Question for those who went to college

[JJR512]

I should be starting my first semester of college this fall. It's part of the paramedic course, but the first semester will be all general education. Actual paramedic classes start in the spring. I'll be taking an English (Composition & Literature), Intro to Psychology, biology (Structure & Function of the Human Body), and Fundamentals of Oral Communication. This is a total of 13 credit hours (the BIO is 4, the rest are 3). This is a "full time" class load, obviously.

My question is, with this kind of schedule, about how much time would you estimate I'll need to spend working on school stuff (homework, projects, papers, whatever) outside of school, outside of the actual class hours?

While I'm taking these classes, I'll also need to be working as much as possible.

I'm trying to decide if I should take another class, too. I'm thinking of a Spanish language class, because there's a large Hispanic population in Maryland, and since I'll eventually be serving the people of Maryland, I think being able to understand and speak Spanish will be a valuable asset. Or I may take a physical ed or health class that's focused on getting healthy and losing weight, which would also be quite valuable to me at this time. I wouldn't expect the PE class to add to my "homework" load, although it would take away from my time available for work and homework for the other classes, but the Spanish class, in addition to that, probably would also add more of its own homework as well.

So, what with a 13-credit-hour class load already, plus the need to work to live, is adding another class putting too much on me?

 

[Wingnut]

Yes it is and I speak from experience. If you REALLY want to add another class take the PE. Colleges are big on writing intensive courses now, and the amount of papers that I wrote alone in one semster was probably enough to chop down a small forest of trees. And you can imagine the time, that's not including homework and studying. Biology will require a bit of work, it's not HS biology and with this profession we really need to KNOW cell structure, function and all about ATP, glucose etc, etc. That class will make all your paramedic classes make sense if you really learn it.

I worked, raised two children and took too many classes and to this day have problems because of that time frame when I did not eat properly, sleep well or take care of myself at all really. And without your health, you won't be a very good medic.

Take it easy, I know you're excited and want to jump right in but your body and your brain and your patients will thank you later for taking it easy.

 

[MMiz]

During my first year of college I took two 12 credit semesters. During my last two years of college I maxed out my credits at 20 credit semesters.

Do not take another class. If it's important to you that you do well in your classes, and work, I'd stick to 13 credits.

Having taken two years of college-level spanish, the hardest classes I've ever taken, I think taking a spanish course is not worth your time or effort. It is very time intensive, and while it may be easy for you, I don't believe the pay off will be great. Instead you could buy an at-home course or a medical spanish course.

I hope that helps!

 

[ffemt8978]

Hell, we got more people out here that speak Spanish then English. Depending upon where you are, and what your educational background in foreign languages is, I would recommend you take a foreign language course that you can actually use.

This comes from having one year of Latin and two years of Spanish (in high school far, far away and a long time ago), I really wish I would have paid more attention and stayed in practice.

 

[BrandoEMT]

Alright, Spanish is quite important if it is a good class. Everyone can learn from Spanish classes. Also, unless you plan on EMS to be your whole life I would suggest continuing to complete at 4 year degree for a fall back...anyway, if you aren't used to classes and homework I would just stick with the 12 or 13 credits....If you have more questions pm me....

 

[JJR512]

Having taken two years of college-level spanish, the hardest classes I've ever taken, I think taking a spanish course is not worth your time or effort. It is very time intensive, and while it may be easy for you, I don't believe the pay off will be great. Instead you could buy an at-home course or a medical spanish course.

Hell, we got more people out here that speak Spanish then English. Depending upon where you are, and what your educational background in foreign languages is, I would recommend you take a foreign language course that you can actually use.

This comes from having one year of Latin and two years of Spanish (in high school far, far away and a long time ago), I really wish I would have paid more attention and stayed in practice.

Well...I took French for two years in middle school (grades 7-8), and German for three years in high school (grades 10-12). Outside of the classroom, I never had a use for either language, and now, there's very little I remember from either.

But I've worked many jobs in Maryland. I've been to jail (pre-trial, charges dismissed) in Maryland. I've been to school in Maryland. I've lived in Maryland. In all of this experience, I know that Spanish is the only language that would have had any value to me at all. I suspect the same is true for pretty much the whole country.

In French and German classes, I had a difficult time. It was mostly my fault, because I rarely did homework. However, I've worked with Hispanics a lot during the last several years, and I've learned from them a lot of Spanish already. Even before that, I discovered that I could actually read Spanish well enough to get the general meaning. I see a great deal of similarity between Spanish and English; not necessarily to the common every-day English language, but to some of the other alternative words we don't use very often. It fascinates me.

I'm not self-motivated enough for the learn-at-home programs to be very effective. It's my hope that some of the very basic Spanish I've learned so far, with my (limited) understanding of how the language works on a basic level, will make it somewhat easier for me to get into learning the language formally, starting at the most basic class level.

Alright, Spanish is quite important if it is a good class. Everyone can learn from Spanish classes. Also, unless you plan on EMS to be your whole life I would suggest continuing to complete at 4 year degree for a fall back...anyway, if you aren't used to classes and homework I would just stick with the 12 or 13 credits....If you have more questions pm me....

My plan and desire it to become a Flight Paramedic on Maryland's medevac helicopters. These are run by the state police, and all FPs are also state police officers. They get hired by the state police the same way as all state police officers get hired, they go to the same academy and get trained the same, because to start out with, they are regular state police officers. They initially get assigned to road duty, get in a marked police car and pull people over for speeding and that sort of thing. Those who already are paramedics, or become paramedics after, have to request a transfer to the aviation command, get selected, wait for an opening, and get transfered in.

So I do have an idea that I'll eventually get more from college than just a two-year degree as a paramedic. I've looked at the course schedule for Criminal Justice and estimate it would take an extra two semesters to get a second Associate's degree in CJ. I may do that before I apply to the state police, rather than applying to them as soon as I get my Associate's as a Paramedic. (The MD State Police do not actually require any college degree to get hired, only a high school diploma, but I'm sure actually having a relevant degree will help out a lot.)

There are a lot of other classes at the community-college level that I'm interested in "one day in the future" taking, many of which aren't directly related to anything in particular, just things I'm interested in. I may take some of those one day. I may also eventually get bachelor's degrees. But I'm going to get as much out of the community college level as I can, because I can get financial aid from the state and federal governments, but only as long as I don't have a bachelor's degree.