern is on a quarter system and so doesnāt translate cleanly to a semester credit-hour system, but they have 1 unit per regular course and at least 45 units required for graduation, which comes out to just over 3/quarter, though most majors appear to end up requiring 4/quarter.
My wife convinced me that Iām babying D19 by still driving her to school every day. (My wife picks D19 up from school, but forces D19 to drive home. Which has the unfortunate side effect of me not being able to fit my car in the garage because D19 doesnāt park in the garage very well). Wife says that D19 will never get used to driving if I donāt let her drive to school. .
So on Saturday, I forced her to drive home from the SAT. Taking the test was very stressful for her so she didnāt enjoy being forced to drive. Then she nearly got into an accident and didnāt really seem to care.
So Iām still driving her to school every morning.
@dfbdfb Yep. Northwestern. I took three classes only one quarter, four the rest. That was super awesome, though, taking only three that one time!! Four seemed like the right amount. Like I said, five seems like a lot. Maybe itās more manageable to do five classes in a semester than a quarter. Quarters move fast.
At my college, full time students took between 12-18 credits a semester. Most classes were 3 credits each but science with lab were 4. IIRC, I took 15-18 a semester. Partly because I did a masters in 5 program and partly because there were so many classes I wanted to take.
Iāve also told d that since she is currently taking 7 college level courses at once (between AP and DE) that itās pretty likely college will feel easier. Or at least not really harder.
@homerdog My DS16 usually takes 17 -18 credit hrs per semester
@eh1234 Yes, it automatically connects to Khan. As soon as my Sās scores were ready, they were automatically loaded into Khan and his study plan was updated.
@4MyKidz Thanks! I thought that might be the case. S19 may or may not ever look at Khan again (too soon to tell whether heāll re-take the SAT)
LOL. My head is spinning. NU was so simple. Four classes period. The only reason you took three was if the school took an AP credit. They didnāt accept that many for credit, just placement, so it was almost always four classes per quarter. Didnāt matter if you had a lab or not. Guess Iāll have to figure out the credit hour thing for my kids!
@carolinamom2boys My D14 has always taken 16-18 units a semester too! The TX public undergrad core requirements, combined with her major, Healthcare administration & minor, business adminā¦pretty much required 5-6 classes per semester in order for her to graduate in 4 yrs.
My son is a CS major . That major has the highest number of credits needed for graduation at his school. He is also attending his school on basically a full ride ( paying for books and incidental fees only) and is required to take at least 15 credits each semester while maintaining a 3.5 GPA @4MyKidz
Wow @carolinamom2boys ! Your son has alot on his plateā¦a tough major and renewal gpa. Iām glad heās doing well! I have found a few full rides based on merit (gpa/test score) for my S. But Iām worried about him being a math major & the gpa renewal requirements. Itās good to know that it can be done even in hard majors 
So a chilly day for a soccer match, under the lights, temps will be around 35-38 F. If they win, they get the pleasure of playing Friday night when itās supposed to be blustery, bone chilling temp of 25F at night. Awesome!
It was 70 degrees the other day for their game. Typical NE weather.
We only had 4 classes a semester in college. I donāt remember them ever counting credits, it was just take 32 classes and you are done. I got my parents to let me go to summer school (it was freezing through May at SLU so summer school was a blast, the only time you could really enjoy the north country weather!) and it was great because then senior year I only had to take 3 classes each semester.
@RightCoaster Good luck with soccer! I remember playing sports in those temperatures. Since my kids are growing up in FL I like to remind them that we used to have field hockey practice even when it was snowing! You put on some leggings and earmuffs and sucked it up!
Thanks @momtogkc for the note, and glad you have fond memories of playing on cold Fall days. I watched our Girls Field Hockey play before the soccer match, tough girls!!
Anyways, the boys won again! Crazy, they are huge underdogs but play with fierce determination and total teamwork.
They play tomorrow for the title, first time that has happened at our school in a while. The coach is an older guy who is really enjoying the ride and the boys are having the time of their lives this week. Weāll see if they cam keep it up!
Son exhausted today. We didnāt get him until 10:45, he still had homework to finish up and some studying. Hopefully he can manage thru the day and come home later and get some rest.