[nabs-l] A question about something my rehab counselor said

Fri Jul 29 02:16:24 UTC 2016

Hi all,

I think it is very important to not bite off more than you can
realistically chew, and to remember that that limit can change
depending on a lot of factors including the specific courses your
taking.  I know, for example, that math and science courses are not my
strongest academic subjects, so I've tended to cut back in semesters
that had those courses in my load to allow me more time to process
information that is harder for me to understand.  I found classes in
English, psych, and philosophy much easier, so those semesters I
tended to take a slightly higher number of credits.  I go to a school
where many people in my department are pushed to take 16-20 credits
each semester plus some courses that are required but are zero credit
and graded as pass/fail, and I've found it's just super important to
know what you can handle independent of what is expected of you.  For
example, my second semester I ended up taking 22 credits, and although
I got through it with a decent GPA for the semester I was really
stressed out and had very little free time.

That being said, it isn't your VR counselor's job to tell you what to
take or not to take.  Ultimately the classes you take are your
decision and the VR counselor doesn't necessarily know what you need
to take to get your degree or the timeline suggested by your
university for getting that done.  I would just go with what your
university advisor says as they've coached a lot of students and are
more familiar with the expctations of your courses, and also remember
that your first semester of college is a huge time of learning for
you.  Maybe you'll find you can handle more than 5 classes, maybe
you'll find you need to take 4, and maybe you'll find that 5 is
perfectly comfortable for you, but I think you should take advantage
of this semester as an opportunity to figure that out for yourself
like any college freshmen would.  If your counselor persists you can
say that you're following the guidance of your advisor, and that you
realize this will be a big adjustment but you're going to go in like
any freshman and learn to cope with it, making adjustments as you go.
As long as you figure this out for yourself, and make use of the
resources available on campus if you do find you need help in
anything, you should be able to have the typical first semester
experience.

HTH.

On 7/28/16, Karl Martin Adam via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi Sami,
>
> I have attended two different schools as an undergrad, and almost
> know one at either of them took more than four classes a semester
> (many people only took two or three).  This is partly because at
> both schools I attended most people worked, so if you don't have
> anything to do other than school, you might be able to take more
> classes.  The number of credits also matters.  At the school
> where I got my BA, nearly all classes were four credits, and you
> had to get special permission to take more than 16 credits, so
> nearly everyone took either four classes or three if they worked
> a lot.  My other school had a lot of three credit classes, but
> there were four credit ones too, so most people took four classes
> which usually came to thirteen or fourteen credits.  Keep in mind
> that college (at least if you have a good professor) isn't high
> school.  You should be doing between two and three hours of
> homework for every hour you spend in class (more if it's a
> language, music, or STEM class).  The time you spend on your
> classes will also spike around midterms, finals, and the end of
> the semester when papers are due.  Your rehab counselor of course
> should not make you take a different number of classes from what
> you want to take, but keep in mind that all of our taxes are
> going to pay for your classes, so if you're going in seriously
> considering dropping a class and leaving us tax payers with the
> bill, just don't.  W's by the way do mean something.  They're not
> as bad as F's, so if you have a choice between failing and taking
> the W, take the W, but you don't want more than a couple on your
> transcript.  I think the suggestion that others have made of
> talking to an academic advisor at your school is an excellent
> one.  If students at your school typically take five classes in
> their first semester and do well, your advisor should tell you
> that, and you can take that information to your rehab counselor.
> If the advisor says that students typically don't take that many
> classes at all or start with fewer to get used to college,
> perhaps you should rethink things.
>
> HTH,
> Karl
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
> From: Sami Osborne via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Thu, 28 Jul 2016 13:42:14 -0400
> Subject: [nabs-l] A question about something my rehab counselor
> said
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'd really like to get your opinions on something that my rehab
> counselor said just today.  I'll be starting college in
> September, and we were discussing the possibility of him funding
> me for the different bills that need to be paid per semester or
> year.
>
>  He said something that I found really strange, although some of
> you may disagree with me.  Even though I'm already registered for
> classes and have a full schedule for the semester (five classes
> during the week,) he suggested that maybe I should drop a fouple
> of them and take a reduced amount of credits, at least this first
> semester.  His reasoning is that he thinks it might be too much
> for me, and apparently, other blind college students whom he has
> worked with have done this.  Although my counselor is generally a
> very accommmdating man, I personally disagree with him on this.
> Numer one, I don't find five classes to be too much at all,
> because that's the average of most college students, whether
> blind or sighted, and number two, I have many breaks in between
> my classes, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays, where I have
> one class in the morning and don't have another one for 6 and a
> half hours! I'm also a person who really enjoys learning new
> things, and also, I believe that this is not something that a
> rehab counselor should be telling their clients, although you
> guys can tell me what you think.  This is very strange in my
> opinion.
>
> I hope that you guys can give me some advice as to what your
> opinions are on this matter.  Oh, and one more thing, what would
> you suggest I do if I tell him that I don't want to drop anything
> and he keeps on insisting?
>
> I really hope you guys can help me, and have a happy end of July!
> :(
>
> Thanks so much,
>
> Sami
>
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-- 
Kaiti Shelton