Out of 10 year hibernation. Am I overloading classes?

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Hi everyone,

I will be starting my first semester of college this summer. The semester is about 12 weeks long. My course of action was to take A&P 1, Eng comp, and intermediate math. But to my surprise the school adviser was not keen about it. When I informed my hours for work were part time she proceeded by suggesting some humanities. I was confident and comfortable with my decision until she threw that curve ball :(. I'm now stuck between a rock and a hard spot.

My family supports be 100 percent and will be helping with my 7 yr old and home. What do u all think? Would I be overloading myself with this being my first semester?

Thanks for reading

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When I started back I had been out of school for 20 years. I took a course load similar to what you just listed. After that first semester I jam-packed my school schedule.

One thing I found was that advisors seem to aim pretty low for whatever reason. If you're willing and ready to put the effort in then keep what you've got. I was ready to learn...many semesters I took the max credit hours for classes. I worked toward my nursing degree and a biology degree at the same time (I'm a few classes short of the bio degree). When I met with my advisor he actually said to me "why are you wasting your time on a biology degree when you are working for a nursing degree?" My reply was "why do you consider learning 'wasted time'?" I was using my husband's VA benefits and school tuition was free for me so you better believe I was stocking up on all the learning I could get!

Good luck to you! I hope you enjoy school!

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The school's academic adviser is in the best position to know the workload of each of the school's courses and they have a good idea of which course loads are more manageable than others. They are the ones who students turn to for advice when they are struggling, they are the ones who see how juggling certain course loads can impact a student's GPA in a negative way. They also have a good understanding of the adult learner and the effort it takes to juggle school, family and work, even with supportive family. They have the knowledge and experience to offer realistic advice and have your best interests in mind, why not listen to it?

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If you have to take the humanities classes anyway, then I would go with the advisors suggestion. Start off with the easiest classes if you want to take a full course load.

Then adjust as necessary. There's just no reason to do the hard stuff first.

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Start the term and get a feel for the classes (and instructors). If you feel that any of the classes would be too much to take at the same time, drop before the deadline date to avoid the W on your transcripts.

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Start the term and get a feel for the classes (and instructors). If you feel that any of the classes would be too much to take at the same time, drop before the deadline date to avoid the W on your transcripts.

The OP is taking the courses in the summer term and summer term courses tend to be intensive in order to get through all of the subject matter in the shorter time period. Instead of starting and dropping courses, it's better to strategically select courses to ensure the best marks possible. Taking A&P combined with an easy humanities course, is a better strategy than taking A&P, ENG Comp & Math.

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It's been 10 years and it's summer, I wouldn't recommend taking A&P in that situation. I'm certain it's doable, but it's going to be a good amount of pressure. I'd ease in the first semester and see how you do - then jump in.

Best of luck to you!

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Hi everyone,

I will be starting my first semester of college this summer. The semester is about 12 weeks long. My course of action was to take A&P 1, Eng comp, and intermediate math. But to my surprise the school adviser was not keen about it. When I informed my hours for work were part time she proceeded by suggesting some humanities. I was confident and comfortable with my decision until she threw that curve ball :(. I'm now stuck between a rock and a hard spot.

My family supports be 100 percent and will be helping with my 7 yr old and home. What do u all think? Would I be overloading myself with this being my first semester?

Thanks for reading

A&P at my school required a regular class as well as a lab. There was lots of theory, but also lots of memorization. Not only did we have to memorize each body part and its location (muscles were the worst), but simply misspelling the part meant you got the answer wrong. The class used a collection of real parts and models that may not have looked similar to other sources viewable outside of class. This meant hours of extra study time in the lab, itself, for some students. They didn't allow photographs of the models for copyright reasons.

English comp I was a series of assigned papers. Strong writers found it relatively easy, but weaker writers found it very challenging.

Intermediate math sounds remedial. So, again ....if you're strong in math, it could be a walk in the park. The fact that it sounds like a remedial class makes it seem like math may not be your strong point, though.

Proceed with a lot of caution or take your advisor's advice. You'll be attempting this class load on short time along with all the other challenges.

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Hi everyone,

I will be starting my first semester of college this summer. The semester is about 12 weeks long. My course of action was to take A&P 1, Eng comp, and intermediate math. But to my surprise the school adviser was not keen about it. When I informed my hours for work were part time she proceeded by suggesting some humanities. I was confident and comfortable with my decision until she threw that curve ball :(. I'm now stuck between a rock and a hard spot.

My family supports be 100 percent and will be helping with my 7 yr old and home. What do u all think? Would I be overloading myself with this being my first semester?

Thanks for reading

I'm confused. Did she want you to add a humanities or only take humanities?

Set you schedule to what you think you can handle. Is math tough for you? How about A&P? Were you historically a good student and school came easy or did you have to invest a lot of time for a decent grade? There isn't a universal answer.

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Get back into your flow, so start slow and once you get it down, then you could speed up. You could make up for the extra class or two you didn't take. There are some classes I thought wouldn't require as much but did and some that I thought would be hard but were easy.

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I missed the part about summer term. In that case, take the general ed courses. A&P is usually too much for summer for many students, even at twelve weeks. If you insist on taking A&P in the summer, then take it by itself.

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If it's a summer term course, I also would recommend taking A&P by itself or (preferably) in the fall. It's a pretty intensive course with a full semester to learn it, much less if you're trying to pack it in the summer. That combined with being out of school for so long, I'd definitely suggest waiting on the A&P course so you can get back into the academic swing of things; just my thoughts on giving yourself the best chance for success.

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