Go back

Let students decide how many courses they can and cannot handle

OpinionsTop Opinions

Personalized course planning is more effective than recommending course limits for new students

Opinions
Opinions
2 min.
0
1469
Should there be class caps for new students? Screenshot: Gabrielle McLaren

By: Grace Lo, SFU Student

When I entered SFU, I attended a course planning session with an academic advisor. Upon seeing the five courses in my course cart, she suggested I drop at least one of them. I’m still not sure if I had a desire to push myself out of my comfort zone or if I was acting out of spite, but I nodded yes to everything the advisor said, went home, and proceeded to enroll in all five courses when my registration date came around. 

It wasn’t easy, but I managed to finish the term with my sanity intact. Ever since, I have taken five courses almost every term.

While this suggestion is not official SFU policy, incoming freshmen are often recommended to take three courses — maybe four at most if they want to challenge themselves — to make sure they start their academic career on the right foot. I know many of my peers choose not to take more than three courses a term for their academic and mental well-being. 

I also know a number of young undergrads who experienced academic burnout after they overloaded their class schedule. Their experiences present a very compelling argument for maximum course caps, particularly for new students. But students are all different, both in preferred learning styles and personal circumstances. 

While there’s an argument to be made about how my “head down, eyes forward” learning style isn’t the most well-rounded student lifestyle to adopt, I work best when I don’t have too much free time to be distracted. I often prefer a heavier course load to facilitate that. Moreover, I don’t have the luxury of time or financial freedom to spend an extra year or two beyond the classic four-year undergrad program. 

Rather than placing class caps on incoming students, I think informed course planning is far more valuable to student success. After our first disagreement over an appropriate academic workload, the academic advisor became more familiar with my learning habits, academic goals, and life outside of school. She’s now one of my go-to people for personalized academic advising. 

When it comes to course planning, students shouldn’t have to follow a blanket statement or assumption about what’s best for them. Instead, they should have the opportunity to work with their academic advisors to create plans that suit their needs and help them succeed they way they work best.

 

Was this article helpful?
0
0

Leave a Reply

Block title

New immunotherapy treatment provides hope for aggressive cancer

News Peak Web -
By: Lucaiah Smith-Miodownik, News Writer Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy are often recognized as the three most common forms of cancer treatment. Sometimes, the latter two approaches become no longer effective when cancers become drug resistant, allowing the cells to further spread. At the University of Calgary, however, promising developments in immunotherapy intervention seek to provide alternative treatment when common therapies are not viable.  Cells continually divide to replenish dying cells, but certain gene mutations can create cancer cells, which divide and spread in an uncontrolled manner. The human body naturally defends itself from cancerous cells, though sometimes they can “hide from the immune system and avoid being destroyed,” according to the Canadian Cancer Society. Immunotherapy seeks to help strengthen the ability to recognize and fight...

Read Next

Block title

New immunotherapy treatment provides hope for aggressive cancer

News Peak Web -
By: Lucaiah Smith-Miodownik, News Writer Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy are often recognized as the three most common forms of cancer treatment. Sometimes, the latter two approaches become no longer effective when cancers become drug resistant, allowing the cells to further spread. At the University of Calgary, however, promising developments in immunotherapy intervention seek to provide alternative treatment when common therapies are not viable.  Cells continually divide to replenish dying cells, but certain gene mutations can create cancer cells, which divide and spread in an uncontrolled manner. The human body naturally defends itself from cancerous cells, though sometimes they can “hide from the immune system and avoid being destroyed,” according to the Canadian Cancer Society. Immunotherapy seeks to help strengthen the ability to recognize and fight...

Block title

New immunotherapy treatment provides hope for aggressive cancer

News Peak Web -
By: Lucaiah Smith-Miodownik, News Writer Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy are often recognized as the three most common forms of cancer treatment. Sometimes, the latter two approaches become no longer effective when cancers become drug resistant, allowing the cells to further spread. At the University of Calgary, however, promising developments in immunotherapy intervention seek to provide alternative treatment when common therapies are not viable.  Cells continually divide to replenish dying cells, but certain gene mutations can create cancer cells, which divide and spread in an uncontrolled manner. The human body naturally defends itself from cancerous cells, though sometimes they can “hide from the immune system and avoid being destroyed,” according to the Canadian Cancer Society. Immunotherapy seeks to help strengthen the ability to recognize and fight...

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

For advertising inquiries: [email protected]
For promotional inquiries: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

For advertising inquiries: [email protected]
For promotional inquiries: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society