I'm looking to start college this coming Winter session - and am unsure of what would be considered a 'safe' work load to start out on. I'm in a transfer program (starting out at a CC, transferring to a Uni) for Social Work. I work part-time, and have 2 kids...so trying to factor that in to 'study-time'.

How many did you take per semester, and did you find it hard?

my boyfriend, siblings, friends, we're all on/going to be on that program. ask your counselor what a good number of credit hours would be and they'll usually work with you to make sure you don't have too much time taken up but also you get the amount of credits you need. to get an idea, my boyfriend's taking 13 credit hours this semester which is kind of light, but he's going to make up for it with more next semester.

See I didn't think 13 was light, LOL. I was thinking of only taking 7 or 8, but yeesh - it will take me AGES to finish at that rate. Maybe I'll try 12, heh

it's pretty nice though. every other day he has classes until 11am ish and the rest he only has one class until 9:30am. there's no class on fridays at our community college either. but yeah to be completely finished in the two years you have to take alot of credit hours.

I would talk to your advisor-but given you that work, you probably don't want more than 12 hours ( which would likely be 4 classes.) 15 hours or more always got a bit challenging, and I only worked nights/weekends, without a family to worry about. At my school, 12 hrs. is considered 'full time'.

12 credit hours here is usually 3 classes, as most of them are 4 ch per class. Though, 11 would be ideal then, I guess. 2-4 ch classes, and 1-3 ch class. I'll look into it! Thanks!

I would say 12 wouldn't be too bad! I'm taking 18 this coming fall semester O_O

When I was in university I spent 15 - 20 hours a week in classes!

Oh wait, maybe I've misunderstood. I thought credit hours were actual hours, per week. Perhaps they're not. We don't use credit hours here.

Nope - they're different here. Those are called contact hours. A semester if 12 *credit hours* could be 9 hours in the classroom, or the same amount of credit hours, could be 18 hours in the classroom. It's just hour much the class is worth.

They could be actual hours per week but not always. In my case this coming semester they are actual hours but when for example you have a lab it would be three actual hours in class but would count as only 1 credit hour. It varies.

are u in the US? are credit hrs different in other countries? are they called credit hrs? i think 13 credit hrs is about 3.5 classes. right now i am taking 8 credit hrs and have a very light scheduel. However i think the work load is different with every class. I think if u are taking 2 very demanding classes that are only 8 credit hrs it would feel like 14 credit hrs. i would talk to the counselor at the CC and find out where u need to start and they can come up with an ideal scheduel for you.

I am in the US, yes. I don't know if they're different in other countries, heh. 13 credit hours would be about 3.5 classes here, yes.

From what people are saying, it seems somewhere between 9 and 11 hours would be ideal!

I am taking 8 credit hrs and that is 2 classes and 2 labs and i dont feel like i have a work load at all. I am not working but i do have a child. It doesnt really have an effect on my life a whole lot though.

I'm just worried about how hard it will be to take classes. I work opposite my husband, so I have the kids during the day, until he gets home in the afternoon. Then I usually work evenings. So - I'm not sure how to configure it yet LOL

I am taking 9 ch, three classes/

in the us theres two ways its done some schools do 3 Credit hours others do 4 Credit hours per class? If you need financial aid you have to take a minimuim of 12 credit hours a semester if you don't then go for less and take longer they say you need 3 hours of homeworkk per hours in class another option is to take some online classes thats what i'm doing

the college I'll be going to does both. Some classes are 3 credits and some are 4, lol. So you can mix and match, I suppose.

I'll have to talk to my advisor again when my stuff for FASFA comes in.

I did an online course for my friend, and that kept me pretty busy. Though - still not completely knocking it out, even if I do 2 on-campus classes, and 1 online - that probably wouldn't be so bad.

yeah i feel u. it took me almost a month to get everything figured out with my scheduel and the school. its hard.

I think it all depends. When I was in school I took 4 classes (which came out to be 13-14 credits) and also worked 32 hrs a week (which is considered full time). Basically I went to school Monday Mornings and from 8-5pm on Tuesday and Thursday. I had Wednesday as my 'study day' and I worked 8 hrs a day Friday-Sat-Sun-Mon. It's possible to work full time and go to school full time. It sucks though.

I'm not really too worried about work, so much as the fact that I have to do it around my husbands schedule and do still have a family to take care of. I don't want to get overwhelmed heh

Most of my schools classes are 3 credits, sometimes 4 for more intense classes or sometimes 1 for really easy classes, like online yoga lol. I've always taken 4 classes a semester, so around 12-13 credits a semester. 4 or more classes a semester is consider full time but in order to graduate from my school in 4 years you need to take 15 credits a semester...so I'm on the 4.5 year plan lol. I've taken quite a few Social Work classes during my school career, it seems like it's a major that quite a few working parents invest their time in. The social work program here is really considerate of the fact that their students are very busy outside of school, too. I don't find 4 classes a semester hard because I'm used to it, I do work 2 part time jobs but I'm childless, so that certainly makes it easier. I'd talk to an adviser like everyone else suggested, just try to set aside time in advance for you to get your homework done.

Here you take 120 credits a year, all my modules are 10 credits, I have 20 uni contact hours.

My entire major is 162 credit hours and it normally takes 5 years to finish it. XD

It's 120 credits per year, this year entirely 10 credit modules, so 12 modules, next year some are 10 credit and some are 20.