I took 24 credits this semester – this is what it was like

I started out the spring semester with 24 credits. You’ve probably heard of people taking five classes and that being too many, but I started out with six — that’s virtually unheard of.

Being an Undergraduate Assistant for one of my advisors, the semester had already started off with a two class overload. Suffice to say, I came into it apprehensive and kind of nervous.

This is what a semester on 24 credits looked like.

Week one

It started out kind of hectic but not too bad. Half of the first week professors just went over the syllabi, but my weekends were filled with readings.

You’d think since I finished my English minor last semester I wouldn’t be drowning in readings, and yet here we are.

I know professors want you to read the textbook, and yes I’m one of those goody two shoes who actually does, but I found I could not do that anymore.

After taking exams in all the classes which require textbooks, I have to admit that yes, you do have to actually read the textbook because some of the material is not talked about in class yet still shows up on the test.

Every student’s nightmare

Week two

Things really started to pick up around the second week. I slept through my 9:05 a.m. class. You could say this would foreshadow how many more times I’d sleep through this class this semester.

Since dropping the sixth class, somehow I’ve been getting up early to lift and actually making it to class on time. That’s a major shocker because most of the time I value my sleep more than interacting with people.

When I had to do the first readings for my night class on Tuesdays (Psychology of Violence and Trauma), I broke up my four readings with many cat videos and got some hugs because let me tell you reading about sexual assault and PTSD is not light reading.

During this academic nightmare, I also moved from a suite to an apartment in Stuvi2. All this change and academic bullshit got to me, so I naturally had a pre-midterm meltdown.

Week three

Since recently acquiring a kitchen, I had to now go buy food. Cooking was amazing, and so was not having to eat the dining hall good. Grocery shopping the day before Super Bowl Sunday, not so much.

Nearing the end of my 24 credit adventure things leveled out – or I just got used to it. However, since I went from eating the dining hall food to suddenly eating clean and healthy, mixed with the stress from my 24 credits, my body began protesting. When we had the first snow day since my freshman year, I took the time to treat myself to some face masks and relax. Hell knows how much I needed it.

Week four

The last week of my 24 credit adventure was the week we had Presidents’ Day off. I had three exams, but one I got out of by dropping the class. Good thing I did, too, because I heard the test was hella hard.

Dropping a class and having that extra day off totally messed up the timing of the whole week for me so I forget to do all my homework for Friday. Classic.

Can we also just take a moment to appreciate that I emailed the “contact us” for CAS Advising, and one of the Deans emailed me back. That’s how messed up taking 24 credits is.

Now, I’m back on 20 credits and five classes and hoping for a better end to the year. But there you have it, a month of 24 credits, a UA position, and it didn’t go to utter hell.

I wouldn’t recommend it, but you do you.