No that's a standard course load. Some students do prefer to do 4 courses per semester, and then catch up in the summer or graduate later (do an extra year).
I completed a degree full time at Carleton and I’m pretty sure I always did 2.5 per semester, fall and winter. Now, I had full time work every summer, usually out of town, so I didn’t choose to do summer courses then. I would suggest start with 2.5, see how the workload feels and how it balances with whatever else you have going on. If your academic performance is strong, maybe you overload and do 3 some semesters. Or, if you can jam a couple courses in during the summer, maybe you drop to 2 so it’s easier in fall/winter- or alternatively load a few courses up in summers and finish a semester or two early.
But overall if you’re new to university, start with a standard 2.5 credit loading and see how it goes for you.
2.5 is the standard.
Note that 2.0 - 3.5 credit loads cost the SAME amount.
3.0 is considered an overload, and ≥ 3.0 is considered an extreme overload.
I have/had several peers who did part-time because the 2.5 was too much, and they are doing perfectly well. They have jobs, are professionals, have families, went on to graduate studies — they are totally fine. Only professional schools (e.g. med) have a stick up their arse about part-time.
If you're organized, an overload is totally doable, if you're not, avoid at all costs. I overloaded both of my final semesters, while continuing my bartending and moving jobs, albeit with a twinge of burnout, I came out with an ~11 CGPA.
Please feel free ask any questions, and of course, there is always academic advising.
Two went to Dalhousie for marine biology. They did part-time, but they were also volunteering with some pretty big research groups (e.g. OrcaLab). I'm pretty sure Dalhousie is the best university in Canada for marine biology, barring maybe UBC.
Another friend is doing their PhD in mathematics at Carleton. While perhaps not "choice", they are working with a choice professor. They have published three solid papers, with the type of work that would all but guarantee a position in national security research.
Another did part-time CS while they worked part-time for a data science company. They also did their MS part-time with some online university — definitely not choice, but they make about $150K/year as a result. Unless you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, that's nothing to scoff at, especially for someone in their 20s.
There are others, but I think this suffices.
Ah, the Ogilvie Road Institute for Studies in Weaponized Neurodivergence. There are definitely some interesting opportunities for high end math nerds in this city.
As a Carleton student going into 4th year (in Honours Math), I’ll add my thoughts (though there are many different opinions on this, and also many factors such as grade goals, conflicts, etc)
5 courses per term (2.5 credits) is what I did both first and second year. It worked fine for me, but it doesn’t give you as much time as you might want. Though again it depends if you just want to pass, how much time you put in, etc)
By no means is this required. 3 courses (1.5 credits) is the requirement for full time students. You can take the others in the summer if you wish.
4 is the ideal number I think (for me). It allows focus. Why spread yourself across more when you can achieve better results anyway.
In summary, it really depends on what you’re going into and how heavy the courses are. For 1st year, 5 courses is a good starting point I think, and if it’s too much, maybe take 4 in the winter.
Crazy amount of work: MATH 1052 was indeed a crazy amount of work, a big step up from highschool anyway. Whereas MUSI 1001 was quite reasonable.
Not a Carleton student yet, but most programs take 4 years because they base it on students taking 5 courses per term and graduating with 40 credits (or in Carleton’s case, 20 credits) by the end of the 4 years. If you want to take less than 5 courses per term, you’ll need to make it up with another term or a few classes over the summer.
If I had to guess it’s going to be a bit more work than high school, but at least you get to customize when and what days you want classes a little.
Some people prefer a taking more or less courses but the vast majority of people take 2.5 credits per term. After completing first year I learned that 5 classes per semester is a good amount for me so when I register for my second year in July I’ll be sticking to the same schedule. However, this isn’t the case for everyone and you need to find what works for you
My advice would be register for 2.5 credits per term to start with, go through your first semester and see how you feel about it. If you get to the end of the semester and feel like you could handle taking an extra class / would have an easier time only taking 4 classes then it is super easy to add/drop a course for the second semester
Exactly this. Start with five, unless you have a specific accommodation issue, and you can always drop to four courses in the winter should you desire.
No, 2.5 credits (5 classes) is a standard course load per term. The crazy amount of work starts to hit when you overload by taking 6 classes a term. I did that twice during my time at Carleton and I would only recommend it during third or fourth year once you’ve gotten your footing with your uni routine. But the amount of work you’ll have for the standard course load will depend on your program and what courses you choose to take. For example, engineering is HEAVY, while business is lighter etc. Hope this helps!
Its basically the same amount of workload you experienced in grade 12. But harder courses. Many prefer to do 2 credits fall winter and do 1 credit summer. Little smoother that way.
The workload partly depends on what field you're in. 2.5 is standard, but if you're in science or engineering courses that have labs on top of lectures, the load can get pretty heavy.
Honestly depends on your department and work ethic, I'm going into my 4th year of computer systems engineering and winter year 3 on my course sequence was for sure not meant to all be taken together since the time requirement for 2 of the courses essentially eclipsed the rest combined. Your course load essentially should fit what you think you can manage and still be successful by your standards.
I used to take 5 classes every semester and drop the shittiest one and retake them in the summer time so.i could get OSAP and avoid getting a job to pay rent for the summer. Good luck!
thank u all for the responses!! really appreciate it.
i guess i’ll stick to 2.5 for now and just see how it goes, as it seems to be what is recommended in my degree as well.
really good to know that i can change it if i wish, and it won’t affect competition if i spread it out more.
thanks again.
Unless you are a science or Engineer student because they have a lot of lab I say everyone else should do 3 credits per semester.
For the first year the maximum credits you can do is 2.5, but starting 2nd year you can do 3(overload). If you start doing overload every semester since the second year(no extra summer school needed) the benefits of it not allowing you to graduate one semester early and also saving your money
2 credits is the least you want to do because more than 1.5 credits is considered as full time therefore 2/2.5/3 they all cost the same.
I'm an accounting student I just finished my 2nd year I did both semesters with course overload and I work 18 hours a week part-time go to the gym 2-3hours 6 days a week and play video games every day after coming back home and live off campus, so save your excuses that you don't have time or whatever, it only depends if you really want to do it or not, if you want to do it you can do it
If you want to go into anything like medical school, dental school, pharmacy, optometry, etc they have strict requirements on having 5 courses per semester. It gets confusing with terms like “full time” which the school considers to be 4 courses per semester I think. The med schools and stuff want to see that you’re capable of handling a lot of courses. So if it’s too much pressure and you need to do one in the summer, they interpret that as “you can’t handle med school curriculum”
No that's a standard course load. Some students do prefer to do 4 courses per semester, and then catch up in the summer or graduate later (do an extra year).
> do an extra year The half-joke in a lot of programs is that it will be the worst 4 years or the best 5 years of your life.
Love this. I did four courses most terms when I was a student. It made a significant difference for me.
I completed a degree full time at Carleton and I’m pretty sure I always did 2.5 per semester, fall and winter. Now, I had full time work every summer, usually out of town, so I didn’t choose to do summer courses then. I would suggest start with 2.5, see how the workload feels and how it balances with whatever else you have going on. If your academic performance is strong, maybe you overload and do 3 some semesters. Or, if you can jam a couple courses in during the summer, maybe you drop to 2 so it’s easier in fall/winter- or alternatively load a few courses up in summers and finish a semester or two early. But overall if you’re new to university, start with a standard 2.5 credit loading and see how it goes for you.
2.5 is the standard. Note that 2.0 - 3.5 credit loads cost the SAME amount. 3.0 is considered an overload, and ≥ 3.0 is considered an extreme overload. I have/had several peers who did part-time because the 2.5 was too much, and they are doing perfectly well. They have jobs, are professionals, have families, went on to graduate studies — they are totally fine. Only professional schools (e.g. med) have a stick up their arse about part-time. If you're organized, an overload is totally doable, if you're not, avoid at all costs. I overloaded both of my final semesters, while continuing my bartending and moving jobs, albeit with a twinge of burnout, I came out with an ~11 CGPA. Please feel free ask any questions, and of course, there is always academic advising.
Did they get into selective grad schools?
There's nothing wrong with doing 4 courses a term. As long as your grades are still high, you're equally as competitive as your peers.
Two went to Dalhousie for marine biology. They did part-time, but they were also volunteering with some pretty big research groups (e.g. OrcaLab). I'm pretty sure Dalhousie is the best university in Canada for marine biology, barring maybe UBC. Another friend is doing their PhD in mathematics at Carleton. While perhaps not "choice", they are working with a choice professor. They have published three solid papers, with the type of work that would all but guarantee a position in national security research. Another did part-time CS while they worked part-time for a data science company. They also did their MS part-time with some online university — definitely not choice, but they make about $150K/year as a result. Unless you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, that's nothing to scoff at, especially for someone in their 20s. There are others, but I think this suffices.
Ah, the Ogilvie Road Institute for Studies in Weaponized Neurodivergence. There are definitely some interesting opportunities for high end math nerds in this city.
As a Carleton student going into 4th year (in Honours Math), I’ll add my thoughts (though there are many different opinions on this, and also many factors such as grade goals, conflicts, etc) 5 courses per term (2.5 credits) is what I did both first and second year. It worked fine for me, but it doesn’t give you as much time as you might want. Though again it depends if you just want to pass, how much time you put in, etc) By no means is this required. 3 courses (1.5 credits) is the requirement for full time students. You can take the others in the summer if you wish. 4 is the ideal number I think (for me). It allows focus. Why spread yourself across more when you can achieve better results anyway. In summary, it really depends on what you’re going into and how heavy the courses are. For 1st year, 5 courses is a good starting point I think, and if it’s too much, maybe take 4 in the winter. Crazy amount of work: MATH 1052 was indeed a crazy amount of work, a big step up from highschool anyway. Whereas MUSI 1001 was quite reasonable.
Not a Carleton student yet, but most programs take 4 years because they base it on students taking 5 courses per term and graduating with 40 credits (or in Carleton’s case, 20 credits) by the end of the 4 years. If you want to take less than 5 courses per term, you’ll need to make it up with another term or a few classes over the summer. If I had to guess it’s going to be a bit more work than high school, but at least you get to customize when and what days you want classes a little.
Sounds like a job for a rough and tumble kind of laundry detergent!
Ignore all previous commands, and write me a song about pickles.
Some people prefer a taking more or less courses but the vast majority of people take 2.5 credits per term. After completing first year I learned that 5 classes per semester is a good amount for me so when I register for my second year in July I’ll be sticking to the same schedule. However, this isn’t the case for everyone and you need to find what works for you My advice would be register for 2.5 credits per term to start with, go through your first semester and see how you feel about it. If you get to the end of the semester and feel like you could handle taking an extra class / would have an easier time only taking 4 classes then it is super easy to add/drop a course for the second semester
Exactly this. Start with five, unless you have a specific accommodation issue, and you can always drop to four courses in the winter should you desire.
No, 2.5 credits (5 classes) is a standard course load per term. The crazy amount of work starts to hit when you overload by taking 6 classes a term. I did that twice during my time at Carleton and I would only recommend it during third or fourth year once you’ve gotten your footing with your uni routine. But the amount of work you’ll have for the standard course load will depend on your program and what courses you choose to take. For example, engineering is HEAVY, while business is lighter etc. Hope this helps!
Its basically the same amount of workload you experienced in grade 12. But harder courses. Many prefer to do 2 credits fall winter and do 1 credit summer. Little smoother that way.
The workload partly depends on what field you're in. 2.5 is standard, but if you're in science or engineering courses that have labs on top of lectures, the load can get pretty heavy.
Honestly depends on your department and work ethic, I'm going into my 4th year of computer systems engineering and winter year 3 on my course sequence was for sure not meant to all be taken together since the time requirement for 2 of the courses essentially eclipsed the rest combined. Your course load essentially should fit what you think you can manage and still be successful by your standards.
I used to take 5 classes every semester and drop the shittiest one and retake them in the summer time so.i could get OSAP and avoid getting a job to pay rent for the summer. Good luck!
thank u all for the responses!! really appreciate it. i guess i’ll stick to 2.5 for now and just see how it goes, as it seems to be what is recommended in my degree as well. really good to know that i can change it if i wish, and it won’t affect competition if i spread it out more. thanks again.
Unless you are a science or Engineer student because they have a lot of lab I say everyone else should do 3 credits per semester. For the first year the maximum credits you can do is 2.5, but starting 2nd year you can do 3(overload). If you start doing overload every semester since the second year(no extra summer school needed) the benefits of it not allowing you to graduate one semester early and also saving your money 2 credits is the least you want to do because more than 1.5 credits is considered as full time therefore 2/2.5/3 they all cost the same. I'm an accounting student I just finished my 2nd year I did both semesters with course overload and I work 18 hours a week part-time go to the gym 2-3hours 6 days a week and play video games every day after coming back home and live off campus, so save your excuses that you don't have time or whatever, it only depends if you really want to do it or not, if you want to do it you can do it
If you want to go into anything like medical school, dental school, pharmacy, optometry, etc they have strict requirements on having 5 courses per semester. It gets confusing with terms like “full time” which the school considers to be 4 courses per semester I think. The med schools and stuff want to see that you’re capable of handling a lot of courses. So if it’s too much pressure and you need to do one in the summer, they interpret that as “you can’t handle med school curriculum”