Tips from a college Junior:
pack paper towels (to have not for move in) and tissues (oops! My bad).
you hardly ever have to staple anything but when you do, everyone looks for the one kid on the floor who has a stapler. Be that kid and make friends 
7 Likes
Performing arts often has lots of 1 or 2 unit classes. And most regular classes at Dâs school were 3 units. So to complete her BFA and BS she had 9 or 10 classes every single semester. Fortunately she was organized and liked being busy.
On the other hand, our much less organized S23 is happy to be at a school where you only have 3 classes per quarter.
Yes 4 classes is the norm for Williams. You definitely donât want to take more than that. He can audit classes if he likes. First year 4 is plenty.
2 Likes
lol daughter just got into UW Madison. Kinda late! She wonât be accepting.
13 Likes
And I think itâs the norm at quite a few LACs.
5 Likes
My nephew took 12 credits his first semester (already had credit for a few general electives and couldnât get ahead on major requirements due to sequencing). It went really well for him. He had time to dig into the classes he took, while still having time for gaming, friends, and getting involved in campus activities. Even has a girlfriend now! His mom recommended it to him and I think everyone involved ended up happy with the results.
4 Likes
Same, except I am not wonderingâŠI KNOW it is going to be approximately 100x easier.
That and groceriesâŠD24 would be into something and then inexplicably stop eating it, usually with half a container left. No more having to buy ridiculously spicy ramen, or the horror of Takis Fuego, or even worse, Blue Heat (is that even food???).
3 Likes
To be clear, we are pretty sure it will be exponentially easier. 
Hear you on the food thing. 100%.
2 Likes
FWIW, my kid whoâs a rising senior at Stanford was advised to take only 12-15 credits first quarter of freshman year. She took 12 or 13 (was enrolled in 15 or 16 but dropped Greek within 2 weeks when she decided it wasnât for her lol). The rationale, which came from her advisor, was that making friends and acclimating to college was the time equivalent of a 3 credit class. She had no AP credits coming in (her HS did not offer AP) and has taken 15-19 credits all subsequent quarters since then. It was a wise decision to take a lighter load first quarter freshman year and sheâs never felt âbehind.â Winter quarter (worse weather) is the one during which students seem to load up on more credits.
And to have a completely divergent undergrad experience from her sister, D24 will start at Colorado College in 5 weeks. She completed an academic interest survey sent out this summer and based on her responses will be placed in her first four blocks/classes which will encompass the entire first semester. The first 2 blocks are first-year seminars with a connecting theme. Once assigned, no changes allowed for these 2 seminars but she can switch into different classes for blocks 3 and 4 if she doesnât like those course selections â the changes can be made after she arrives on campus in August.
I am pretty curious to see how my kidsâ college experiences are both similar as well as different. Two very different places!
8 Likes
Traumatized by the amount of groceries required to feed three teens during the pandemic! I think we went through a gallon of milk a day.
And the laundry!! Thatâs one thing to look forward to. I imagine, like D22, S24 will quickly discover that jeans and hoodies donât need to be washed after wearing for half a day.
9 Likes
You donât need a new towel for each of your three showers a day?
12 Likes
You donât need to shower for 30 minutes a day! I can check when S21 is home by the increase in gas (hot water) bills.
2 Likes
On creditsâŠ
Be careful with those 1 credits and 4 or 5-credit courses. Some 1cr are fluff first year seminars. But 1cr labs and studios can be 3-4 credits of work. We saw this at Pitt. My S18âs 1 credit science labs were his most demanding courses. Varies by school. Similar for 4-5 credit courses which include multi-hour labs or extra sessions per week plus lots of work (Calc, new language acquisition, studio) - more like two courses of stuff crammed into a one course box.
Dropping below the full time cutoff potentially has two issues. One could be the loss of merit. The other is that loan repayment may kick in sooner - you get a six month grace period after graduating OR after dropping to part time.
1 Like
I am not sure why they do that, maybe to make registration easier? First year language classes meet every day for an hour, lab sciences obviously have three hours of class a week plus a 2-3 hour lab but the other classes meet 3 hours a week.
2 Likes
IIRC, first-year language classes at Williams must be taken during January term as well. Your son should check with his advisor if heâs considering taking a language. Most students only take one class during January term that usually meets only a few times a week, and I donât think itâs advised to take more than one class during J-term, itâs something to keep in mind. @Pnwfamily does this sound accurate?
1 Like
Is your son rushing a fraternity? I would limit credits as fall semester he will be busy with pledge duties.
3 Likes
There is a good chance he will, and that definitely is making me lean toward a lighter schedule. Then, there also is the part of me that knows he is a kid who thrives on a full schedule, and too much free time isnât always good for him either. I am considering suggesting that he try to register for a fun PE type class, like rock climbing or kayaking or something. That, or try to get his fine art requirement out of the way. Then again, for this kid, art may be the most challenging class he ever has to take!
2 Likes
Request for you, NUM! (unrelated to present discussions): can you invent a cocktail or a couple of them that we can all make to celebrate dropping our kids off, when it happens? Our dropoff is August 10-11, should you be so kind as to consider this idea. 
6 Likes
Agreeing that adjusting to college is easily worth 3-4 credits of energy, and would drop to 12. My kid is going to a LAC where 4 is the default, if sheâd gone to a school where 5 was, Iâd still have her do 4 even if it took longer, but that is because of who SHE is, it might not be right for all kids. (I just would rather have her be successful and balanced with 4 than struggling and overwhelmed with 5.) I also did my undergrad four at a time - as long as I had 12 credits I was considered full time for residence life and financial aid purposes.
5 Likes
Agreed. We toured a lot of LACs, and the majority of them have a very straightforward system of 4 classes per semester, each worth one credit, and 32 credits to graduate. There is the occasional half credit PE or performing arts elective, but thatâs the only exception. S24 will be taking four classes in his first semester at Bowdoin. When I was at Bowdoin in the 90s, it was very uncommon for students to take more than four classes a semester.
And yes, some classes require slightly more in-class hours than others (languages and lab classes, in particular). But the overall workload is similar across classes, so it has never felt strange to me that they are worth the same number of credits. For example, language classes have more in-class time because speaking and listening practice is important. But then the homework tends to be quite straightforward. English classes meet less frequently but require a fair bit of reading and writing time outside of class.
4 Likes