At Iona College, the standard number of classes a student takes in a semester is usually five. Even though this is the norm, many questions can arise. What type of classes should you take? Is it possible to take more than five classes and still maintain a social life? How many classes are too many? How do you go about adding more classes to your schedule?

The number of classes that a student takes per semester ultimately varies by person. Some students attend part-time and take fewer classes and some students attend full-time and take more classes. Other students want to graduate early or pursue a double major and take more than five classes per semester with the addition of winter and summer session courses, while other students take the standard path of graduating in four years and usually take the standard five classes per semester.

The difficulty of a semester can usually be measured by the number of classes a student takes. Taking four classes is still challenging, but definitely not as challenging as taking six or even seven classes in one semester. For those who study science, there is the added factor of having to complete labs. Labs are in addition to class and can take away from studying and can make it difficult to structure your class schedule.

Only you know how many classes you can handle in a semester. If you have taken five classes the last few semesters and want to take a sixth class, you should look at your performance over the last few semesters. If you are able to budget your time and do well academically then consider adding an extra class, if not, then continue with your usual course load.

It is also very important to talk it over with your academic advisor. They can offer you advice about adding more classes and discuss how your graduation date might change. Your academic advisor also needs to sign off on your increased course load. Advising at Iona helps students to “identify academic goals, identify realistic majors, and pursue intellectual discovery,” according to the college’s advising resources for freshmen students.

Here is some advice to keep in mind when scheduling your semester course load:

1. Schedule a mix of classes: Don’t take all writing intensive courses or all major classes in a semester. Too much of a specific type of class is a sure way to burn yourself out. Take a mix of classes, such as requires courses for your major and core curriculum classes.

2. Don’t sign up for all hard or easy classes: It is tempting to sign up for easier classes in your first years in college, but this will only come back to haunt you as a junior and senior when you will be taking all of the harder classes. You probably have a good idea of what is going to be the most challenging class when heading into the next semester. Make sure you surround this challenging class with one or two classes that know you do well in.

3. Take a little bit of the core curriculum each semester: Take a class or two each semester but not all at the start. This will come in handy once you get deeper into your major and can take both classes in your major and core curriculum classes to balance out your schedule. The new core curriculum, instituted this semester, “reduces the overall total core credits by 11 to 46 credits for most students. This provides greater flexibility and opportunity to pursue second majors and minors,” states an Iona press release from Aug. 22.

4. Schedule classes over the week: Your schedule should have classes spread out over the week. Don’t make the mistake of scheduling classes for two or three days in the week in order to have days with no classes. Schedule your classes out over the day and week so that you have breaks in between to study, relax, and eat. Don’t run from class to class for hours on end without a break.