18.8 units per quarter is a lot. I only know a few people who are taking that much. However, I’ve found that taking 16 or 17 units is pretty feasible (assuming you don’t have any other major undertakings such as research or a part-time job).
Thanks, I forgot to get that sanity-checked. I figured that each unit is 25 minutes a day, or 35 if you only work during the week, so 4 units isn’t that much extra when you’re already working 6.5 hours or 9 hours a day. But I guess it could be a lot since it would mainly cut into social time. I hear the relationship between units and workload is pretty tenuous, though, so it might be possible to take lots of units without doing as much more work.
Thanks for the other advice also! I’ll go to career fairs, probably at least minor in CS, and sign up for THINK.
Here’s a graph of salary by major including graduate majors. CS still seems to win out, though the dataset is small.
I hear the relationship between units and workload is pretty tenuous, though, so it might be possible to take lots of units without doing as much more work.
The unit-workload correlation is predictable, but not entirely straightforward. In particular:
IntroSems and other similar freshman/sophomore classes are usually easier than their units would suggest.
Humanities classes usually have less work per unit than sciences.
Almost every higher-level math class is 3 units, no matter how much work it is. You can usually expect 5 units worth of work for a 3-unit math class. (This also means that even though a math major takes fewer units than most other majors, it’s more work.)
For people who aren’t particularly fast at programming, CS classes can take an extraordinary amount of time (20-30 hours a week for a 5-unit class).
Thanks, I forgot to get that sanity-checked. I figured that each unit is 25 minutes a day, or 35 if you only work during the week, so 4 units isn’t that much extra when you’re already working 6.5 hours or 9 hours a day. But I guess it could be a lot since it would mainly cut into social time. I hear the relationship between units and workload is pretty tenuous, though, so it might be possible to take lots of units without doing as much more work.
Thanks for the other advice also! I’ll go to career fairs, probably at least minor in CS, and sign up for THINK.
Here’s a graph of salary by major including graduate majors. CS still seems to win out, though the dataset is small.
The unit-workload correlation is predictable, but not entirely straightforward. In particular:
IntroSems and other similar freshman/sophomore classes are usually easier than their units would suggest.
Humanities classes usually have less work per unit than sciences.
Almost every higher-level math class is 3 units, no matter how much work it is. You can usually expect 5 units worth of work for a 3-unit math class. (This also means that even though a math major takes fewer units than most other majors, it’s more work.)
For people who aren’t particularly fast at programming, CS classes can take an extraordinary amount of time (20-30 hours a week for a 5-unit class).