Pick Your Classes Wisely

written on January 27, 2009 in Tips & Tricks

After pondering about what to write, I’ve decided to compile a list of tips for incoming college freshmen on picking classes, since I know you guys should be getting your acceptance/waitlist/rejection (hopefully not) letters about now.

It took me a year and a half to finally figure out what I wanted to do in college and really start focusing, but my lack thereof before is now kicking me in the butt. I’m double majoring in Japanese and international business, which means I need a total of 156 credits to graduate. Unfortunately, I spent my freshmen year taking useless classes I didn’t need, and now when I want to take my major-required classes, I’m either missing prerequisites or don’t have enough credit. Not fun. :O

So don’t be a dumb dumb like me, and learn from my mistakes:

• If you know for sure what you want to major in, take a look at your major requirements, which can usually be found on your school website or will be given during orientation.
• Pick your classes accordingly, and get the prerequisites out of the way.
• If you are double, triple, or quadruple majoring, see if any of your other major requirements also satisfy a core. Don’t take more core classes than the minimum requirements. It’s a waste of time.
• Try to take around 15-16 credit per semester. Of course, if you came in with 100 AP credits or you want to take more, by all means, do go for it.
• If you don’t know your major, but have a general idea of the field you want to go in, try to take a look at the requirements for the majors in that field and take core classes that are related to them. Even better, find core classes that satisfy some major requirements.
• If you don’t know your major, decide on it ASAP. The less time you spend taking useless classes, the better.
• Decide CAREFULLY. And once you do make your choice, stick to it, or at least limit the switches to being in the same school to spare yourself from starting from scratch.
• Don’t bite off more than you can chew, but at the same time, you should take as big as a bite as your mouth can afford. College is expensive, and the more you get out of it, the more your getting back for your money’s worth. Know your limit, but don’t underestimate your abilities.

Of course, if you’re happy wandering through college aimlessly and plan on staying in there till kingdom come, ignore the above tips and go smoke some hookah Error processing request