How to Create a College Class Schedule

One of the first tasks college freshman must complete is creating a college course schedule. This may be overwhelming with so many classes to choose from, so here's a list of tips to make deciding easier.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Understand whether you're a morning person or night person or anything between. Schedule as many of your classes during these peak functioning hours as possible. For example, I'm a very early morning person, so I scheduled as many of my classes as possible for being between 8 and noon.

2. Know that college isn't high school. In high school, we had block days where all our classes were crammed together with only a break for lunch. In college, you're going to be doing a bit more studying. As such, you may find it helpful to leave an hour or more between your classes so you can - hopefully! - sit back with your lecture notes and go over them while you can to fill in any missing gaps.

3. Again, college isn't high school. Classes are going to be harder. If you're a new freshman, I don't recommend going over 15 credits. Even if you believe you can handle the work academically, you still want time to orient yourself around campus, join a few clubs, and have some fun before you get to the upper level classes.

4. Follow your core classes first. If you know you want to major in something specifically, try out a few classes relating to it first. Better to change your major now than later. If you're undecided, still get requirements out of the way; take math and English classes. You want to graduate on time or as close as possible. After you schedule these classes, start looking for fun courses you want to take.

5. Get input on professors. When I started college, I was lucky enough to know some professors already, so I asked for their input on whom to get. When it came to departments where I didn't know anyone, I relied on RateMyProfessors.com. Take these reviews with some doubt, however; low ratings may be due to failing grades. However, they're often helpful. I learned about certain teachers always giving two tests a week or expecting students to have read the textbook beforehand. Typically, opinions should be doubted while facts such as those can be trusted. Use your best instinct.

6. Follow a map. My freshman year, I realized I had three classes with ten minutes between each, all on opposite sides of the huge campus. I can't sprint three miles in ten minutes! Whoops! I immediately changed one of the courses, and luckily managed to get a more popular professor as well.

Tips & Warnings

• Always consult your advisor before creating a schedule.

[PBreech]

on 12/1/2009 great tip!

[YuliyaDaniels]

on 8/3/2009 great advice for college students!

[jrofosho1]

on 7/24/2009 Helpful for me as a college student