How to Handle a Credit Hour Overload

Seeing that I was a junior-transfer student when I arrived at UNC, my credit hours didn’t transfer quite as I had planned.  To make matters worse, I switched my major not long after arriving here.  With all of these changes, graduating on time without attending summer classes was next to impossible unless I planned to tackle semesters that demanded credit hour overloads.

This is my second semester tackling a semester of eighteen credit hours.  Coming from experience, eighteen credit hours is not easy.  If you have found yourself caught up in an overwhelming amount of credit hours or may face this in the future, here are a few tips to help survive with sanity and a successful GPA.

• Time Management: This is the number one key to surviving a credit hour overload. You must be able to manage time spent on reading, homework, breaks, exams, fun, and sleep.  One way to accomplish this is to take one week at a time.  Look at your requirements and work load that is required for each class ahead of time.  Once you know what you have to tackle, create a schedule and plan for how many hours you will spend on work, fun, and sleep.  Schedules help me greatly!
• Organization: This goes along with time management. Keeping your notes, syllabi, and textbooks organized helps you de-stress because you will always know where important things are located.  One way to complete this is by purchasing a large binder and separators.  These will allow you to keep all of your notes in one place while separating them by each class.  Another suggestion is to purchase a planner or calendar and make personal notes and labels for each assignment and exam so that you can plan your weeks way ahead of time.
• Establish Ties with Professors: Talking with professors about issues that you face is important. By establishing credibility and a connection with professors, you can approach them without fear when moments become too overwhelming.  They will know you by name and face.  Talk to them about the amount of work you have had to take on and the situation that you are in.  Some professors are very understanding and if a particular deadline becomes nearly impossible to meet, they will work with you and may allow you an extension.
• Take Time for Yourself: No matter what life throws at you, you must take time for yourself. You will need to take breaks between readings and assignments so that you can manage your sanity.  Though you need to take this time, you don’t need to procrastinate or excessively goof off.  You could attend a basketball game, watch an episode of your favorite show on Netflix, or meet a friend for coffee.  These are all examples of breaks that you could take that allow you to let your brain rest, but they don’t take hours and hours so that you lose a lot of time to work.

With these four tips, you can learn to manage busy semesters.  Manage your time wisely, stay organized through planning, establish lasting connections with professors, and take time to let your brain rest but not too long.  Remember, if your workload becomes too overwhelming that you have an advisor and counselors to help you make decisions that benefit your future.  They’re there to help you, to listen to you, and to help you succeed in every way.  Best of luck with the rest of your semester and enjoy every second of this journey that you can because it ends much more quickly than you think!

– Written by Kendra Orr