Choosing classes in college is quite different from high school. In high school most of the subjects you study are not up to you. College gives you more freedom in choosing classes, and in general this only makes life easier. There are a few obvious points to keep in mind, such as making sure you’re getting your school or major’s required courses done at a reasonable rate and not overloading your schedule. Overloading isn’t just the number of classes either, but the type. Obviously in either case how much is too much will vary from person to person, but as a general rule try not to take too many classes at once or too many of the same type. Four or five history classes at once will bury you in reading, and I probably don’t have to warn most of you not to take a semester of solid math. More importantly, I want to talk about what goes into most people’s decisions for their class schedules to give you an idea of what to take into account.
Think ahead
First of all, the ability to choose your classes means you need to do some planning ahead. Some will want to do this more than others, and some will need to do this more than others. Majors with lots of requirements take more planning to make sure you can fit everything in without any scheduling disasters down the road. Majors with fewer requirements give you some more flexibility and usually more electives.
When choosing classes, there are a number of things to think about. In purely practical terms: when the class is, who the professor is, and when the class will be offered again. What people look for in a class varies, but common motivations for picking a certain class include fulfilling requirements, learning about a subject that interests you, learning something that will be useful to you, and/or getting a good grade. I’m not saying you should take easy classes just to get good grades, since you’re only wasting your own time by doing so. But grades do matter, and if for example a certain class’s fall professor is known to be a harsher grader than the spring professor, I’d be lying to you if I said nobody paid attention to that fact.
Scheduling a day
As far as the time classes are held, the only requirement is that you pick a set of classes that don’t conflict with each other. Other things to consider would be when your earliest class is, whether you have time to eat between classes, and whether your classes are right in a row or scattered throughout the day. Early classes can cause some conflict with the inevitable desires to stay up late or sleep in. Time for lunch is a schedule feature that some won’t do without and others won’t hesitate to skip. I think time to eat is more important than many people give it credit for, and I urge you to try to work time for a regular meal schedule into your classes. Feeling hungry, tired, or otherwise uncomfortable in class may not be the end of the world, but it’s an unnecessary distraction. If any of those discomforts get to the point of tempting you to skip class, then you’re a victim of poor scheduling. The solution for too many people is to skip class, and of all the reasons to skip class the most unnecessary are because they slept in or wanted to eat instead. I’ve skipped my fair share of classes, and most of the point of this site is help others avoid the mistakes of those who have gone before them.
Having classes scattered throughout the day is one of the commonest and least-expected mistakes I remember us making at the beginning of college. Some people mind less than others, but most people seem to value having class time limited to one part of the day a lot more than they think they do. Having classes at odd times really puts a damper on hanging out with friends and making other plans, and it’s often hard to shift gears back and forth between class and free time throughout the day. Sometimes you won’t have much choice in the matter, but when you can it’s probably a good idea to consider how your classes fit together. Another common reason to skip class is if you’ve been to class already at 9, 11, and 2:30 in one day and just don’t want to go to your 7:30 pm lab. Any situation that creates such disincentives to attend class only hurts you, and can often be avoided with better planning.
What professor teaches the class often won’t be known to you early enough to take into account for scheduling purposes unless it’s consistent from year to year. Often the best source of information available to you is word of mouth. Many students consult the website www.ratemyprofessors.com once they know who’s teaching a course just to get an idea of what’s in store, but the site is by no means authoritative or complete. Take any information with a grain of salt.
Other recommendations
Choosing required courses is largely a matter of choosing and finding room for a few every semester, but choosing what to study besides requirements is where you have the most freedom and can have the most fun. Elective courses allow you to learn about subjects very different from your field of study, and hopefully are enjoyable as well. There are a lot of subjects out there that you know nothing about, and this is a rare chance to learn about them. Other good choices for electives are classes in which you learn skills that could be useful down the road. Having more skills can never hurt. Some, such as computer programming, will only be useful to some but can be very interesting.
The two subjects I want to recommend universally are communication and writing. Most colleges have classes or even departments devoted to communication, and better communication skills are useful in almost every job and in life in general. Oral Communication is one of the most popular classes at Cornell, and with good reason. Even if you have to force yourself out of your comfort zone to do it, learning better communication is worth it in potential career benefits alone. Writing skills are another form of communication, and are something that can only help. Don’t be afraid to take these courses if you feel you’re bad at communication or at writing. On the contrary, those are exactly the kinds of things these classes are supposed to help with. Avoiding a class because you don’t already know what’s being taught doesn’t make any sense, and it’s not the way people think about subjects such as math, history, etc. But for some reason when it comes to communication and writing, the very people who stand to gain the most are also the people who least often take advantage of the resources colleges offer. This is where you’re supposed to learn the skills you’ll need in life. Why miss the chance?