How many classes are to many?

EthnicBeauty · Mar 31, 2007

It really depends on how much help you have with your baby and how devoted to your school work you are. If you know you have fantastic study habits and learn quickly and have help I'd say go for it and add another class. But if you don't have stellar study habits nor do you have help I'd say stick with what you are doing now, depending on your teachers those classes may prove to be a handful. Anatomy and Physiology are a lot of memorizing! What other class are you considering adding?

hays2001 · Mar 31, 2007

I was thinking speech. It is recquired for one nursing school and will be my elective for the other nursing school that I will be applying at. I will have help when my husband gets off of work at 4:30 every evening except for the 10 to 12 days that he is out of town. I do have a fantastic daycare lady. She is so sweet. My son and I have gone over there a couple of times already so I could observe things and see how she runs everything. That is another thing...I think this summer is going to be really hard on me emotionally because it will be the first time that anyone else has taken care of my son other then my husband. I have never been away from my son for more then 2 hours. It will be hard leaving him behind...sometimes I just get a stomache just thinking about it, I don't know why I feel so guilty. I am a homemaker so I do not work outside my house so that helps that I do not have to worry about working. I had the opportunity to challenge the LPN test when I was in the Navy and I didn't do that, I really wish I would have done that because that would've saved me 2 whole semesters in school. I have had lots of experience with patients...iv insertion, drawing blood, patient care, etc. I just don't know what my study habits are. I have been out of highschool for 6 years. I am just so stressed and I don't know what to do.

justme1972 · Apr 1, 2007

I would not recommend taking anything more than that, especially since you haven't been in awhile.

AP is a difficult course to start with, Intro to Psych is easy...so I would consider that a full course load.

I have two babies, and lots of help, and I wouldn't take more than that.

CuriousMe · Apr 1, 2007

It all comes down to math unfortunately. With only 24 hours in a day (if you find a way to get more.....please let me know :) ) you need to decide how many of those will be used for school. Once you have a weekly idea then you can figure out your course load.

The average I've been given is for each credit, you should be spending 2-3 hours of study time out side of class per week (hence the math....4 credit class...8-12 hours a week). Now obviously, this varies from class to class (my 4 credit A&P1 class took far more time and effort than my 4 credit writing class)....but it's a good general guideline for a "Do I have enough time to add more credits?" reality check.

Also, a quick word of caution.....sometimes those little classes that we're sure we will blow through are very time consuming.....not difficult, but time consuming. I've had a few classes that surprised me that way.

Good luck with your plans!

Peace,

Cathie

hays2001 · Apr 1, 2007

Do you all think that A & P I with lab and Intro to Psych. are ok to take together? I am taking the A & P on campus and the Intro to Psych. online.

CuriousMe · Apr 1, 2007

Do you all think that A & P I with lab and Intro to Psych. are ok to take together? I am taking the A & P on campus and the Intro to Psych. online.

It depends on how much time you have to devote to school. For my online classes, I was told that you need to figure more time outside of class (since there isn't a class, its all at your own pace)....the figure they used was 3-4 hours per credit, so for my 4 credit online class....they said to plan to spend between 12 and 16 hours a week working on it....and they were pretty acurate. Taking classes online doesn't mean you spend less time with them...it just means that when that time is, is a lot more flexible.

So, it really comes down to how many hours a week to you have to devote to school....that darn math.

Hope this helps.

Peace,

Cathie

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2007

Did you say this is your first college class? I can tell you that for most people, taking A&P accelerated for their first college class would be a huge endeavour. I would have failed or struggled with a C grade if I had done this, and I consider myself to be a smart person.

I think it depends on if grades are really important, too. Some students are applying to nursing programs where it doesn't matter what the grade is in pre-reqs as long as it is passed with a C or better. Others won't get into their programs with less than a 4.0.

Also, how long is this summer session? That affects the decision making. If it is less than an eight week session - I would so NO WAY!

Could you take maybe two liberal arts courses like psych and something else not so intense as A&P for your first time in college? Then maybe in a full semester tackle A&P? It's not that I think taking A&P over the summer is bad, I don't. I took my A&P over the summer. It's that I would have set myself up for failure had this been my first college class.

The first semester in college is a time of getting acclimated to studying and exam taking and the whole academic climate. It would be a mistake to take on too heavy of a load for your first college experience, get demoralized, and set yourself up for failure.

On the other hand - if you are a wiz who remembers chemistry and biology from high school, and you graduated early or with college prep classes or something like that, maybe this is ok.

roxxy3773, RN, APRN · Apr 1, 2007

Will the amount of classes you take this semester effect your chances of getting into a nursing program? In other words, do you have to get a bunch of classes complete quickly to try to get in by your first deadline? If it is, and you were a good student in the past, then I would say go for it. If it isn't going to make a difference in your plans or chances of getting into the program then I would say why stress yourself out and go for just the two classes this first semester back. Also, take into consideration that many nursing schools really look at that GPA during the admissions process so you want to do really well, so if you feel like you want to ease into it and make sure you do really well, then do that. I guess it is really a personal thing, it would be bad to do poorly and have to repeat a class. I think the online class is going to make your life easier, I have done them, and while there is often a lot of work, you can do it at whatever time you want in the day.

As another military spouse I completely understand your dilemma, it makes things very complicated! I am stuck in the in between stage, too close to PCSing to start school here and no idea where we are going because we have a stop for one of his career courses, so who knows where we will be next long enough to pursue nursing school. Good luck in whatever you choose to do, it is all possible, people do it all the time! If you have a supportive husband then that makes life so much easier!