~~Understanding College Classes and Courses?~~~

Talk to a counselor (I don't what they are called at the college level). They will be able to clarify everything for you.

It sounds like you received a bunch of criss crossing information - some are major specific classes and some info for undeclared majors.

You need to talk to an advisor. Ask for a degree plan - that will show you what classes are required for your 1) Major 2) Minor 3) General education requirements (math, language, gov't, history, humanities etc etc) and how many hours each semester will be for you.

Most programs are about 120 hours. If you go to college for 4 years that equals to about 30 hours a year, which equals to about 15 hours a semester, which equals to about 3-4 classes a semester.

If a class is 3 credits, then you will be required to "sit in class" for 3 hours a week and you will get 3 credit hours for that semester for that particular class. It can be for 1 hour MWF or 1.5 hrs T/TH each week. If you are taking 12 credits this semester, you will be "sitting in class" 12 hrs a week. I put "sit in class" in parentheses because online course or lab time is also considered "sitting in class"

Just keep track of all your paperwork, emails, forms,financial aid info, transcripts and school notices. Keep that in a separate folder.

When you do talk to an advisor, bring a notebook and make sure to write everything down. Make them go slow if they have to. They will(should) understand. Don't leave the office until you are clear 1)what courses you have to take for which semester (Summer 1, Summer 2, Fall 2012, Spring 2013 etc etc), 2) if you are cleared financially (some students show up to the 1st day of class because their payments didn't make it or their checks never cleared) 3) any important dates 4) the name and number of that advisor along with his/her availability for when you can call if you have questions.

I know it is overwhelming. You are doing fine. PM me if you'd like to ask any more questions - I'll be happy to help!

Sit down with your academic adviser-and he/she will be able to explain everything. A 3 credit class means 3 credit hours towards your degree requirements-it will meet 3 hours/week-either Monday, Wednesday or Friday for 50 minutes or maybe Tuesday and Thursday for a total of 90 minutes. It's a lot to wade through and it is better if one person at school guides you through the maze. Best of luck to you-my advice-never give up with what you are trying to do!

I was a community college advisor for 3 years before I went back to school myself, the most important thing is that you talk to an adviser and have them explain everything to you.
It sounds like you are going for a vocational technical degree or certificate and those have different requirements than your run of the mill bachelor's degree.

Developmental English and Math typically will not apply to your degree, but they are necessary for you to qualify for higher level classes. Some vocational degrees may even count them as electives.

The Keyboarding class, while it may not be transferable to a University, may be required or at least applicable to your degree.

One credit is about an hour of instruction (really more like 50 minutes). For most classes you need to calculate an extra 3 hours of homework and studying for each credit you take (it may be more or less depending on how well you learn in that particular subject).

The most importantly do not go by anything you read online or friends or family tell you. Each degree and each college is different. Every individual is different, they may have had certain classes that they had already taken or different test scores. I have talked to a lot of students that were mad about wasting time and money taking classes they did not need because they listened to bad advice. Speak to an adviser. And ask questions until everything makes sense to you.

Good luck and congrats! How exciting!

Developmental classes are basically high school level classes because you aren't ready for college level yet. They won't let you take the college level classes unless you master the high school level classes. Think of it as a prerequisite.

I assume the keyboard is a typing course? Maybe computer/typing...

A 3 credit hour class means you go to it 3 times a week. They are classes like English, math, biology, classes with "meat" in them LOL! One hour classes can be like seminar classes (is the one hour class Freshman Seminar?) that you don't really have to study hard for or take tests for. Choir can meet every day and STILL be a one hour credit class. (It should be more, but there ya go...)

When you take a science with a lab, you should get 3 hours credit for the course and one hour credit for the lab. Other sciences without a lab are just 3 hours credit.

You have to get your general required education courses done, which they consider to be building your base so that your major courses go well. That doesn't mean that you can't take a course in your major too - they just want you to get your GRE courses done.

Sounds like they need to fix their am and pm in the computer, btw LOL!

Good luck in your interview. I'm sure they'll clear up the mystery. That's what school counselors are for!

Dawn

Regardless of what you want to major in, there are core classes like English and Math that you have to take. And for many programs you are not even eligible to be officially enrolled in that program until you have met all the pre-requisite requirements. In other words, you need to take many classes that are not specifically "for" your major, but they are necessary for you to earn any degree. Also, the credit hours that a class is worth does not necessarily translate into the amount of hours the class time is. Remedial course are not worth as many credits, but they are a great way to prepare for the higher math classes that you will need to take to earn your degree. My BEST math teacher was in a remedial college course, he was awesome and I had much less trouble with my subsequent math classes.

I too am a non-traditional college student and it is really not as hard as you may think it will be! As an older student who has had more time to read and learn and experience life outside of school, you may actually be at an advantage! Add to that the fact that you really CARE about learning and know what you want to do in life and you are better off mentally than most of the 18 year old students! You are going to do GREAT! Take advantage of the free tutoring that your college offers (most will offer some form of free tutoring) and/or participate in a study group, a FOCUSED study group, you have no time for silly get togethers where no one really studies. You can also request an advisor to help you figure out what classes you need to take and what order to take them in. Best of luck!

Advisor,

SOME classes may be required. Some may not. Some may be prereqs for required classes.

EX

Req for grad (I'm making this up)
Eng 101, 104, 212, or 265.
15 cr. Total required for graduation

Prerequisite for 101 or 104, Eng 98, 99, or HS English (aka compass pass)
Prerequisite for 212: 101 or 104.
Prerequisite for 265: 212 or teacher permission

IF you need 3 Eng classes, and you didn't pass 'into' 101, and you want to take 265... You need to take

98
101 (5cr)
212 (5cr)
275 (5cr)

The lower than 100 level classes are highschool level. 90 level classes are HARD, because they cram a whole year into 3 months (or 5 weeks in the summer), and they typically aren't credit classes / don't go to your degree. The OTHER classes, all require 101 (prereq), so you HAVE to take 101.

Your college advisor can answer all of those questions for you.

You might ask about a re-test if it was only a matter of a few points?

It is pretty easy to understand once you start learning the new vocabulary. Hours are how much goes on your "report card" called a transcript now. If you need 100 hours to graduate then 3 hours of keyboarding is going to take 3 hours off that 100 you have to work towards.

You will have a lot of useless classes called general ed. These are the remedial classes you are going to take to strengthen your skills in some basic areas. These are usually 1 hour classes since you take them all the time until you can test out of them.

That is good since you can only have so many general education classes that count.

There will often be about 30 core classes that are specific to your major. For instance if you were going to go for a degree in psychology you would have classes such as these that are required to get the degree in psychology. It is the classes that are specific to your major.

You would have to take statistics, abnormal psych, quantitative methods, qualitative methods, physio psych, intro to psych careers, etc...classes that make this degree a psychology degree.

Then the other classes should be the general ed and some electives.

I always picked my own classes. I did not allow anyone to do that for me. I had fun in college and made nearly straight "A"s.

I took 6-9 hours of required classes and then took 3-6 hours of fun stuff that were easy "A"s. Like aerobics, swimming lessons, adult piano, choir, music appreciation, country and western dance, tennis, weight lifting, etc...classes that made me feel better but also brought my GPA up.

It is not all about being in class and studying for hours and hours. There can be some easy things too.

Have fun and enjoy the classes you are taking.

One thing to always remember. There will be classes in the general ed that you absolutely hate and do not identify with. I hated History and worked my hiney off. I missed getting a passing grade in it, based on the Mastery system, not regular grading, but the teacher knew how hard I had worked and he bumped it up from a 68 to a 70 so I would pass. That was my lowest score my entire time in college.

Take your time and if you do not agree with an adviser's choices for you then by all means, do not take the classes they are saying. Find something else that is more interesting. If you have to take a history class and they say "This one, but it's for the dark ages, you have no interest in that time period, then say, is anything more recent available? There should always be at least a couple of other choices.

Good luck!!!

You need to meet with an advisor.

Credit courses are as they are credit classes...whether they go towards your specific degree I cannot tell you that, only an advisor.

Yes there are going to be some classes that you will have to take (that will not count towards your degree) that you will still have to take. Could be a math class,reading class, or a prereq. that you need to take before another class. Par for the course.

You are the type of person that NEEDS to keep in contact every semester with an advisor to keep you on the correct path.

Best of luck, it takes a little to get into the grove but by spring you should have a good idea on how it works.

Okay... isn't there an Academic Advisor???
That is who you ask.
Or the Registrar's Office.

Each major, has prerequisites to take, and also classes for the specific Major. These are the curriculum, courses, to obtain your Degree.
At the Freshmen level, most courses are prerequisites and courses which you need to take in order to meet the minimum required courses.

Classes are usually 3 credits. This is typical. And in order to obtain your Degree, you need to accrue (accumulate) a certain number of class credits. Or you will not meet the requirements for that degree.
A 3 credit class, does not mean the class is 3 hours long.

One huge piece of advice, be your own advocate. Community colleges can't see the forest for the trees. If you are planing on transferring to a four year college contact the four year college and find out what will transfer.

If you are doing a two year degree you need to ask what is required for your major. They should have a list of the requirements. Make sure you don't deviate from that too far with electives or you will end up taking an extra semester.

Keyboarding sounds useless. Even if you are not good at typing at the moment once you start typing reports it will come. Not sure how much they are charging per hour but not sure if it is worth the investment.

I would imagine the keyboarding is the one hour class. One credit hour is one hour per week during a regular semester. So a three hour class usually meets one hour, Monday Wednesday Friday or and hour and a half Tuesday Thursday. During the summer three hour classes tend to meet for two to three hours twice a week because the term is shorter.

You appear to be signed up for 10 hours which is not full time, that would be 15 but a full load in the summer is nine.

I feel like I am rambling here.