How many courses should I take as a first year?

[td_ny]

Hi all, I am going to be starting at a Geography PhD program this fall and am wondering how many courses would be too many? I am planning on doing an independent study and 2 other courses. I would like to add on another course but am worried that it may be too much. The program I will be doing runs on the semester system. I am coming straight from undergrad at a huge public university. I've taken a graduate class before as an undergraduate and it wasn't too difficult, but it was only a master's level course. We read half a book a week and 2 journal articles. I don't really know what to expect out of a PhD program. I saw a syllabus for one of my classes and we will be reading 17 books. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

[hippyscientist]

This is a question you really need to be asking your department. I'll be enrolled on 3 3-credit modules and a single-credit seminar series, as per my department's requirements. You will need to find a PhD student handbook, or something which outlines the requirements in your specific program.  

[rising_star]

This is something to ask the second and third year students in your department. It also depends on the type of courses. GIS courses and graduate seminars have different types of workloads. In addition, will you be working as a TA or RA? You want to make sure that you leave yourself enough time to get started on your own research (by doing independent reading) because grad school really isn't about the courses you take.

[td_ny]

Thank you for the feedback! I appreciate it. 

[Sigaba]

As you're entering your program from a large public university, I recommend that you not take an independent study class during your first semester unless:

• you're working with a professor who has a "hands on" approach,
• your DGS has something resembling a "hands on" approach,
• you have both the motivation and the skill set to start building relationships in your department, and
• you're going to be on campus most days of the week.

For better and worse, graduate programs make assumptions about the situational awareness of graduate students and professors sometimes justify their desire not to teach or to mentor with pejorative remarks about "hand holding." You may not be told that you're drifting from the path to success until you're standing in a bog and someone yells "Hey, what are you doing over there? You should be over here?"

IRT the sound recommendations that you confer with second and third year graduate students in your department, please consider the utility of balancing the information you receive with the backgrounds of the students giving you free advice. For example, students with teaching duties and/or interests and responsibilities outside of school may have a different idea of a good course load than students who have great funding and a monastic focus.

[AP]

Ask your advisor.

[Apogeee]

On 5/26/2016 at 9:50 AM, td_ny said:

Hi all, I am going to be starting at a Geography PhD program this fall and am wondering how many courses would be too many? I am planning on doing an independent study and 2 other courses. I would like to add on another course but am worried that it may be too much. The program I will be doing runs on the semester system. I am coming straight from undergrad at a huge public university. I've taken a graduate class before as an undergraduate and it wasn't too difficult, but it was only a master's level course. We read half a book a week and 2 journal articles. I don't really know what to expect out of a PhD program. I saw a syllabus for one of my classes and we will be reading 17 books. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

Ask your department. Without my knowing too much, I have the following suggestions to guide your thinking at this juncture: do you have to do anything other than your classes (such as TA, RA, outside work?) If that is the case, take the minimum permitted full-time courseload. If you don't have to work, take that courseload plus one. Because you know how the semester goes. You start out able to handle it, and then the deadlines start to kick in, or you get the flu... things happen. Grad school is stressful. Don't make additional stress until you see how the first semester goes.