10 Tips to Choosing Your Class Schedule

Beginning your journey into higher education can be a fun and exciting experience, but it can also be unnerving to find that you are almost always completely unprepared. Elementary, middle and secondary schools are not much for preparing students for the important part of college classes: choosing them. Seeing an advisor is the best thing that a new student can do before putting together a class schedule. An advisor will direct you as to what classes to take, when; and how to go about transitioning as smoothly as possible. For now, here are some tips:

1.) Decide your availability - it is important that you do not schedule classes on days or during times that may conflict with other things. Regular attendance is necessary (and sometimes mandated) in achieving desirable results from the course.

2.) Know where the classes are located - do not schedule back to back classes when the buildings are completely across campus from one another. Give yourself plenty of traveling time between classes.

3.) Know where you are allowed to park - parking can be a daunting task on a college campus! Shy away from scheduling your first class during peak parking hours!

4.) Know what you need to take - do not just pick classes that fit your designated time schedule. This is where the advisor comes in; they will tell you exactly what you need, and you can look up classes and times from there.

5.) Research class expectations — registering for a class that requires a “break-out” session at a later time in the week can be hard to fit in to a tight-locked schedule. Draw up plans for those more complicated classes first and work all others around them.

6.) Know the teachers — read reviews on potential teachers; know what you are getting into ahead of time, it can save students many headaches later!

7.) Do not “stack” your semester! - taking all of your hardest classes in one semester is too much work and these should be sprinkled between easier courses.

8.) Remember the weekends! - if you like to party the weekend away, Monday classes may not be beneficial! Often, students can wisely schedule all Tuesday and Thursday classes.

9.) Realize the time - an 8 AM class is not for everyone; if you have to question it, don’t do it!

10.) Account for outside issues - students often work or have pressing family issues that leave a class schedule looking sparse or spread out. If you have other obligations, be sure to account for them in the beginning.