Common Placement Issues

Factors to consider as you plan your first semester:

• Understand your work load: University courses are designed to require 10 to 15 hours of work each week. Four courses is a full load because academic work is expected to occupy 40 to 60 hours of your time each week. 
• You need a good balance of courses to help avoid burn-out: courses with problem sets and exams are well-complemented by courses where you read, discuss and write papers or courses where you develop your artistic skills and discernment.  
• How much do you remember from past math courses? Are your test results or your most recent math course more than a year old? It may be wise to make conservative placement decisions if your skills are a bit rusty. You may be worried that you are behind schedule for your planned major, but there are ways to catch up. Your priority in the first semester is to choose courses that make sense for where you are right now and also allow you to explore various long-term options, successfully.
• Use the drop/add period to fine-tune your plan: Read the course syllabi carefully and talk to your peers or other advisors to gather clear information early on so that you can make realistic and well-informed decisions about your life. Peer advice can be uniquely valuable, but your academic advisors have a different perspective, based on years of experience with lots of students from various backgrounds. You can always find someone who will give you the advice you want to hear, so you must weigh these different perspectives carefully! Be ambitious with your initial choices, but be ready to re-evaluate and adjust if it turns out you are in over your head.
• Leave room in your life so you can take advantage of unexpected opportunities: Academics should occupy the majority of your time, but leave room for necessities like sleep and exercise along with restorative pursuits like friendship and hobbies. Most students have committed interests beyond their course work and their social lives, and balancing all these interests and obligations will require some realistic planning.