What Classes Should I Pick for the Spring Semester?

It’s that time of the year again, the time when students are asked to think ahead and pick the courses they want to take in the spring.  For some, this is a stressful process.

Choosing your schedule can be difficult, especially if you have many courses to choose from or aren’t yet sure what to major in.  That said, there’s no reason to take the dart board approach to choosing classes (you know – when you post the class schedule on your dart board and toss a dart to figure out which class to take).  There are some simple ways to narrow down your choices and find a schedule that meets your needs – and your interests.

• Before you do anything else, consult your degree plan and talk to your academic advisor.  Smart people have already figured out what classes you should take when, and there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.  Even if you don’t have a degree plan yet, an academic advisor can guide you to those courses that all majors require.
• For in major courses: typically, your options are more limited when it comes to choosing courses in your major.  Thus, you should choose these courses first, and work the rest of your class choices around them.
• For gen. ed. courses: you often have many choices when it comes to gen. ed. classes, but that doesn’t mean they are all good choices for you.  After you narrow down your list to the classes that can fit into your schedule, start talking to your friends to find out which professors they liked and which ones they recommend you stay away from.  Also, do some online research.  Departments often post syllabi on their websites, and studying those will give you a good sense of what individual profs expect from their students.
• Other things to consider: how work intensive is your course load?  It’s not a bad thing to cut down your schedule a bit if that means that you will enjoy life more and won’t delay graduation.  Also, how well rounded is your schedule?  Perhaps you can add a PE or arts class to give you more variety during your week.  These courses are generally required, and some students find them to be more enjoyable than the other courses they are required to take.  Since happy students are generally more successful in the long run, it doesn’t hurt to take these fun classes, too.
• Finally, don’t be afraid to talk to professors.  If your profs are anything like me, they are happy to give you information about their upcoming classes and help you to determine whether or not the class will be a good fit for you.