School advice!!

junebugbear07

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I need some advice. Ok so I am a double major, Print journalism and Animal science. I just found out during our winter break they will offer one of the MCJ (Mass Comm. and Journalism) classes I was going to take next spring butit fit funny in my sched. The class will be from Jan. 5 to Jan. 20 M,Tu,W,Th,F classes from 8-12. And spring classes stars Jan 21, so in theory I would have about 2 1/2 weeks of vacation (working!) then back to school and no break before spring. I have been stressed by this semester and im sure next semester will be worse considering im taking Chem 1A A.K.A hard class. But I could put another Animal Science class in where the other MCJ class was, and get more classes done.

In your all honest opinion, what would you do??
 

sandtigress

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Mini-mester classes like that are usually pretty stressful, because you're trying to fit a lot of material into a very short period of time. And because of that, they're going to cut a lot of material, so if this class is very important for your major, I wouldn't do it. If its just one of those "need to take but won't get much out of it" types of classes though, it might be worth it. They tend to be easier than the full class during the semester, and sometimes, its nice to be able to concentrate on one type of material instead of lots of subjects at once.

So there are pros and cons to doing classes like this. I took a May mester two week course for technical writing and don't regret it at all - the professor was excellent and the class was fun. I wouldn't have dared do that with a Biology course though, if I really needed to learn something from the course.
 

ink

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It also depends on what else is going on in your life. It may not seem like much but don't let it be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
 

clixpix

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When I went to college, we called them "interim classes". I always took them. For me personally I found it easier to concentrate on one subject, and always did well. I took my harder classes that way when I could. However, that was me, and others may not experience it the same way.
 

starryeyedtiger

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My suggestion would be to not overload yourself....it will only cause stress and can result in dipping grades in your other mandatory classes.
 

stephanietx

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If things have been stressful this semester, think very hard about taking a mini-mester class and only having about 2 wks of vacation. You may just be adding more stress to next semester by not having a longer break.

Having said that, I'd probably take the mini-mester class and leave the "hole" in next semester's schedule to have a bit of breathing room in there. You'll most likely have assignments due for the mini-mester class to work on in the regular semester.
 
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junebugbear07

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Thanks for all your input and advice. Its not a required class but is one I can choose out of a few to count for my major and is the only one available to take, plus half of the other courses arent even being offered due to our lovely cuts at school. I signed up for it but can drop it if I feel too stressed about it in the next week or so. The only thing is, is I found out I have to pay out of pocket for it, my student loan for some reason wont cover it. So I had to up my loan and have them send me a check (for books Wink Wink....) to pay for it. I just need to get classes done because double majoring, i am a bit behind on how many courses of each i have done. I have this problem with overloading myself, thinking I can get everything done, and do everything everyone wants me to do, even though I know I cant do 100 things at a time.....its very frustrating!
 
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