Christine B.

Depending on your college and major, you likely have to select your courses yourself and build your own schedule. Try not to exceed the amount of courses considered a “full time” schedule at your college. If you are a science student you can expect to spend a few hours a week in a lab. That limits your time for other courses, so it may be wise to take fewer credits. At universities where every full year class counts for one credit, five courses is considered full time and 2.5 to 3 credits means you are a part time student. If you are concerned about the amount of time you have for studying, work or your social life it may be best to take one credit less in your first year. You are already going through many challenges and adjustments, taking four full year courses are stressful enough!

Choosing your courses wisely

College is expensive, it doesn’t matter if you pay by the credit or by the year, you don’t want to spend too much time before graduating. So you want to make educated choices about your future. Now even if you have to pick a major before actually starting you can always change majors later on; you are by no means attached to whatever you chose for the rest of your life. If you have no idea and still have to pick something, that being a major or courses, there is something you most likely do know: the direction you want to go into. You most probably do know if you want to be in engineering or arts. Generally you also know whether or not you despise math or languages. At least you will know what you like the least.

Get a complete list of programs offered at your college, and the courses you have to take for each (if you have to pick them yourself and you are not assigned a fixed schedule). If you are planning to go into business look at the different options in that field (commerce versus economics or management). Make a list of the courses that are required for each program you could possibly ever be interested in. Highlight the courses that are the same for each program. For example; whether you choose to be in management, economics or commerce you will always have to take a first year economics course. Whether you are in chemistry, biological chemistry, biotechnology or molecular biology you will always need a first year chemistry and biology course.

Don’t feel like you have to take all courses listed under “first year”. Most people do not take six courses in college if they want a good average or to even pass. Ask around what the minimum and maximum is you are allowed to take and go somewhere in between, that is a safe guess. If you are allowed to drop a course (generally drop dates are about a month after classes start), it is safer to try one more than one less; you can always drop a course and take it later if it gets too busy. You will not be able to add on a course later on if you feel your workload is too light.

Now; once you’ve highlighted all courses that are equal between the programs you might be interested in you select the 4 or 5 courses that all programs share. This way you can change your mind about your major later on without having taken a class you end up not needing at all! It saves time and money, not to mention the impact it can have on your grades.

One of the biggest mistake college students regret at the end of their degree is taking courses (and paying for them!) they never needed! By being informed about your course choices you can be flexible down the road!