How many hours did your son take Freshman year?

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

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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.

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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.

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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?

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Originally posted by Infield08:

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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!

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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.