I recently went to an advising meeting through both the Honors College and the School of Journalism. I know those meetings are supposed to ease your mind, but now I’m just worried that I don’t have enough room for the classes I need or that the classes I want will all be taken by the time I schedule.
Scheduling in the spring is low-key compared to scheduling as an incoming freshman. They don’t herd you into the library and stand over your shoulder to make sure you do it right. Instead, there is a date listed on OneStart that tells you when you can start. Any pre-advising is up to you.
I have a sophomore standing, but that doesn’t mean much. For some reason, just to torture myself, I check the availability of all of my classes every day. Consequently, I have to keep rearranging my schedule because the availability is dwindling.
Some may say that that makes it easier to choose which classes to take. Those people are wrong. Really all it does it make me worry that I’ll get stuck with all of the boring classes that I don’t want and/or need.
Take statistics, for instance. I need to take a statistics class eventually, but I hate math. Therefore, I did research and found a class that others have told me is easy with a professor that I have heard is rather congenial and easy to understand. Each day the available spots decrease and the waitlist spots increase. It’s rather depressing.
However, fear not, because here are my tips to a worry-free scheduling date!- Transfer all of your high school credits early first semester! The more credits you have coming in, the higher your status, and the earlier you'll get to schedule.
- Meet with your academic advisor. They’ll help you with questions, suggestions, or worries. They'll also make sure you're on track for graduation and if you have room to fit in a semester abroad or at an internship.
- Make a list of classes you need to take and a list of those you want to take. Make a list for your major, minor, electives, etc. Lists are good. If you need some help choosing classes, check out this post,this one, or this one!
- Research! Find out which professor, time slot, and building works best for you. Also, check out http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/. It has reviews of professors and the classes they teach.
- Create a tentative primary schedule, but keep backups in mind in case your first choices close before you register. I try to balance my schedule so that I'm not stuck with all boring or difficult classes one semester and all easy ones another.
- Keep an eye on the classes you really want to make sure that they’re still open. Many of the higher level classes have spots reserved for majors or simply fill up fast with upperclassmen.
- Register as soon as you can, and don’t get too stressed!
- Read some other awesome articles like Nine Tips For Selecting Your College Courses at IU or the others linked above!
