How many credits fall freshman? Engineering?

[Jen500]

Ds is out of town (at the college) and registered for classes. He is an engineering major. He told me that he signed up for 12 credit hours.  He was originally going to do 14 or 15. But his 'advisor' (a theater professor) told him to just do 12 to make the first semester easier and he already has a lot of AP credits coming in but only one towards his major. He did try to schedule 14 but classes were already full.

The 'sample schedule' for his major has 15 credits. He does have the core classes for his major scheduled. Am I getting worried over nothing? He has a full scholarship and needs 12 credits/semester 3.0 minimum to keep it.

I'm disappointed in the lack of 'advising'. Hopefully it will get better. I don't want this to turn into a 6 year engineering program.

[chiguirre]

I think it's probably okay since he has a lot of AP credits that will (presumably) eliminate the need to take the general education requirements at the university. Does he have credit for any of the classes the sample schedule has for fall Freshman year (English comp? History?). If so, then he's probably better off taking 12 credits and concentrating on getting good grades in the core engineering classes.

If it turns out that he is missing something that will be a problem according to the sample schedule, I'd have him go to his major department and ask for help getting in any extra needed classes. It's likely that he'll be able to add in the fall when people drop classes.

Good luck!

[regentrude]

The advisor has a good point about not overloading in freshman semester; however, this advice needs to be tailored to the individual student's academic abilities. For a student who had a strong highschool performance (APs), I would advise 15-16 hours but discourage 18.

Your DS may still be able to add a class. It may not be a class that is part of the recommended freshmen classes; he can look for what else is required. He should also make an appointment with the academic advisor/director of undergraduate studies/whatever it is called at his engineering department to get major specific advice.

This said, starting out with 12 hours is not going to be a huge issue. But keep in mind that most engineering students will NOT finish in four years; six years is much more typical - because of co-ops, changing majors, etc.

 

[8filltheheart]

I think you need to know your student and advise him accordingly. My kids would have been bored with 12 hrs. They have all taken between 15-18 hrs their first semester w/o issue. They had been used to heavy schedules so it wasn't an adjustment.

I would at minimum recommend something taken for fun interest bc he may lose that opportunity later on.

[Jen500]

Ok, he was able to add another class so he has 14 credits. He only has Calc2 and Chem w/lab for required courses, and then 3 more 2 credit courses that are just classes that looked interesting to him. 

Thank you for the input.

[katilac]

I hate the advice to only take 12 hours your first semester! It's not just given to kids coming in with credits, it's frequent advice. Does it make the first semester easier? Yes, of course, because they only have 4 classes, lol. So it just moves the struggle to second semester, and adds an extra 18-hour semester somewhere along the line. 

 

[Jen500]

4 minutes ago, katilac said:

I hate the advice to only take 12 hours your first semester! It's not just given to kids coming in with credits, it's frequent advice. Does it make the first semester easier? Yes, of course, because they only have 4 classes, lol. So it just moves the struggle to second semester, and adds an extra 18-hour semester somewhere along the line. 

 

Yeah, that was my son's thought....that he didn't want to take a light load now just to take a heavier load later. Though his credits he added aren't going to help toward his major and he has a lot of AP credits (that won't go towards his major, but do fill some  requirements like writing)

His twin brother is there too, and was told his 14 credits were fine. I don't think there's much academic counseling at this point. They can go into the engineering advising center this semester to plan better I guess.

[8filltheheart]

1 hour ago, Jen500 said:

Ok, he was able to add another class so he has 14 credits. He only has Calc2 and Chem w/lab for required courses, and then 3 more 2 credit courses that are just classes that looked interesting to him. 

Thank you for the input.

No way I would want only 2 courses in an entire semester going toward the actual degree.  6 hrs of total interest-oriented courses for a freshman engineering student?  That is truly horrendous advice.  I would suggest he email the engineering dept and tell them that that was what he was advised and what can he do to fix it.  Engineering course sequences are pretty rigid.  I would absolutely recommend getting at minimum 1 more required course out of the way.   

[Chris in VA]

Yeah, taking just 2 courses that are required puts too great a burden on the rest of the semesters. Do the others fulfill elective credit, at least? 

Dd is in music ed--wow, it's different than engineering! Very little electives. She has 9 actual classes--and only 16 hours. They give such piddly credit for the same time commitment as other majors! She's required to take one class that is 0 credit hours! 

[Scarlett]

6 hours ago, Jen500 said:

Ds is out of town (at the college) and registered for classes. He is an engineering major. He told me that he signed up for 12 credit hours.  He was originally going to do 14 or 15. But his 'advisor' (a theater professor) told him to just do 12 to make the first semester easier and he already has a lot of AP credits coming in but only one towards his major. He did try to schedule 14 but classes were already full.

The 'sample schedule' for his major has 15 credits. He does have the core classes for his major scheduled. Am I getting worried over nothing? He has a full scholarship and needs 12 credits/semester 3.0 minimum to keep it.

I'm disappointed in the lack of 'advising'. Hopefully it will get better. I don't want this to turn into a 6 year engineering program.

This exact thing happened to ds although it is a CC.  He will not be able to graduate from this CC according to the 'plan'.  I think it will take at least an extra semester and the advisor said that is very common.  I find it very misleading but whatever I guess.

[8filltheheart]

1 hour ago, Chris in VA said:

Yeah, taking just 2 courses that are required puts too great a burden on the rest of the semesters. Do the others fulfill elective credit, at least? 

Dd is in music ed--wow, it's different than engineering! Very little electives. She has 9 actual classes--and only 16 hours. They give such piddly credit for the same time commitment as other majors! She's required to take one class that is 0 credit hours! 

No, engineering does not have room for many electives. He might have English comp, cal 1, and a couple of humanities off his list. If It were one of my kids and they entered taking cal 2 and had taken numerous AP courses (used to managing a heavy workload), I would probably drop those other 3 courses and take physics 1. That would only be 3 classes, time consuming, but should be manageable and approaching a more realistic perspective of majoring in engineeering. 

[8filltheheart]

10 minutes ago, HeighHo said:

perhaps he could consider taking Physics this semester or computer programming?

Yes, computer programming would be another good option if in the course sequence.

[Clemsondana]

Where I did my undergrad, they guaranteed that if you stayed on schedule, you'd graduate in 4 years (ie you would never fail to graduate because you were waiting for an opening in a class that you were taken in the proscribed semester - you might not like the time, but somewhere there was a spot for you)...so nobody took a light load in the early years.  For science and engineering people, there were so many pre-reqs that we never would have finished if we'd put them off.  In my first 2 years of college, I think that (outside of band, which was 1 credit that didn't really count towards anything) I only took 3 non-science classes.  It was stressful, but it turned out well.  If your student isn't overwhelmed, I'd recommend taking it easier in his senior year.  Many science and engineering students did research their senior years (paid or for a senior project) and it was great to have a lot of time to spend in the lab.  

[Katy]

I would advise him to sign up for 18 hours.  Even if he ends up dropping a class he won't be behind, the busy schedule will likely motivate him to stay on top of things, and the extra classes might enable him to work an internship or coop for a semester and still graduate on time.

[Kassia]

One of my sons entered college with enough DE credits that he was able to take a lighter load every semester and earned a minor with his computer engineering degree.  Instead of taking 15-18 credits/semester, he took 12-15 for all four years.  He gets overwhelmed easily so it was very good for him plus it allowed him to focus on his classes more and he graduated with a very high GPA, which helped him earn some nice scholarships while he was in school plus it helped him with internship/job opportunities.  OTOH, since he already fulfilled all of his gen ed classes, he didn't really have any classes to boost his GPA if he didn't do well in his engineering classes.  

His twin brother also graduated with an engineering degree and started college with fewer credits (combination of AP/DE) but he thrives on being busy so he took heavy courseloads every semester until his last one plus he worked, played sports, had a very active social life, etc.  I don't know how he juggled it all, but he did.  His GPA wasn't as high as his brother's but he did fine.  So I think a lot depends on the student and what they can handle.  

ETA: their advisers were horrible and useless!  Both boys were in the honors program, which promised good advising but they didn't experience that at all.  I think there are just too many students assigned to each adviser.