How many classes?

[wanderingalbatross]

I've been told graduate students typically take fewer classes than in undergrad because a greater amount of reading and writing goes into each, but I was wondering if it's possible/reasonable to take 4+ classes per term without becoming overwhelmed. If a Master's program requires say 36 credits, is 48 credits doable within the 2-year timeframe? Can you continue taking classes during 2nd year and not have a compromised thesis? I love to learn and improve my knowledge base, and I want the opportunity to get the most out of what's offered.

[JZappa]

At least from the math end of things this is a bad idea for two reasons. 1st if you're a TA/RA or doing any other sort of work on top of your degree it will be pretty intense already and on top of that if you have to pass any comps from what I understand they are significantly harder than normal coursework. 2nd most of the learning you do in a graduate program is going to be outside of the classroom from doing research rather than from taking coursework. Generally research actually gives you the chance to learn enough about something to be useful while coursework gives you enough information to know what someone is talking about if it gets brought up.

[rising_star]

Yes, it's possible. I took four courses per semester during the first year of my MA. It worked for me because I was able to quickly immerse myself in the literature of what was at teh time a new discipline to me. But, it also meant that I was insanely busy at the end of the semester writing four final papers.

[CarlieE]

I'm taking four courses now BUT one of them is a directed reading with my advisor and we meet every other week. I think it depends on your field and what kind of workload you have. I have a very heavy reading list. This semester is comes to about 1000-1500 pages. 

 

Echoing rising_star, I think organization is going to be KEY to getting my papers and projects in by the end of the semester. For sure in one class I can't take an incomplete.... 

 

I think it depends on your field and individual people; one girl in a senior cohort overloaded every semester while others could only cope with the compulsory 3 (12 credits). 

 

Keep in mind that there may other "drains" on your time such as department events, talks, roundtables, seminars, workshops etc that you will be required to participate in or that your advisor will "strongly recommend". 

[Dal PhDer]

It's doable...but from my experience, graduate school is not about reading and learning literature...it's a lot of synthesizing, critiquing, and critical thinking - this takes a lot of time and energy...so I might be hesitant. I took 3 courses one semester and felt very overwhelmed - I was doing RA and TA work too...but I did feel the extra responsibility, content, and pressure wasn't what I wanted. 

 

I would really ask yourself what each of the courses are adding to your thesis topic. It's one thing to take courses out of interest in undergrad, but in graduate school, you really want to particular of the courses you take - you want them to compliment your thesis topic and degree (outside of the required courses). If it's something you're interested in, but might not be directly related to your research, you might want to audit it!

 

Also, if you're planning on writing a thesis proposal and defending it during the semester, and one of those courses aren't a research methods class...then you're going to be overwhelmed most likely. Writing and defending a thesis proposal is a class in and of itself. Have you talked to your supervisor?

[Duna]

I have a very heavy reading list. This semester is comes to about 1000-1500 pages. 

Wait, 1000-1500 pages? That is per week?

With stuff I have to read for my 3 classes and papers I want to write for those and stuff I might want to do for my own research it adds up to about 1000 pages per week (and yes, I think that is too much and no, I don't particularly enjoy it. I always try to tell people that I'm not that kind of academic.)

Edited February 18, 2013 by Saviya

[CarlieE]

Yep.. right now I'm at about 1000 pages a week, but in 2 weeks once spring break hits I'll be at 1500. 

 

I think it depends on your discipline/program, but this seems to be the average in my program. 

[Duna]

Yep.. right now I'm at about 1000 pages a week, but in 2 weeks once spring break hits I'll be at 1500. 

 

I think it depends on your discipline/program, but this seems to be the average in my program. 

Yeah, I can believe that. To return to the topic: I guess it depends on whether you have to work and also, uhm, whether you can pay for the classes I guess? If it is a funded program, they usually only fund a certain amount of units. In addition, if it is about the learning experience, I think I'd rather go with less classes and put much effort into a deeper understanding than going completely crazy on the course load. This is not undergrad anymore, it is okay to read some extra books, write a conference paper in a class or participate in research projects at your school.

[ANDS!]

. . .all depends on the discipline.  Someone mentioned math, and if someone were taking 4 "real" math courses (3/4 credit hours) - my god I can't even imagine.  Top that off with any responsibilities you might have out of the gate - yuck.

 

Other programs it is probably much easier to get away with.  I like to think less in terms of how many classes, and more in terms of how many classes AND units.  

 

I would finally say. . .these people want you to succeed; if loading up on classes impedes that they (should) tell you otherwise.

[Metaellipses]

I have a question regarding number of classes per semester actually. And this is probably just me being a space cadet, but in my offer letter it listed a table of minimum credits and maximum credits graduate assistants are allowed to take. The minimum per semester is nine. Does that mean I'll be taking three classes in addition to teaching a class? That could get a bit hairy during the semester I teach two classes. I have no idea if you get credits for being a TA, in which case that would be 2 classes + a TAship.

[rising_star]

Usually you can sign up for research hours or an independent study to help get you to the minimum number of hours. In my MA program they had something called "Graduate Student Seminar" which was just hours you could enroll in to meet the minimum with no reading or actual facetime required. Everyone always had at least 3 units of that, and sometimes 6 or 9 depending on the person's circumstances.

[CarlieE]

My program has a minimum of 12 credits per semester, but each course is 4 credits generally... some labs are 1 credit, some seminars vary from 1-4 and some out-of-dept courses are 2 credits. We're free to mix-n-match so long as we hit 12 credits per semester. 

 

I believe that TAing counts for a couple of credits too so that goes towards the 12. 

[Dal PhDer]

I'm with rising_star.

 

they don't normally talk about courses as 1 credit, they normally refer to credit hours. Typically, one semestered course is 3 credit hours. So it sounds like the min for you would be 9 credit hours...in my program, that would work out to 3 courses a semester...

 

Honestly, if that's the case, that's a lot. 

 

For my program, students had to take a minimum of 12 credit hours for their entire degree, with a maximum of 18 credit hours. So that means between 4 -6 courses for the entire program which is to be completed during your first year.

 

There's certainly exceptions, and you can add more credit hours...but they typically want you to take max 3 courses a semester and nothing more.

 

Is your program thesis based or course based?

[Metaellipses]

It's course based. There's a master's paper between my MA and my PhD that I have to turn in to get approved to move on. Other than that, it's just the 30 credit hours (over two years) and a language requirement.

[koli0701]

I am doing my Masters in Food and Nutrition with a background in English. Because I have to take prerequisites, I am taking 17 credits this semester. 4 grad classes (9 credits) and 2 undergrad classes (8 credits). This includes biochem, food science, grad level stats, research, and two other nutrition courses. I would not suggest that anyone take this course load if at all possible. 

[juilletmercredi]

My PhD program required 60 credits so I took 4 courses a semester for 5 semesters, although I suppose I could've taken 3 classes a semester for 6 semesters.  It was a lot of work especially on top of research, but it's not impossible.  I did not, however, have to TA.

 

In one of my departments, you can get 3 hours of credit for RA and TA work but you're limited to a certain amount of the 30 you're required.  In my other department, there is nothing like that unless you design an independent study with a professor, so that's basically 30 hours of cold hard coursework.

[Sumac77]

I know this is probably discipline specific, but is anyone able to average the number of hours they spend working on reading/writing/research per course (3 credit hours)? I'm interested more in the jump between Master's and doctoral work. I averaged about 5 hours of reading and coursework per course during my Masters, and I'm struggling with the same question of how many courses to take as I start my doctorate because I anticipate a greatly increased workload. Thoughts on this? I'll be in Education, so not worrying about labs and things like that at the moment.

[Grev]

. . .all depends on the discipline.  Someone mentioned math, and if someone were taking 4 "real" math courses (3/4 credit hours) - my god I can't even imagine.  Top that off with any responsibilities you might have out of the gate - yuck.

 

Other programs it is probably much easier to get away with.  I like to think less in terms of how many classes, and more in terms of how many classes AND units. 

 

First, I'm going to have to disagree with this statement- 3/4 credit hours of graduate level work is hard whatever discipline you're in.  Math is neither inherently easier nor harder than Literature, etc.

 

My MA was on the quarter system (4 credits/class generally) and the recommended pace was two graduate seminars, plus a few credits in Pedagogy related to the mandatory TA component.  I took three seminars one term, and while it was do-able in the short run I was also spending 8-10 hours a day in the library working on coursework or preparing/teaching my class.  On another occasion I did an independent research project in addition to my other two courses.  My supervising prof let me turn in a (longer) joint paper for the project and one of my seminars, and without that I think it would have been way too much work.  Grad school is about quality of learning, not quantity, I've found.

 

Also, the term you take exams think of the exams as being at least a full class' worth of work and stress.  Definitely don't double up that term if you can help it.