How many hours did your son take Freshman year?

18-20.

In season I took 12

Off Season I took 15

Is this Hours are credits?
I would take 15+ all the time.
12 is minumum.
and if you mess up with one class you can still get by.
EH

In season:
Freshman year: 15
Soph year: 17

21 hours...but that's required of all cadets at West Point...there are no fifth year seniors

Freshman first semester 18 plus NCAA class it was a load.
16-15 credits thereafter based on two semesters per year. Most semesters he signed up for 18 but dropped a class usually after a week if he felt it would be too difficult. This worked out well for him as you payed lump sum by semester not by credit hours, no matter how many credits you registered for.

IMO, do NOT take less than 15 credits per semester. If too difficult an adjustment, drop a class before the withdrawal deadline.

Interesting, I was at a freshman orientation just last week. Both the regular academic advisor and the athletic specific advisor recommended only 12 semester units for first semester freshman.

My son transferred 35 hours from JUCO from his freshman year. He now has 61 hours total after being at a 4 year for his second year of college.

I personally don't think taking more than 12 hours your freshman year a great idea. Much depends on the class selection though. JUCO is a different matter as the classes are usually smaller, the academic support is greater, and the class requirements were less (at least in our experience).

Probably the best thing would be for an incoming freshman to talk with the other players as so much varies from school to school. Also, take into consideration other factors like work study, etc.

I may not be teh brightest (don't start GW ) bulb in the pack, but isn't thinms what teh NCAA was complaining about, students taking minimum hours?

I am not a school advisor, but in my experience, spring semester is much more difficult of an adjustment, but that may depend on the individual.

BTW, if your son takes 12 credit hours and fails ONE of those courses, he might be in trouble. Taking the minimum is dangerous stuff IMO.

Athletes should be working with experienced advisors (in most cases) that guide them to take the right courses at the right times(not all the difficult ones together).

It's better to take more, then drop a class if needed. Mine took 18 last semester and dropped one elective = 16. Also find out how many credit hours are needed for graduation, in my sons major it is 132 I do beleive. It is almost impossible to graduate in 4 years these days, without summer courses, but most baseball players have other things on their mind in summer and will take only if necessary. Also, be aware that for scholarship students, you may need to get permission to use schollie dollars in the summer.

JMO

Mine just graduated from a JUCO with his Associates.
He took 15-18 every semester, and dropped one class after the first day due to grading requirements - only three grades given: a mid-term, a 20 page research paper, and the final. He didn't want to take the chance it would pull down his GPA. (As it turns out, he changed his major so that class would have been a wash anyway.)

I wouldn't recommend taking only 12 hours, esp. in the fall.
Spring is the tough semester with a lot of missed classes and it would make more sense to take a lighter load then if you really felt it was necessary.
And as others have pointed out, 12 hours is the minimum to particiapte in baseball and keep full-time status for parent insurance, etc. Taking only 12 leaves no room for error.

My son is a decent student who has no interest in being a student and he managed the 15+ hours just fine.

quote:

Originally posted by CPLZ:
21 hours...but that's required of all cadets at West Point...there are no fifth year seniors

Maybe not anymore, but check your history. Start with George S. Patton Jr. He never would have graduated under the current standards. What a loss that would have been.


CPLZ, many thanks to your son for choosing to serve.

He started with 12 as a fresh. at junior college. Didnt know how he would make the adjustment to living on campus and that lifestyle, and also baseball every day and a fall game schedule. He never took more than 15 a semester while he was there. He also graduated on time in 2 years. He took summer classes, mostly online. Also there were very short classes right befor school started. When they went back for spring sem. ther was a month that the baseball team was required to be there and an easy class taken during that time. It was that he needed to do well in 4 classes than do not so well in 5 or 6.

take more than 12 that way if a class kicks ur butt, you can drop it. dont want to take 12 hours and end up messing up Algebra.

Also maybe juco wants you to limit ur classes so you dont run out of classes by ur second year. JMO

quote:

BTW, if your son takes 12 credit hours and fails ONE of those courses, he might be in trouble. Taking the minimum is dangerous stuff IMO.

Very true. 24 minimum hours are now required to be baseball eligible by registration fall sophmore year. No more getting caught up in the fall. I think mine took 18 and dropped 3 hours fall of freshman year.

quote:

Originally posted by Rock 44:
take more than 12 that way if a class kicks ur butt, you can drop it. dont want to take 12 hours and end up messing up Algebra.

Also maybe juco wants you to limit ur classes so you dont run out of classes by ur second year. JMO

No. The advisor is suggesting a reduced number of credits because they have seen what happens to athletes or working students who think they can do it all.

I don't see what the point is of taking extra classes just so you can drop one later. Wouldn't it make more sense to take a reasonable load of courses and focus on doing well in the courses you signed up for?

quote:

Wouldn't it make more sense to take a reasonable load of courses and focus on doing well in the courses you signed up for?

Indeed Nitric.

I argue the toughest of all semesters is the first one by incoming freshman. More students have done harm to their GPA in this semester than any other one. Many spend the rest of their college careers trying to make up for it.

If there ever was an argument to reduce the course load, it would be the first semester in my mind. First learn to do well in school and then learn to increase the load IF necessary. Throwing cost issues and institutional pressures aside, what difference does it make in the grand scheme of things if a student took 8 or 10 semesters to graduate? One's resume never states how many semesters it took to graduate but they almost always state what a student's GPA is (assuming the GPA is decent).

Obviously, some students can handle a large work load, athletics, and perform admirably in the classroom. I think for many, the pressures of a new life, being away from home, new responsibilities, and athletics can be moderated by choosing a reasonable work load which can facilitate success down the road.

There's a fine line between taking too many classes and just right...

First semester freshman year, my son took 17 hours including 2 sciences, each with a lab. Could have been all right...if he lived at home like most of the other students. But he lived far away from home. He is our oldest, meaning we hadn't experienced a child going to college and didn't know what to expect. ! Add to the class and lab schedule a work-study schedule and baseball practice and adjusting to being independent with no one forcing him to study (there was no mandatory study table provided and no other study support) and we had a recipe for near disaster. He has turned it around but we learned for our subsequent children that being a stellar high school student doesn't always make the jump to college.

Living away from home in perhaps a different culture can be quite an adjustment. Better to lighten up the first semester to adjust and do well than to load it up--only to drop a class or not do as well as you'd like... anyway, that is what we learned for our family.

Oooh, ClevelandDad! Just saw your post! Wish I had thought of saying it like you did!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by play baseball:
Oooh, ClevelandDad! Just saw your post! Wish I had thought of saying it like you did!!!!

Wrong. I wish I would have thought of saying it like you did playbaseball

quote:

Originally posted by play baseball:
Oooh, ClevelandDad! Just saw your post! Wish I had thought of saying it like you did!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by ClevelandDad:
Wrong. I wish I would have thought of saying it like you did playbaseball

Ok...Ok... the two of you compromise!



Indeed Nitric.

First semester freshman year, my son took 17 hours including 2 sciences, each with a lab. Could have been all right...if he
I argue the toughest of all semesters is the first one by incoming freshman. More students have done harm to their GPA in
lived at home like most of the other students. But he lived far away from home. He is our oldest, meaning we hadn't
this semester than any other one. Many spend the rest of their college careers trying to make up for it.
experienced a child going to college and didn't know what to expect. ! Add to the class and lab schedule a work-study
If there ever was an argument to reduce the course load, it would be the first semester in my mind. First learn to do well
schedule and baseball practice and adjusting to being independent with no one forcing him to study (there was no mandatory
in school and then learn to increase the load IF necessary. Throwing cost issues and institutional pressures aside, what
study table provided and no other study support) and we had a recipe for near disaster. He has turned it around but we
difference does it make in the grand scheme of things if a student took 8 or 10 semesters to graduate? One's resume never
learned for our subsequent children that being a stellar high school student doesn't always make the jump to college.
states how many semesters it took to graduate but they almost always state what a student's GPA is (assuming the GPA is
Living away from home in perhaps a different culture can be quite an adjustment. Better to lighten up the first semester
decent).

to adjust and do well than to load it up--only to drop a class or not do as well as you'd like... anyway, that is what we
Obviously, some students can handle a large work load, athletics, and perform admirably in the classroom. I think for
learned for our family.
many, the pressures of a new life, being away from home, new responsibilities, and athletics can be moderated by choosing a reasonable work load which can facilitate success down the road.


Well said...both of you!

Mine went JC and then on to a 4 year.

He took 18 his first semester and had no problems. It worked out pretty good as outside of baseball there is not allot to do in Hobbs New Mexico except baseball and maybe alittle hunting. Baseball took allot of time but there is still allot of free time since they had no football on the week-ends. Somtimes he actually studyed out of boredoom!!

I hate to say it but in my son's experience the academics at the JC were not nearly as difficult as they were the fisrt semester at the 4 year school.

quote:

I don't see what the point is of taking extra classes just so you can drop one later. Wouldn't it make more sense to take a reasonable load of courses and focus on doing well in the courses you signed up for?

In my first semester i received as D in Algerbra, it was very hard and the professor was very unhelpful. I almost got an F and if i had i would have been lucky i was taking 16 hours. say i took 12 hours i that might have had 3 less credits.

Well, KD, as you can see there is a solid consensus that KD Son should take between 12 and 21 hours.

I'll start by saying that I went to a small, private, division 3 school. Not that it is much tougher than the large universities, but I've tried comparing requirements and such with friends at big schools and I think it was tough.

Anyhow, in my 4 years of playing college ball I only took fewer than 14 credit hours a semester once, and that was my first semester and I took 13. I struggled with that 13 because of family issues 200 miles away and trying to deal with that and being on my own for the first time. Baseball had nothing to do with it. My school had a rule that you paid one flat rate for tuition between 12 and 17 credit hours. So in the fall I'd load up on credits and usually took 14 or 15 during the spring. When it came time for my senior year I was in a bind. I was good on credits, but had a few classes that I was required to take that for multiple reasons were pushed back, so I ended up taking 18 credits. This happened because I had to arrange to do my student teaching in the fall instead of the regularly scheduled spring where I could have taken one of the required classes at the same time because of baseball. My advisors in both history and education departments encouraged me to quit baseball so I could graduate on time, but I told them plain and simple that not too many guys get to play 4 years of college baseball so I was playing. These two peoples' life works involved studying and research for many years to receive their degrees. I told them that my life work to that point had been baseball and I'd been working for that last year since I was six years old...

Anyhow, I'm off track...I was able to play my last season of baseball while working on 18 credits (which because of school policy I had to apply to the school registrar and pay more tuition for). I had 18 hours of class a week, plus baseball stuff, and part of my 18 hours of class each week was a class for my senior research paper (I was a history major) that had me in multiple libraries doing hours upon hours of research.

My play on the field struggled a little bit that last spring, but I still succeeded in the end. At the end of the semester I had a 3.0 for the semester, completed my baseball career, graduated college in 4 years without taking any summer classes, and wrote a thesis (that I feel exceeded it's grade) on how the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan helped lead the baseball world to the integration of the major leagues.

In short, take as many credits as you can without having to pay more than the usual tuition...he'll figure out how to make it work...

12.

I do beleive there is no one size fits all for the question. Lot depends on your son and his goals.

I agree freshman first semester is very difficult, it's difficult for every freshman, not just athletes. A lot depends on the program. My son had 10 hours of required study hall first semester and that helped a lot to force him to do his work.

Your son's advisors are most likely advising what they feel works for their program.

Baseball is the vehicle to get you to college, and if lucky, have some of it paid for along the way. It is virtually impossible to finish school in 4 years these days.

However, some who run out of eligility, either due to not taking the minimum requirements or lost credits through transfer will tell you they are sorry that they did not take enough credits to be close to graduation.

quote:

My son had 10 hours of required study hall first semester and that helped a lot to force him to do his work

TPM, was that 10 hours a week or 10 hours a month?

quote:

Originally posted by Infield08:

quote:

My son had 10 hours of required study hall first semester and that helped a lot to force him to do his work

TPM, was that 10 hours a week or 10 hours a month?

weekly two hours a day, sunday through thursday. He worked very hard that first semester to get "released" from required study hall second semester.

Older son took 15 and 15 his freshman year; bad move as adjustment to college nearly choked him.

Younger son took 15 and 15 and sailed through with excellent grades.

Mandatory study hall is helpful, but the biggest academic factors, IMHO, are these:

1. Go to class.
2. Go to class.
3. Go to class.
4. Pay attention.
5. Take exhaustive notes.
6. Do the required reading.
7. Do study.
8. Repeat 1,2,3,4.

I'm sorry...I got a little distracted...what was No. 4 again?


Great list hokieone...can't lose with this advice!

quote:

weekly two hours a day, sunday through thursday.

Very impressive -- sounds like Clemson's program was as serious about academic success as it was about baseball.