Edited by Tasmiyah Randeree
At U of T, the recommended number of courses to take is five, and probably for good reason. But what happens when you take six in one semester? Doing this for my first three years here at U of T has forced me to answer this question, and to truly understand why I made the choices I made.
My plan was always to enrol in six courses with the intention to drop one of them after the first few weeks. The only problem was, I actually genuinely enjoyed all my courses. In this way, it was never too much of a burden to do this, and there was nothing that made me dislike the coursework. I became so invested in all of my courses that it didn’t even occur to me what I was doing, how much I was putting myself through.
In taking all of these courses, I never had time to worry about being stressed. I knew that I had to get things done no matter what. I didn’t even have the choice to procrastinate, so I was never too worried about the workload.
Not only that, but I learned to develop my own academic skills that worked for me and my own studying habits. I would say the most notable of these would probably be “productive procrastination.” Even if I did not want to start an assignment for one course, I would begin readings or assignments for other classes; and by the end of the day, I had completed everything on my to-do list. So, through this process, I have learned how to manage my time effectively, how to work through difficult situations, and how to use my skills to my advantage.
However, this did not come without some disadvantages. I feel like I didn’t take the time to enjoy the city of Toronto, and I was certainly not able to take some much needed time to relax. I never realized how much of a commitment it was to take six courses, at least not until I took five courses instead. Comparing the two situations, I think the most valuable lesson I have learned is the following: don’t make things any harder than they need to be, save yourself the trouble.
In the end, should I have done this many courses for most of my time here? Probably not. But do I regret it? I honestly can’t say that I do. Doing all of this for so long has taught me that I can handle so much more than I ever thought possible.