Does number of credit hours offered by a program matter?

[Idahomie]

Hi, and thanks in advance for any thoughts you might share.

I have begun to receive acceptance letters and am now trying to decide which school to attend. As I compare schools on a deeper level, I am now noticing that there are significant differences in how many credits are offered by each school. For example, one program is 142, another 112, and another 96. Each spans 27 months with identical 15w/12w didactic/clinical ratios. I want to be in the program that most rigorously prepares me to finish with the greatest level of competency. Obviously, there are many factors in deciding which school to go to, but the question of credits is not something I have really heard/read about before. 

So, my question is this: Do you think that credits offer a fair representation of class time/homework load? It almost seems impossible that one program would have 142 credits while another would have 96... with such a disparity, it makes me wonder if the numbers are more subjectively/abstractly defined...?

I have tried Googling and searching the forums for answers to this so that I wouldn't be rehashing an old question, but I didn't come across anything. 

I really appreciate any input. Thanks!

-David

[marktheshark89]

# of credits doesn’t matter. Every program defines them differently. 

[UGoLong]

No, it doesn’t. It’s more of a bookkeeping thing as schools often have a cost per credit hour. If they gave you more credits, your tuition might very well be higher as a result.


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[Idahomie]

Okay, that makes sense. I had assumed there was a national standard for credit-hours, so this is good to know. Thanks for the input!