Spring semester load....am I really crazy?!

TRINI82 · Jan 11, 2011

In my opinion, it may be much, especially if they are all in the classroom. If you were able to take a class online, that may lessen the load, but you definitely do not want to overload and risk the chance of not doing well in a class. Good luck with everything.

kika72 · Jan 11, 2011

Hi Trini,

Thank you for your reply. All my classes are in classrooms and I'm starting to be anxious about it since many people told me it's a lot!

My 2 children are both in daycare/preK so I usually go to class and then lock myself in the library to study until I pick them up from school. This past semester I took 4 classes and I did great but my fear is that next semester I have a lot of science classes and that might be a little challenging.

My husband is very supportive and he's happy to take care of the kids while mommy pursue her dream of becoming a nurse. But at the same time I would like to keep my sanity!!

Kika

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jan 11, 2011

Micro and Chem alone are massive undertakings together (remember, they have labs, which seem like an extra class in themselves)! It can be done, though if you really make some sacrifices. Evaluate how you have handled heavy loads in the past and whether you are especially good at the sciences. If you are, you might be able to swing it. Give yourself some leeway though in case you need to drop a class or two. Not worth jeopardizing your GPA over trying to cram it all in. Good luck!

kika72 · Jan 12, 2011

Thank you Paco69.

I guess you're right and I'm really gonna see how I feel after the first class and then decide if to drop one!

tomall · Jan 12, 2011

>>>Chemistry, Developmental Psychology, Text & Ideas, Microbiology and Statistic I....is this really too much?

YES!! chem and micro have lab hours and separate (often unsynchronized) tests. thats like 4 classes basically. dev psych is 5 classes. many stat classes have a math lab. if yours does, thats 7 seven 7 classes.

micro by itself felt like a full time job some days. if a Professor wants to be...... exacting, he can make a fair test that 90% of the class will fail. There's just way too much minutia that can be tested in MB to even consider taking all those other classes.

as for Psych, depending on your professor, you could spend every free moment reading outside books/studies/journals/ and/or writing reports.

chemistry requires a fair amount of study and even more practice. only way to do well at chemistry is repetitive solving of all manner of example questions from the chapters.

remember, you pretty much have to ace every single pre-req to get into any of the accelerated programs, and not much less for the standard 4yr programs.

what would you rather do, take 18 months and get A's and get into your program of choice, OR take 6 months, get so-so grades and have your applications tossed in the waste heap.

kika72 · Jan 12, 2011

Hi Tomall,

Thank you for your honesty! I'm already in the 4 years BSN program at NYU and since I transferred from another college inside NYU so far I took all humanities, liberal electives, sociology elective etc.

I have 7 classes left before I can start my clinicals (the 5 classes I'm taking this semester plus A&P and Nutrition & Health which I'm planning to take over the summer). I would like to finish all my pre-reqs before the Fall semester and in the summer they seem to offer only the 2 classes I have left.

I'm very committed and I know I will study really hard. I have a 4.0 GPA right now but I certainly don't want to mess it up!

If you guys think it's not doable then I believe you!

Thanks,

Kika

jerrysgirl531 · Jan 13, 2011

chemistry and microbiology are hard in one semester. i did that last semester with child development and medical vocabulary. chemistry and microbiology are like taking 4 classes. so instead of 5 classes, you have 7 classes. i don't have children, but have a husband and no job. I did it by not working. I did great. it can be done. microbiology i found easier to learn for me than a&p.

kika72 · Jan 14, 2011

Hi jerrysgirl,

I think if you work really hard and you put your mind to it anything is possible. I wanted to ask you: does micro has lab as well? Because I only have class once a week for 2.5 hours and I'm not sure if it includes lab as well.

The way I'm thinking is: Chemistry I took it in high school and even though it's been a while since I took it, I'm very familiar with the material.

Microbiology it's new to me, but there is also a lot of chemistry involved so that might be good to take them together. I'm also reading a study help right now, before the semester begins, to get an idea of what I will be studying.

Developmental Psychology sounds very fascinating and having two little kids, I'm familiar with some of the topics already. Plus, if it is of any help, I just took intro to Pshych last semester and I thought it might be good to continue.

Statistic I took it in high school and even though it was geared towards an Economics major, the principles are still the same.

Text & Ideas is a philosophy class and when I looked through the syllabus I know a lot of the readings because of a previous Critical Thinking class I took last Spring semester. My Critical Thinking professor was obsessed with philosophy so we read an incredible amount of books and did a ton of papers!

I know, maybe I'm just crazy and I will probably cry like a baby through the semester but I like to break it all done and convince myself that is doable! Was it really tough for you taking 4 classes?

Thank you, I really appreciate your honesty and suggestions.

Kika

4evalearnin · Jan 15, 2011

Well it seems like you have done similar credit load and course work in the past and have managed to keep your sanity then but know that this semester it is going to be tough. I have friend who this past semester was taking Nutrition, Chem (5 credits), and some writing course at NYU and she was definitely stressing and she has no childrern a supportive family and an older sister who graduated NYU nursing before her. She was able to come out Bs but had to get tutoring, meetings the the TAs (because there were 300 students in her class) and endless hours studying.

Only you really know your limits. But since you posted on the topic then I sense your concern about the load. Think long and hard about it because NYU add/drop (unlike other schools) deadline ends before the semester ends. If you can perhaps take one of the other courses in the summer. Good luck either way on your decision.

jerrysgirl531 · Jan 15, 2011

Hi jerrysgirl,
I think if you work really hard and you put your mind to it anything is possible. I wanted to ask you: does micro has lab as well? Because I only have class once a week for 2.5 hours and I'm not sure if it includes lab as well.
The way I'm thinking is: Chemistry I took it in high school and even though it's been a while since I took it, I'm very familiar with the material.
Microbiology it's new to me, but there is also a lot of chemistry involved so that might be good to take them together. I'm also reading a study help right now, before the semester begins, to get an idea of what I will be studying.
Developmental Psychology sounds very fascinating and having two little kids, I'm familiar with some of the topics already. Plus, if it is of any help, I just took intro to Pshych last semester and I thought it might be good to continue.
Statistic I took it in high school and even though it was geared towards an Economics major, the principles are still the same.
Text & Ideas is a philosophy class and when I looked through the syllabus I know a lot of the readings because of a previous Critical Thinking class I took last Spring semester. My Critical Thinking professor was obsessed with philosophy so we read an incredible amount of books and did a ton of papers!
I know, maybe I'm just crazy and I will probably cry like a baby through the semester but I like to break it all done and convince myself that is doable! Was it really tough for you taking 4 classes?
Thank you, I really appreciate your honesty and suggestions.
Kika

kika, my micro class was 4 credits, 3 hours lecture on thursday and 3 hours lab on saturday. so maybe you don't have lab?

kika72 · Jan 15, 2011

kika, my micro class was 4 credits, 3 hours lecture on thursday and 3 hours lab on saturday. so maybe you don't have lab?

No I don't think mine has lab because the lecture is only 2.5 hours once a week for a total of 3 credits. I think NYU classes are very different and it looks like we take less pre-reqs for some reason.

Who knows, maybe this will save me!!