Penguin Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 My son is going to start grad school in August, and I am wondering what would be an average full-time load. Stuff I have read on the internet leads me to think 9 or 12 credits. Does this sound right? He will be in an M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawyer&Mom Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 It totally depends on the program. Some programs have very set course sequences where all the students basically take the same classes at the same time. Some programs give you more leeway to choose your course load. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted April 27, 2017 Author Share Posted April 27, 2017 (edited) Obviously, he will work it out with his advisor. I am just having an overly excited/curious mom moment. :p Edited April 27, 2017 by Penguin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 FT is often 4 to 5 courses so that is generally 12-15 credits. But it's going to vary by program. The grad program I'm targeting is PT with only 2-3 courses (4-9 credits) per semester. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retiredHSmom Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 My daughter is a first year grad student. She is also a GTA (graduate teaching assistant, she is paid to teach classes and receives a full tuition offset). They were told at the school-wide GTA orientation that full-time for a grad student was 6 hours and the speaker asked them to raise their hands to indicate how many hours they were taking. the math department requires their first year graduate TAs to take 10 hours and the speaker seemed to think that was rather crazy. I will say that it has been a very hard first year. My daughter spends 12-13 hours a day on campus four days a week and six hours on the fifth day with at least one full day of work on the weekend. All the second year and beyond TAs are taking 7 hours (they drop one class). There are a few students who are self-pay, not funded GTAs, who are taking 12 hours but not many. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted April 27, 2017 Author Share Posted April 27, 2017 My daughter is a first year grad student. She is also a GTA (graduate teaching assistant, she is paid to teach classes and receives a full tuition offset). They were told at the school-wide GTA orientation that full-time for a grad student was 6 hours and the speaker asked them to raise their hands to indicate how many hours they were taking. the math department requires their first year graduate TAs to take 10 hours and the speaker seemed to think that was rather crazy. I will say that it has been a very hard first year. My daughter spends 12-13 hours a day on campus four days a week and six hours on the fifth day with at least one full day of work on the weekend. All the second year and beyond TAs are taking 7 hours (they drop one class). There are a few students who are self-pay, not funded GTAs, who are taking 12 hours but not many. Thank you, this is super helpful. He is hoping for a TA position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterbaby Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 When I was in grad school (humanities) the standard seemed to be three courses (9 credits), two would be considered a light load for if you were having issues or were also doing some other kind of work like starting to prepare for exams, four if you were going hard or had catching up to do. But it was very common to audit a fourth course, and in an environment like that (small seminars) auditing was serious, you would definitely do the reading and participate - you just wouldn't have to write the paper. Usually there's a certain number of credits to complete (the coursework portion of) the program, and a standard amount of time to do it in, and you can work out from that how much you should be doing in a semester, going light if possible in the first semester to get your bearings. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted May 1, 2017 Share Posted May 1, 2017 My daughter is a first year grad student. She is also a GTA (graduate teaching assistant, she is paid to teach classes and receives a full tuition offset). They were told at the school-wide GTA orientation that full-time for a grad student was 6 hours and the speaker asked them to raise their hands to indicate how many hours they were taking. the math department requires their first year graduate TAs to take 10 hours and the speaker seemed to think that was rather crazy. I will say that it has been a very hard first year. My daughter spends 12-13 hours a day on campus four days a week and six hours on the fifth day with at least one full day of work on the weekend. All the second year and beyond TAs are taking 7 hours (they drop one class). There are a few students who are self-pay, not funded GTAs, who are taking 12 hours but not many. 6 hours? Isn't that 2 classes? It is for my grad school. If the MA is 60-90 credits how would you ever finish at that pace? It would take 6-8 years. I took 6 hours per semester while working full time usually. Occasionally I took more. But that was considered part time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted May 1, 2017 Share Posted May 1, 2017 The MA programs I'm considering are 30 to 36 hours, so 9 hrs a semester is pretty standard. This is for history. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bootsie Posted May 1, 2017 Share Posted May 1, 2017 Most programs that I have seen require 9 hours to be a full-time grad student, with 12 hours probably the normal load. But, there are huge variations. Also, the workload from one 3-hour graduate course to another 3-hour graduate course can vary widely. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted May 2, 2017 Author Share Posted May 2, 2017 This is a 60 hour program, with both a practicum and an internship. I think that 6 hours is considered full time in the sense that it makes you eligible for certain things. Not that it is enough to get you through in a reasonable time frame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted June 11, 2017 Author Share Posted June 11, 2017 Update (because I love it when people update their threads): Incoming students are limited to nine credits for their first semester. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.