Number of classes?

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Hi, I am starting nursing school in the fall and I have noticed on some other threads people referring to taking more than 3 classes at a time being too difficult. I am scheduled for around 7 classes (18 credit hours) just for the fall semester. I also have a one year old son and a husband. Is this possible? I thought it wouldnt be a big deal until I noticed the discussions on other threads. Thanks! :)

KimGau,

Sounds like your school is a credible school. I'm sure they wouldn't recommend all those classes if it wasn't doable, they definitely want you to continue on to your BSN.

I also have a 1 year old and I can tell you that A&P and Chem together is quite a bit on it's own. But this is what you can do. Sign up for all of them and keep and eye out for the drop deadline. If it gets to be too much, drop one of the non-science classes. You need to keep the science classes because they are prereqs for the next 2 science classes. Just mark down on your calendar the last day to drop without a "W" on your record. People do this all the time. It's called shopping for classes. This way, you can't lose.

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Elle, that works but it is an expensive way to get through college.

Along with the obvious tuition costs, it is much easier to stay ahead of the curve in any given class than to play catch up. Usually people compromise too much in the classes they keep before they drop the classes they don't keep.

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Saysfaa, I agree with you. But sounds like KimGau has made up her mind, and I don't want her to feel we are judging her, we only want her to do the best she can. Since I can't change her mind, I can only offer her that tip in case she does find it to be too much.

KimGau, my husband was also 100% involved when I told him I wanted to go to school fulltime. Guess what he does now...he complains I don't spend enough time with him or the kids. It's taken a toll on our family no doubt, but this is the sacrifice we signed up for. And I only did 3 classes last semester: AP part II, Organic chem, and Public speaking. As racquetmom said, the so called "easy" classes like Speech turned out to be all-consuming with all the papers. You'd be surprised.

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Your courseload is like what incoming 1st years at my school do. It was fine for me and everyone else I knew from my classes.

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Thanks JEN. Ive spent the last few days asking around and Im assuming its just different in different places. Everyone I know around my area has taken that courseload and done fine the ones who didnt do fine wouldnt have did fine with even one class. Everyone I know (nursing and non nursing) takes atleast 15 credit hr per semester. Ive been reading about people taking 1 or two classes per semester and thats like unheard of where I live exceot by people who dont care about school. My husband was shocked when I told him what people say they take in other places because his smallest courseload was 15 credit hours in his whole 6 years of school. I was upset about people asking me at what cost to my child, because Im going to go ahead and throw this out there, why is it that all these husband that "travel for work" and are gone all the time, no one says one word about the "cost to their children" but when a mom wants to do anything (even with the father stepping up in the parent department) its all the sudden wrong and theyre hurting the child. Im sorry but that is sexist. I have spent every waking moment for 2+years devoting it to my child and if my husband wants to take a turn at being the dominant parent while i work on my nursing degree than I am proud of myself and Im not going to let other people make me feel like Im doing something wrong.

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I am not sure why some people make that big a deal about taking more than 2 sciences at once. I took 3 sciences (with labs) and a regular class and I thought it was fine. The labs were more time consuming in and out of class, but it wasn't "harder". It is great that you have such a supportive husband. I think some of the comments about your child are unfair. You will still see your child and spend time with your child, maybe not all day long, but its not as if you aren't going to see him/her for the whole semester. Best of luck to you.

Me :nurse:

P.S.- I know you are only taking 2 sciences, but this is directed at some of the posts that say not to take more than 2 sciences at once.

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jupiter,

i don't think 3 sciences with labs and one other class are such a big deal for a full time student (full time meaning few other commitments, not the 12 credits for administrative purposes). i thought 3 sciences with labs along with three other (not totally wimpy) classes were. like everyone else, i changed my advice when the class list exchanged microbiology and nutrition for the 1 credit intro to college class.

the recommendation of not more than two sciences with labs is just a short cut way of indicating/evaluating how time intensive they are for the number of credits they are.

kim,

i took 18 credits when i was going to college straight out of high school, then left school to raise a family. i am much, much more serious about school this time even though i am taking one or two classes per semester for a few years, while my youngest children grow up. then i will go full time. my daughter has taken between 21 and 24 credits every semester for the last three years. she puts just enough effort into each class to get the a. she is constantly amazed that i like my classes, care about what they are teaching, and want to take classes that aren't required. the number of credits one takes does not indicate how much he cares about school.

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I wasnt saying that the number of classes someone takes determines how much they care about school. I was stating that where I live everyone takes around the same number of classes except the people who dont care (and by saying that Im referring to actual people I know who I know for a fact dont care about school) Everyone in my area seems to have deceided to go to nursing school and I was just saying that it must be different depending on what school and what area you go to school in. I see lots of people saying they only take one or two classes and Im sure they care about school, its just that where I live people really dont do that so it would be werid here. Thats all Im saying. Saysfaa- Im sure you do care about school, because in my experience a good mom who goes back to school does it because she is dedicated and wants to learn something.

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