Overloading at Uni?

[vexx]

Hi,

Although i'm not at uni... And don't really need to ask this for a long time.. Still interested:

Has anyone overloaded before at uni doing 5 subjects instead of 4? Is it too much? Was it difficult? Was a big social sacrificed needed to be made? Uni is barely 3 months for the semester so doing 5 subjects for that short period doesn't seem too bad! Although exams could be super stressful!
As i'd probably consider overloading in first year just for semester 2 if i chose to do Biomed and wanted to continue French (and keep breadth, + 3 other subjects including experimental data analysis, physics, biology sem 2), is it too much with these subjects?
or is anyone considering overloading in the future?

Any info. is good,

Thanks

Vexx.

[Russ]

Overloading is doable if you're willing to make a commitment to the study. I've never done it myself, my course worked itself out nicely without needing to mix and match subjects, but friends who have tell me that it is hard. I suppose it does depend on what subject you plan to add, but I can't imagine a situation where it wouldn't be a noticable addition.

Uni is barely 3 months for the semester so doing 5 subjects for that short period doesn't seem too bad!

This is a dangerous idea. Uni semesters are shorter but they teach just as much content (if not more) than the equivalent subject at high school. Not saying don't overload, but be aware that it will be extra work. If you have an extra few contact hours a week, you have less time to study plus more study to do for your new subject. If it works out, I guess it's a nice little GPA boost though

Also, I noticed that you're doing extension chem from your sig. If that's at UoM, then you could probably get out of doing Chemistry for Biomedicine in semester one if you: pass extension chem and do summer semester chem (this is the pathway if you fail biomed chemistry). That opens a spot in 1st semester for you to take an extra breadth and do only 4 subjects in S2.

[ninwa]

I've never done it myself but I know a few people doing it.

My friend who does engineering/law overloaded for a semester - 3 engineering units + 2 law units. Really bad idea. She had something like 26 contact hours, she was at uni from at least 9am-7pm every single day to go to class and study. And she ended up failing a unit.

To be fair, that was probably because engineering and law subjects are pretty full on.

I know people doing 2 law + 3 commerce, and 2 law + 2 commerce + 1 arts and they didn't fail. I'm not really sure how well they did though. I know one of them handled it by not bothering to go to most of her lectures

I guess it's possible but you'd have to be prepared to make some significant sacrifices, either socially, employment-wise or academically (i.e. just be prepared that you may end up with a P average).

[zzdfa]

some units are easy, some are hard. some people need to study a lot, others don't. so just finish your first semester and if you think you can handle spending 25% more time on study, then overload

[Russ]

I know one of them handled it by not bothering to go to most of her lectures

This is how I handle some of my arts breadth subjects.

[vexx]

Thanks for the fast replies peoples!

Russ- What i meant by that comment is yes i am aware of how much content uni subjects are, but even if it is full on it's only 3 months, which isn't too bad time-wise to do some study as i'm sure i could still go out and party, at night and just work some days/afternoons.
I've already spoke to them, and i'm doing it at Monash and if i successfully complete the year i don't have to do the entire subject, which i want to do French in replacement, and possibly continue along with another breadth in sem 2.

And i'm not sure what real uni is like yet, so i really should see how i handle 4 first as you said zzdfa before i even consider it.

Ninwa- wow 26 contact hours, i've like already counted and i'd have about ~21 hours, give or take as pracs can be happening. Which i guess is quite a lot ahaha- yeah i can imagine law+engineering would be intense; how would biomed (3) + arts (2) look? considering one of the biomed is a experimental design course which hopefully shouldn't be too much work, as well as one of the arts (French might be a bit though, but not sure haven't done it yet).

Maybe I will miss a few lectures here and there only if video lectures are up, but this would not be favourable! Even if sitting in bed late at night sounds pleasant;)

[ninwa]

I don't know anything about biomed so I can't really advise you there. French isn't a lot of work in my experience. Other arts subjects (like humanities) tend to have a lot of reading and researching, so that might take up some time. That said, arts subjects are frequently the kind that you can cram in the last week before the exam and still do okay in.

It really depends on you though. I only find French relatively relaxed because I've studied German for so many years and much of the grammar is similar. Also languages come relatively easily to me so I can get away with studying less for them. It might be different for you, I don't know.

Also, contact hours aren't a good determinant of how much work a subject takes - I only have 3 contact hours a week for my law subjects but they require the most work by far (we're told to do something like at least 6 hours of work for each contact hour).

Re: missing lectures, it's not necessarily a bad thing if you are smart about it. My friend got 88 for a law subject (which I think was one of the highest that semester) and didn't bother turning up to any lectures and just read the casebook on her own at home because she learns way more effectively that way.

[vexx]

Oh okay, yeah i'm not sure for French but i used to do quite well when i did it in school but it was far easier then what uni will be. Hopefully it's not huge amounts of work but i'm willing to put in a bit since i really want to speak french ^^;
Wow that's ridiculous amounts per each hour, but so good you only have 3 hours per week! The total is less then my time spent in uni classes if i did five ahah. You'd have to be very focused to be able to study so much per hour though.

That's good as about your friend, i guess it's definitely possible but I'll try and get to classes though as they will be pretty beneficial i think.

I hope i don't do 5 and become overwhelmed by it :*(
I can always drop it right and not suffer any negatives to my GPA?

[Fyrefly]

I know a guy who's overloaded for 2 semesters now, but both times his "5th unit" has been a unit that he's failed in previous semesters by 6 or 7%.

Needless to say, his GPA is pretty fked... he's really only interested in passing his degree.

[Russ]

I can always drop it right and not suffer any negatives to my GPA?

Yes, but you need to withdraw before the "census" date, which is usually a few weeks into semester. It's to stop people dropping subjects at the end of semester, when it's obvious they'll fail. So if you withdraw early, no penalty, it gets removed from your academic record.

Also, if you're not doing biology at high school (are you?) I'd wait to see if you can cope with the increased study demands because of that.

[/0]

I know one of them handled it by not bothering to go to most of her lectures

This is how I handle some of my arts breadth subjects.

I think not going to lectures makes you spend even more time reading over your lecture notes, which sucks even more if your course has bad notes.

[ninwa]

That's good as about your friend, i guess it's definitely possible but I'll try and get to classes though as they will be pretty beneficial i think.

Lectures tend to be far less beneficial than tutorials, so if you have to pick one I'd pick tutes (they're often marked for attendance as well, why wouldn't you pick up an easy 5% or 10%?)

Also a lot of lectures have recordings whereas tutes don't.

[TrueTears]

I know one of them handled it by not bothering to go to most of her lectures

This is how I handle some of my arts breadth subjects.

I think not going to lectures makes you spend even more time reading over your lecture notes, which sucks even more if your course has bad notes.

Last semester the only lecture notes I read was for microeconomics lol, the other 3 subjects I didn't even bother reading the lectures notes.

[*ryan777*]

^ same here lol
a lot of lecture notes seem to just be cut down versions of text book chapters so id rather read the actual chapter in my own time and learn more

[schmalex]

Also, /0 forgets that some people have to commute to uni, so if you can minimise commuting by skipping lectures it can save you a LOT of time