Tips On Scheduling College Classes Like A Pro

For many college students including myself, spring break has come and gone. Now it’s time to buckle town and tackle the last 6-7 weeks or so of the semester. What this also means is that it’s almost that time again to sign up for next semester’s classes.

I sign up for my next fall semester’s classes starting this Thursday, so what better a time than to give some tips on how to schedule college classes like a pro.

So lets get on to the tips now, shall we?

Folks, this one’s a biggie. Before signing up for classes, it’s important to talk with your academic advisor about the classes you should be taking to make sure you’re still on the right track. Visiting your advisor is also a great way to plan ahead on future semesters as well, so that again, you can track your progress towards graduation. 

Pro tip: Try to schedule a meeting with your advisor earlier than normal, like a little before the scheduling process comes around. Otherwise if you wait until a day or so before you schedule, your advisor could be too overbooked with other students. Plus, making an appointment with your advisor before their peak busy times will ensure that you’re getting all the attention and focus that you need from your advisor.

Make sure you know ahead of time when your scheduling window opens. At my school, they post the exact date and time our scheduling windows open for scheduling classes about a month or so prior to when scheduling for classes starts. Scheduling windows are usually based on which grade you’re in (ie graduating seniors choose classes before freshman). It’s important to know exactly what classes you’re going to take ahead of time. At my school, if you don’t submit your next semester’s schedule when your scheduling window opens, some classes can then be full and you might miss out on classes you need to stay on track for graduation, the times you want for your classes, and/or miss out on getting the best professors. Don’t be the person who waits until the last minute and ends up falling behind!

Once you have an idea of what classes you’re going to take after planning ahead and visiting you’re advisor, it’s often helpful to ask around from friends or other people on campus for their input. If you know one of your friends is currently taking or has taken a class you plan to take next semester, it can be a good idea to ask them about how the professor is, about the work load, etc. If you don’t know of anyone to ask advice from about a class, you can also use ratemyprofessors.com and search your professor. I’ve found the site to be pretty helpful, and reading up on there about my future professors has made me feel a little more prepared in knowing what to expect from a certain class/professor when scheduling my classes. Asking around can save you from some unnecessary suffering in taking a harder-than-it-should-be elective or can get you excited about a great professor. Just remember to take advice about classes and professors with a grain of salt. Sometimes what other people think about a class isn’t necessarily the same experience you’ll have.

When scheduling classes, it’s important to be honest with yourself, especially when scheduling classes for certain times a day or days in the week. For example, are you a morning person or do you work in the afternoon or evenings? Or do you like being done with all of your school work by the evening? If the answer is yes to both of those, then maybe you’d rather schedule morning classes. Are you a late riser or study so late that you have difficult waking up early? Then maybe it would be better to schedule late afternoon/evening classes. Some other things to think about when scheduling your classes are when your extracurricular activities are, when you work if you have a job, and when you feel like you study the best. You might want to block these times out and work your class schedule around these times so that you can keep your other commitments as well. However, some classes are only offered during certain times and certain days of the week (especially as you enter into your major classes, which tend to be smaller in size). But for the class times you can choose, try to keep some of these things in mind!

Seriously. This is one of those things that many people forget about when scheduling classes. If you have classes that are very close together in time, such as back-to-back classes, try to make sure these classes are somewhat near each other on campus. Nothing is worse than having 10-15 minutes to sprint from one side of campus to another because your classes are too far apart. Sometimes you can’t help this, but if you can, try to avoid it!

Did you see that? Two exclamation points on this tip. That’s how important this one is. Sometimes when people schedule (looking at you last-semester me), they schedule back-to-back-to-back classes in huge time blocks usually so that a) they can get classes over with earlier or b) try to get all their classes on only 2-3 days so that they can have a couple of days a week or so free.

Why shouldn’t you do this?

Well for starters, you are probably going to hate yourself on the days where you have massive amounts of classes (especially if you do so in order to have no classes a couple of days a week). It’s nice to spread classes out a little bit so that you have time to prepare yourself for your next class, and not feel so swamped on certain days. However, like mentioned above, be honest with yourself. Taking too many classes in one day is not for me, but it could be different for you. BUT no matter whether you like to bulk classes into a couple days a week or like to spread them out a little bit, please do yourself a favor and make sure that you schedule yourself a lunch break. You’re going to need a little break during the day for lunch (brain food) and to get up from sitting for so long in lectures. I made this mistake this semester and trust me, it can be pretty painful to pay attention in class when you’re hungry or have been sitting in the same seat for what seems like hours on end.

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I hope some of these scheduling tips helped you guys! Oh and I’d just like to add that I tried to make these tips applicable to any college, so hopefully at least a couple of them are helpful to you or maybe serve as a reminders as the class scheduling process for next semester comes around.

What are some of your tips for scheduling classes in college?

20.

I was in between working my tutoring sessions tonight and it hit me. I only have a few more hours left of being a teenager. I mean, I knew my birthday was coming up and all but it really didn’t hit me how soon it actually was. Tomorrow. In less than an hour, I’ll be 20. I’ll be a freaking twenty-something.

I don’t know how I feel about this. Scratch that. I do know how I feel. But it’s mixed emotions. A part of me is so happy to finally be 20. To finally start living life, to finally be done with the hardest decade of my life thus far. During this decade alone, I finished elementary school, got through the hell that is middle school, I got through high school and made it out on top, and I started (and am almost ¾ of the way done with) college. I have done so, so much during this decade, and it sure is crazy how much can happen in 10 years. I’ve gone through some horrible times, and I’ve gone through some really great times. During this decade alone, I’ve started things and I’ve also ended some things that I always thought I’d love. 

The other emotions that I’m feeling is all of the pressure of being 20. I’m going to have to start “adulting” soon. Like, now. I'm going to be asked by family members non-stop whether or not I have a boyfriend in the picture, which is sort of stressing me out. Mostly because from what I hear, after college the dating pool just gets smaller and smaller and smaller. And that is just fan-freaking-tastic.

                

But honestly, I can’t wait to start my twenties. And my main goal for my twenties is to actually start living life. I feel like the past ten years, I never really lived. Yes, I had some good times and made some memories, but I never truly let myself loose and live in the moment. I want to have moments where I’m laughing so hard I’m crying and having the time of my life with amazing friends. I want to have moments where I’m just awe-struck about how beautiful the world is, and fall in love with places all over the globe. I want to fall in love, and get those butterflies that never go away. I want to be able to blow out my candles on my 30^th birthday after my twenties are over and not regret a thing. I want to be able to look at these next 10 years in my twenties, and just sit there in utter disbelief at how lucky I am, how blessed I am, and how happy I am to be alive. In my twenties, I want to finally feel alive.

During these next 10 years, anything can happen. I could fall in love in these next 10 years. I could get married (!) in these next 10 years. I’ll be graduating college, possibly attending graduate school, working full time in these next 10 years. I may or may not stick to what I actually majored in during these next 10 years. I could move all the way across the country in these next 10 years. I could finally travel out of the country. Who the heck knows.

I don’t know what God has in store for me for these next 10 years, but I hope there will be some great, exciting things in store. I know there will always be crosses to bare, but let’s be honest. If I can get through the horror that is middle school, I can get through what life throws at me these next 10 years.

If I had time to eat cake tomorrow and blow out candles (will be doing so at a later date), you know what my wish would be?

To be happy. To find myself. To take each day at a time so that things will slowly start falling into place.

Although I’m freaking out over my internship interview tomorrow, missing 2 classes to be there for said interview, and will need to study my butt off tomorrow night on my birthday for my accounting midterm, cheers to a new decade. Cheers to living life to the fullest, finding myself, and just finding happiness in being me.

20 here I come. (T-29 minutes)

Love Always,

               Colleen