My son is taking 19 credits in the fall (1 extra class plus a science lab) he was instructed to do this so he can take 12 credits in the spring. Just wondering if this is the norm?
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My oldest son took that approach for a couple years as an engineering major. Another strategy was to take the harder major courses in the Fall or take an additional class over winter session.
When I was a college athlete many moons ago, I preferred the winter sessions classes because I'd rather stay at college (in RI) than go to my parents new house in Ohio where I knew I'd be bored stiff. Also a winter session gave me the opportunity to focus on one class for three weeks that I might not ordinarily take with a full or almost full course load.
I think you are on the right track with this approach.
Good luck!
My son is required to take two courses over the summer and then he takes a lighter load in the spring.
My daughter and I took an easy elective course in the spring rather than go the imbalanced route. Making school easier in the spring is sensible regardless of which route you take. It’s not just about classroom time. It’s about lightening the study load. My son took summer school courses online while away playing ball to graduate in three years.
Iowa requires 12 hours to be eligible fr athletics (assume that's a standard?) They make son register for 15 hours a semester both fall and spring so he can drop a class if he needs do. He's never needed to, so now on target to graduate early. His advisor (through baseball) also ensures classes are pretty much over by noon and he has a good number of online classes, although last year he still walked into an in-person class an hour after it ended because he hadn't been there for three weeks and forgot what time it met.
But I digress.
19 seems like a lot. Won't he have fall practice and other stuff taking up time? I'd worry about it a little bit unless he's a super smart, school comes easy kind of kid. School comes easy to mine but not 19 credit hours a semester easy.
Thanks all. just curious, for those that took extra classes in the fall, did the costs offset because of the lighter spring course load. For example we just got an additional bill for the extra credits. Have a call into the bursar's office to make sure it all evens out.
Mine took two in summer before freshman year and 15 in fall and spring. Thinking about taking a winter session this year since he has apartment and can get extra work in if possible.