Registering for College Classes

Choosing which classes to take in college can be very time consuming. Your advisor will help you with this, but it still takes a lot of effort on your part. Usually there will be several classes you can take towards your degree, each semester. So you think, “Well this is easy. I’ll just take as many as I can.” Or you think, “Heck, I’ll take them all.” This is where it all becomes very confusing. You have to consider several factors. What days are these classes on? How many of these classes overlap or happen at the same time? How much time do you have in between classes? Do you have something to do during these classes?

Usually colleges offer classes that take place on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and then other classes that happen on Tuesday and Thursday. Some classes happen just on Monday or maybe Monday and Wednesday or several other combinations. The important thing to consider is do you want to take classes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday and Thursday or all week? If you live several miles from your campus, it may be best to take as many classes as you can on Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday, Thursday. That way you will get the most out of your time there, rather than taking one class every day of the week. For example, instead of taking English on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Math on Tuesday and Thursday you could take English and Math on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and save the gas money it would take to get there on Tuesday and Thursday.

Sometimes you may want to take several classes on the days that you’ve decided to attend, but some of the classes happen at the same time or overlap each other. In this case, I would consult your advisor and find out which classes will be given next semester. If none of the classes will be given next semester choose the classes that are most important to your degree. Instead of taking an elective, take the Math class. Also ask your advisor if there are other classes you can take that would take the place of the class you aren’t able to attend. Most of the time, there are several options of what you can take. For example, there are different Literature courses you can take and when it comes to electives there are several different choices. It’s important to look at all options and take the classes that cannot be substituted and look for other classes that can be substituted for the other classes you wanted to take.

It’s important to get your classes as close together as possible. If you have two classes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and one is 10-10:50am and the second is 4-4:50pm, there are several wasted hours in between. While this does offer time to study, it also offers several hours to become bored and wonder how important the first or second class is. I have experienced similar situations at school and ended up withdrawing from my classes and just taking the online classes I had registered for. This isn’t something you want to do. It’s much better to have 10-30 minutes or at the very most an hour in between classes. This insures you won’t get too bored, while still offering enough time to study.

But what if you’re like me and have no choice but to take classes with several hours in between? This is where a part-time job comes in handy. The best thing to try and do is get a work study job on campus. This way, you won’t be too far away to risk being late for work or class. Plus you’ll be earning some extra cash and we all know how useful that is to a college student. If you must work off campus, find a job that is close to campus and make sure you have 30 minutes to get to the job and 30 minutes to get back just incase something happens; bad traffic, your class lasting longer than it’s supposed to, etc. I will have a work study job this fall to ensure that I don’t get bored. Another plus side to working on campus is being able to work around your schedule. I will be able to work a couple hours before my first class and a few hours afterwards.

Let’s review:

• Choose your classes so that they happen on the same days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday and Thursday.
• You will sometimes have to choose other classes or take classes next semester, because they overlap with another class you need to take.
• Take classes that are close enough together so you won’t get bored.
• Last but not least, if you have to take classes that are far apart, get a work study job or a part-time job to take up the extra time.