Hey, I'm a full time 1st year science student with 2 bio, 2 chem, 1 physics, 1 math, 2 psych. I'm planning to join recreational instructional classes such as fencing, karate, and dance. How many of these should I do per term so that I can keep up with classes? For example, should I only do fencing in Fall/Winter, then dance in Spring, and then karate in summer (June -Aug)?? or is it do-able to have let say fencing and karate in the Fall/Winter?

Originally Posted by VoyozooT

Hey, I'm a full time 1st year science student with 2 bio, 2 chem, 1 physics, 1 math, 2 psych. I'm planning to join recreational instructional classes such as fencing, karate, and dance. How many of these should I do per term so that I can keep up with classes? For example, should I only do fencing in Fall/Winter, then dance in Spring, and then karate in summer (June -Aug)?? or is it do-able to have let say fencing and karate in the Fall/Winter?

You should test it out and see how much you can do without falling behind in your work.

With a full course load, I was still able to relax a lot and hang out with friends. But that's me, some other people find a full course load tough and are constantly studying in order to maintain/improve their grades.

Yea like Jeremy said, you should test out and see what works best for you. Maybe start by one extracurricular activity at a time and if you find you have you have enough time for another one, then you can join the other activity too.

Originally Posted by VoyozooT

Hey, I'm a full time 1st year science student with 2 bio, 2 chem, 1 physics, 1 math, 2 psych. I'm planning to join recreational instructional classes such as fencing, karate, and dance. How many of these should I do per term so that I can keep up with classes? For example, should I only do fencing in Fall/Winter, then dance in Spring, and then karate in summer (June -Aug)?? or is it do-able to have let say fencing and karate in the Fall/Winter?

I looked up the schedule and it seems that each class requires 2 hours of commitment per week. I think you can allocate 4 hours/week for the activities. Also if you want to get better, you should stick with them year round because you may de-train in that activity. I had the same course load and I did a one hour activity 5 X a week (in Mississauga because I commuted). I was okay (though could have done better but not because of the activity taking up time). Maybe you can test one semester and add another activity in second term if you you feel like you have time to do another activity

One thing you really want to be careful of is over-scheduling yourself. If you have solid committments say three times a week then during midterms or when you have a lot of assignments you'll feel like you're under a lot of pressure and have to skip them.

I would suggest just picking one and seeing how it goes for first term, and then you can add more if you want during second term. You are allowed to go to the first class for free, so you can do a test run, and see what your schedule would be like. Just keep in mind that you will get a lot busier.

You still want to leave lots of time for hanging out with friends, relaxing and studying. And if you want to join a club or team or council then you'll need to make sure that it doesn't conflict with the class you've chosen.

wow thanks for the great input guys! I'll take the advice and try 1 class first in first term and see how it goes =P Thanksssssssss!!

Have fun with those classes! Sounds really cool...I wish I could take up a class like that but I don't think I'll be able to balance it out with my studies :(

@mcinside:

University is in large part, about getting to know yourself. I made the mistake in my first year of devoting all my time to studying, and my grades were actually lower (and my stress levels higher) than when I had a hobby/club to attend in 2nd-4th year.

I highly recommend giving it a shot anyway. (: If you find you really can't handle it, you can always stop going right? But the point is, you can't just let your life revolve around the textbook while in university because you'll wind up unhealthy (physically, mentally and spiritually).

Good luck! (:

I would suggest going to the first meeting for everything and seeing what each class is like, then decide from there what you'd like to do.

Last year (I had the same course load as you) I did McMaster Musical Theatre (6 hrs every Sunday, then 8 hrs in second term) and I volunteered for a couple hrs/week as well, but I still managed to keep up with my work. Not going to lie, there were some stressful weeks, but I really wanted to do my extracurriculars, so I made it work. I found it really helped to write down everything in my agenda, haha.

Originally Posted by Mowicz

@mcinside:

University is in large part, about getting to know yourself. I made the mistake in my first year of devoting all my time to studying, and my grades were actually lower (and my stress levels higher) than when I had a hobby/club to attend in 2nd-4th year....

I agree completely. First year, i got a B+ average not doing any extracirriculars, which isn't bad for science. When I was in uOttawa last year, I volunteered at FootPatrol (the uOttawa version of SWHAT) and I played indoor soccer while having a full course load of 8 second year science courses and a full year of first year physics. I ended up with an average between A- and A. Now the raise in marks won't happen to everyone, but like what Mowicz said, extracirriculars really cut down the stress caused by the books.
Also, I feel that committing 100% of the time to studying hampers development of studying skills, and that adding other committments forces one to manage their time better.

Ya, I heard that from other people too- with extracurriculars and volunteering you actually get a higher grade than no activities at all..it still puzzles me how that works, but like you guys said it cuts the stress factor which really helps

Originally Posted by mcinside

Ya, I heard that from other people too- with extracurriculars and volunteering you actually get a higher grade than no activities at all..it still puzzles me how that works, but like you guys said it cuts the stress factor which really helps

When you are stressed you won't be able to absorb as much. There was also tests done that show a long break after studying such as sleep helps to retain the information.

Hopefully I'll be able to get a good amount of sleep. Honestly, 8 to 9 hours of sleep for me is a must aat least.

All you have to do is manage your time well and you'll be able to get those 8 to 9 hours of sleep. In first year I almost never got 8 hours of sleep and then last year I decided that it would help me a lot so I decided to make myself go to bed earlier and get my work done earlier and it helped a lot. I was able to stay awake during my morning classes, I was able to get my work done ahead of time and I even learned more from studying because the sleep helps you absorb information.

One piece of advice for anyone coming into first year (or any year in university lol)... never EVER write an exam on only a few hours of sleep. You would be better off to stop studying earlier and getting the sleep because then you'll actually retain the information instead of forgetting everything because you're groggy while writing.

Originally Posted by jhan523

When you are stressed you won't be able to absorb as much. There was also tests done that show a long break after studying such as sleep helps to retain the information.

Learning, as with learning a motor skill like shooting free throws, is done best in little 'bursts.' The ideal learning environment is one where you practice/study for an hour, and take a 15 minute break. You retain more information this way.

I think they tested sets of two people, one of which studied a list of words for 4 hours straight, the other studied a list of words for a total of 4 hours, but with 15 minute intervals (so about 45 minutes at a time), and the 2nd person actually retained far more information, even though their study time only totalled 3 hours.

This is ideal, but let's face it, it never happens in practice. S: