Add, drop, swap week is a tricky time. You sit in on your classes to get a feel for the course and professor. You scan the syllabus for major test/project dates. Some classes are a dead giveaway in the first fifteen minutes; you mentally drop the class as you hear all the reading and the essay that is due next week no longer become a worry for you. Other classes seem manageable, as long as you plan and stay on top of your work, it shouldn't be a problem.
However, that's a problem in itself. You can't guarantee that you won't feel overwhelmed with the class. Sometimes you don't realize how much work the second essay will be the day before an exam in another class. Although there is a time to get a taste of a class, it can be easy to underestimate the amount of work a class will be. Oscillating between should I drop a course or not is even more stressful than picking classes in the first place. Yet, just as simple as it is to underestimate the workload of a class, it is easy to overestimate the work a class will be or underestimate your own capacity to handle the class.
This semester I took my first anthropology class. After thinking I would not enroll in any of the class I wanted, I was taken on the waitlist the day before classes began. I was overjoyed since it was a class that would count towards my major. Moreover, it was a topic I was interested in learning about. Then the first-day assignment was to read seventy pages.
Suddenly, all the positives I had about the class disappeared. I went to the first day of class (thankfully, there was no discussion or questions about the reading) and to get a feel for the class. The professor was excellent and the TA seemed nice as well. Then I realized as we read the syllabus that both the exams were the same week as exams in my other class. After eliminating my stress, it all returned like a wave to wash over me. It wouldn't be the first time this has happened, so I told myself that I would be able to manage it. I had taken more than one exam a day before. A day in between exams was better than an hour.
Rather than a final, a group final project would be assigned. An ethnography. I had no idea what or how to do this. The TA explained how we would have many resources and help for our first ethnography. An ethnography is the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures. We would have to pick a research question and community then study them over the course of the semester. Now that would take up a lot of time as we had to interview many people and visit different sites. This was the main factor in deciding if I would keep the class in my schedule or not.
I decided to keep it. It would be a new learning experience and allow me to explore a different part of the social sciences. I did not want other demanding courses to dictate the rest of my schedule. I'm glad I chose to keep the course in my class as I have enjoyed the topic and the discussions. The group project seems like too much to balance with the rest of my assignments, but I haven't regretted taking the course one bit. The class has helped me manage my time better and not limit myself because I'm worried I can't handle it.
As the time to choose your classes for next semester comes closer, it's important to pick a class you will enjoy even if the workload seems a bit daunting. Challenge yourself. Besides work you enjoy doesn't feel like work at all.
