What counts as a "heavy course load"?

[palindrome]

I took 155 credits in college (about 44 courses at my school). Would it be fair for me to write that I took "heavy course loads" in college?

[Pamphilia]

I took 155 credits in college (about 44 courses at my school). Would it be fair for me to write that I took "heavy course loads" in college?

So that would be like eleven courses a year, and five or six a semester? I don't know about your school, but at mine that wouldn't be a heavy course load, as students took on average five courses a semester, but often six, depending on the credit hours for each. I think it depends on the average course load at your own institution, though.

[palindrome]

So that would be like eleven courses a year, and five or six a semester? I don't know about your school, but at mine that wouldn't be a heavy course load, as students took on average five courses a semester, but often six, depending on the credit hours for each. I think it depends on the average course load at your own institution, though.

Hmm. That was a dumb question on my part. I guess it was more an issue of distribution than average load. I never took less than 16 credits, but in two semesters I took 20+ credits (6 or 7 courses). 15 credits/semester was enough to graduate. Thanks for the input, it was very helpful.

Edited December 2, 2009 by palindrome

[Pamphilia]

Hmm. That was a dumb question on my part. I guess it was more an issue of distribution than average load. I never took less than 16 credits, but in two semesters I took 20+ credits (6 or 7 courses). 15 credits/semester was enough to graduate. Thanks for the input, it was very helpful.

Yeesh, 20+ credits? Sounds heavy to me. Perhaps it depends on how you phrase it--I mean, I don't think 16 credits a semester would necessarily count as "heavy," but if you if you specify those semesters with more than 20? Totally.

[ColorlessGreen]

Depends on the types of classes, too. I have one friend who is in the engineering department and considers 15 hours to be a heavy load (and I'm sure any other students or teachers in her department would agree), but I have taken somewhere between 19-21 hours of humanities courses for the past two years and wouldn't consider that heavy at all, even though 18 hours is the maximum an undergraduate is allowed to take at my school without special permission. Maybe that's because all those hours usually only work out to 5 classes, though, due to 4 or 5 hour language courses.

In short, I'm sure 20+ looks heavy on any transcript, but it would be especially difficult to handle in certain disciplines.

[newage2012]

Wow i better point it out on my own SOP too. For my first 2 years in community college i never went below 25 credit hours per term (it was on quarter system and about 6 courses per quarter INCLUDING SUMMER). By the time I transfer out I racked 210 quarter hours, in UIC that converts into 141 semester hours, and continue the last two years with additional 73 hours. So 214 semester hours when I got my bachelors.

[Ziz]

I think if you felt that it was heavier than normal, it's worth pointing out. Especially if you still did very well in those classes.