How many courses/semester can one handle ?

Andy Nguyen

Andy Nguyen

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Yavuz, this thread is for you :)

I hope current FT/PT students can give opinion as to what they think the number of courses per semester one can handle given their experience the last 2 semesters.

Yavuz mentioned that he wanted to take more than 4/semester :-ss

What do you think guys ?
 
Good Luck!!!

I took three classes and work full time... the results so far... a lot of gray hair and sleep deprivation... but the future looks bright :D
 
It depends on the workload. I'm sure Andy mentioned "the last 2 semesters" on purpose :) because a while back in 2002 doing MS in QMM, when I was taking C++ and Numerical Linear Algebra, I had 4 courses and worked full-time. But looks like that kind of paradise has ended.

If you don't work and take one or two elective courses outside the department, you can definitely take 4, and maybe even 5. The question is: why would you want to do that :) packing five different things at a time is not a good idea.
 
Yuriy said:
I'm sure Andy mentioned "the last 2 semesters" on purpose :) because a while back in 2002 doing MS in QMM, when I was taking C++ and Numerical Linear Algebra, I had 4 courses and worked full-time. But looks like that kind of paradise has ended.
Click to expand...
Yeap, I mentioned that on purpose :D
I heard back in 2002 when the program just started, there was a student working FT, studying FT and still managed to graduate with 4.0 GPA. And that kind of paradise is definitely long gone ;)

My experience the last 2 semesters is that taking anything more than 4/semester is just pushing the issue and one won't get the most out of the courses. The fastest one can study to graduate is 3 semesters anyway, so there is no point in killing oneself.

And yes, the first semester was the most brutal. Specially when we have Prof. Kosygina teaching this year :D
 
Andy, thats why I mentioned the "workload". A course taught by Professor Stefanica or Professor Kosygina may count as "double workload" :)
 
Anyway, Andy, you can also tell us how you've managed to take so many classes plus taking care of Quantnet. I have a feeling that Quantnet takes as much time as a working in one class. :)
 
Yuriy said:
Andy, thats why I mentioned the "workload". A course taught by Professor Stefanica or Professor Kosygina may count as "double workload" :)
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Yeap, one was
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and one
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but both are double load :D
Yuriy said:
Anyway, Andy, you can also tell us how you've managed to take so many classes plus taking care of Quantnet. I have a feeling that Quantnet takes as much time as a working in one class. :)
Click to expand...
You are right. Quantnet is a full time job by itself. There are always things to fix, improve, maintain.
I guess I was naive and tricked into taking over it ;)
In any case, the only way I was able to do it is to sleep 4 hours a day the last 12 months. And much less during Prof. Stefanica's finals.
 
It's been my impression that taking classes is itself sort of a science :) even distribution of workload across all semesters is the way to go.

Anyway, if you are working and don't have any serious reason to save one semester of time, I suggest take 2 classes, 3 if you are sure you can manage.
 
If you have a demanding job (i.e. the typical 50-hour programming job), and if you have any sort of life, stick to 2 classes. It also depends on the classes you are taking... for instance, I would not try to do Probability and two other classes on top of that. But if you do programming for a living and all you other classes are programming-oriented, then 3 will work as well. It depends on if you are willing to be a hermit or not.

Joe
(like Yavuz, a PhD + programmer)
 
There is also an inverse exponential relationship between how many kids one has and the workload they can take considering family obligations...... I usually work 60 hours a week and had two kids when I started the program..... then in the first semester, we had one additional child and build a house!!!

I took two courses a semester and finished in exactly three years. It was challenging but enjoyable at the same time. Finals week were sleep-aways at my office..... they call them take home finals for a reason!! All in all, if you have a full schedule and a family, I recommend two courses a semester .... If you are single, you can do three to save time but try to leave no more then two courses in the last semester to interview. I think many part-timers did not interview aggressively enough as they are comfortable in their current employment .
 
One or two classes if u go part time. Depends on your job/ability to work after 12am at night while waking up at 6am (hint, hint one of our poster's b4 was/is doing that :) )
 

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