How many classes are college students required to take every semester?

[Mike_Yates]

How many classes are college students required to take each semester?

I read that they take 16 core classes on top of their major and minor.

That is A LOT of work!

 

[blobfish]

More impotently, do you have to be smart to get in?

 

[Mike_Yates]

More impotently, do you have to be smart to get in?

I don't think everyone in college is a genius, but very few of them have IQ's below 100.

 

[ChinaBandit]

"Hey G (coughing), take a hit off this."

 

[mercury14]

I don't think everyone in college is a genius, but very few of them have IQ's below 100.

You can go part time and take as few as one class. Or take a semester off and take none.

Lots of people with <100 IQ go to college.

BTW, you should be looking at community college since they cater to students who haven't been to school in a while and cannot go full time (or they don't feel like going full time). And overall the coursework feels more doable because you don't have to take as many core classes that you're not interested in or skilled at. If you have math I think you still have to take some algebra or geometry but many offer to put you into a finance class or whatever. And if your skills really aren't up to snuff they start you where you're at in remedial courses (where shitloads of people are who forgot all their high school math).

 

[sunandshadow]

16 core classes on top of a major and a minor is for the whole time spent in college, not a single semester. A normal full-time student takes between 15 and 18 hours of class per week, and there's at least an equal amount of time spent on homework. So A full-time college student, in-between classes and homework, usually spends slightly less time on that than the 40 hours a week for a standard full-time job.

 

[kbate]

Dear Mike,

This is the 157th thread you have made about college, college requirements, college classes or college difficulty. If you can read enough to come up with all of these thread ideas, you can certainly read well enough to use Google to find your answers.

You could even take the bus down to the nearest community college or to the nearest university and they could give you the information in person and perhaps an application for admission and financial aid.

Whatever you do, please stop wasting bandwidth and time on the subject until you have taken a few steps to remedy your ignorance as concerns this subject.

Thank you,

kb

 

[Mike_Yates]

16 core classes on top of a major and a minor is for the whole time spent in college, not a single semester. A normal full-time student takes between 15 and 18 hours of class per week, and there's at least an equal amount of time spent on homework. So A full-time college student, in-between classes and homework, usually spends slightly less time on that than the 40 hours a week for a standard full-time job.

How many classes do you take per semester?

Do you take the 16 all at once? Or just a few at a time?

Are these classes extraordinarily advanced and difficult as compared to high school?

My math skills do not exceed addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Most of the math of omitted in high school. I do not know SHIT about algebra, geometry, or trigonometry. Just basic calculator arithmetic.

I believe that the only math that non-science majors have to take is college algebra, which really isn't much different than what you took in high school.

 

[BotanyBoy]

"Hey G (coughing), take a hit off this."

I can't smoke and do anything math related, I had to sober up...but my English comp/lit, speech/com, art classes? MJ is the only reason I did so well, got the creative juices flowing for sure.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

If I had it to do over again I'd skip the college part unless I planned to be an engineer, dentist, or pharmacist. Whats wrong with America is all the other bullshit diplomas people get.

Learn to farm, learn to repair cars, learn to repair small gasoline engines, learn to repair air conditioners, learn plumbing repair. Learn something useful thats appreciated by people.

 

[Mike_Yates]

If I had it to do over again I'd skip the college part unless I planned to be an engineer, dentist, or pharmacist. Whats wrong with America is all the other bullshit diplomas people get.

Learn to farm, learn to repair cars, learn to repair small gasoline engines, learn to repair air conditioners, learn plumbing repair. Learn something useful thats appreciated by people.

And what did you go to college for?

Didn't you state in one of your threads that you had a PhD?

 

[LongDrySpell]

A "full-time" student is one who is taking 12 credits a semester. Each class is usually 3 or 4 credits. Generally speaking, one credit = one hour per week in class (so a 3 credit class is 3 hours per week), and you should figure in 2 hours outside of class for studying for each hour in class. 12 credits would be roughly 36 hours per week. And at 12 credits per semester it would take you 5 or 6 years to finish a bachelor's degree. But that all depends on the program - some are more rigorous than others.

I never took less than 18 credits a semester except for my last one (15), but I majored in genetics and minored in ethics, and also did research on the side. Still can't remember when/if I slept. I don't recommend it.

I did my undergrad at a state school, and then went to a pretty elite private school for my graduate work. Teaching undergrad classes there, I learned that you had to be EITHER very intelligent OR very wealthy, but not both. State schools, it seems like most states have one or two great schools (you need to be quite intelligent to get in), a few mediocre schools (where you need to be about average), and a few schools for the leftovers whose parents are taxpayers and want their not-so-bright kid to be able to get a degree.

Something to keep in mind: a bachelors degree is NOT meant to just be job training - that's what associates degrees and/or certificates are for. Bachelors degree programs are supposed to teach you to think critically and problem-solve, along with teaching the fundamentals of whatever the program is. That's why there are so many "elective" courses required.

 

[kbate]

And what did you go to college for?
Didn't you state in one of your threads that you had a PhD?

To learn not to end a sentence with 'for'.

JBJ states a lot of things; think metaphor.

 

[Mike_Yates]

A "full-time" student is one who is taking 12 credits a semester. Each class is usually 3 or 4 credits. Generally speaking, one credit = one hour per week in class (so a 3 credit class is 3 hours per week), and you should figure in 2 hours outside of class for studying for each hour in class. 12 credits would be roughly 36 hours per week. And at 12 credits per semester it would take you 5 or 6 years to finish a bachelor's degree. But that all depends on the program - some are more rigorous than others.

I never took less than 18 credits a semester except for my last one (15), but I majored in genetics and minored in ethics, and also did research on the side. Still can't remember when/if I slept. I don't recommend it.

I did my undergrad at a state school, and then went to a pretty elite private school for my graduate work. Teaching undergrad classes there, I learned that you had to be EITHER very intelligent OR very wealthy, but not both. State schools, it seems like most states have one or two great schools (you need to be quite intelligent to get in), a few mediocre schools (where you need to be about average), and a few schools for the leftovers whose parents are taxpayers and want their not-so-bright kid to be able to get a degree.

Something to keep in mind: a bachelors degree is NOT meant to just be job training - that's what associates degrees and/or certificates are for. Bachelors degree programs are supposed to teach you to think critically and problem-solve, along with teaching the fundamentals of whatever the program is. That's why there are so many "elective" courses required.

I have an IQ of 89, I may not be intelligent enough to go to college.

 

[Instant_Star]

How many classes are college students required to take each semester?

I read that they take 16 core classes on top of their major and minor.

That is A LOT of work!

I'm in College right now, going on my second year.

I have to take a minimum of 12 credit hours (approximately 4 classes) a semester to live in the dorms.

At the moment, I'm signed up for 15 credit hours for the upcoming semester.

 

[sunandshadow]

How many classes do you take per semester?

Do you take the 16 all at once? Or just a few at a time?

Are these classes extraordinarily advanced and difficult as compared to high school?

My math skills do not exceed addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Most of the math of omitted in high school. I do not know SHIT about algebra, geometry, or trigonometry. Just basic calculator arithmetic.

I believe that the only math that non-science majors have to take is college algebra, which really isn't much different than what you took in high school.

Classes are 3 or 4 hours per week each. You would not take more than 5 classes in a semester, generally. A typical class is 1 hour per day, 3 days a week. The 1 1/2 hour, 4 days a week format is also fairly common. And as someone mentioned above, there is no rule that you have to take more than one class per semester, it's just a bit more expensive to take them part-time instead of full-time. Different colleges have different rules about math requirements. Difficulty also varies depending on the college and the specific professor. Personally I found the foreign language requirements to be the most difficult thing unrelated to my degree (B.A. in English).

All colleges will provide information about their degree programs and course catalog, either for free or for a small fee. There are probably only a few schools within driving distance of you, you could just go get the information you want from them. Or are you considering online classes? For those, all the information you want is probably available online.

 

[Mike_Yates]

Classes are 3 or 4 hours per week each. You would not take more than 5 classes in a semester, generally. A typical class is 1 hour per day, 3 days a week. The 1 1/2 hour, 4 days a week format is also fairly common. And as someone mentioned above, there is no rule that you have to take more than one class per semester, it's just a bit more expensive to take them part-time instead of full-time. Different colleges have different rules about math requirements. Difficulty also varies depending on the college and the specific professor. Personally I found the foreign language requirements to be the most difficult thing unrelated to my degree (B.A. in English).

All colleges will provide information about their degree programs and course catalog, either for free or for a small fee. There are probably only a few schools within driving distance of you, you could just go get the information you want from them. Or are you considering online classes? For those, all the information you want is probably available online.

I heard that college-level coursework is extremely grueling and rigorous. I am afraid that I do not possess the intelligence that is typically required to succeed in a college environment.

The only people who truly make it in college are those with superior and gifted intelligence.

This is why I am so hesitant.

 

[sunandshadow]

I heard that college-level coursework is extremely grueling and rigorous. I am afraid that I do not possess the intelligence that is typically required to succeed in a college environment.

The only people who truly make it in college are those with superior and gifted intelligence.

This is why I am so hesitant.

Courses vary in difficulty. Some of them are grueling, some are relatively easy, and different people find different ones to be difficult. Taking too many classes at a time, as people are pressured to do for financial reasons, is what really creates the stress associated with college. Anyone can rise to meet one difficult class if they have time and money to invest in a tutor. Would it really harm you to take one class, in a subject you are interested in, to find out for yourself what a college class is like? You could also consider auditing a class. Auditing means you pay (less than the normal tuition) to be allowed to attend the class, but you are not officially a student, you are not required to do the homework or tests, and you don't receive a grade or credit.

 

[Mike_Yates]

I was once told by a school psychologist told me that I have an IQ of approximately 89.

 

[loquere]

I was once told by a school psychologist told me that I have an IQ of approximately 89.

What kind of tests determined this?

 

[Mike_Yates]

What kind of tests determined this?

Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

 

[NeverEndMe]

Currently, I'm a full time student. I only take 4 classes (12 hours). I'm only a freshman though =/ I don't know if sophomores, juniors, or seniors have the same amount.

 

[thør]

More impotently, do you have to be smart to get in?

Football scholorship....

 

[hugetits1989]

it depends

 

[Mike_Yates]

Currently, I'm a full time student. I only take 4 classes (12 hours). I'm only a freshman though =/ I don't know if sophomores, juniors, or seniors have the same amount.

How are the gruelingly advanced physics and mathematics classes?