Ten Tips for Scheduling Your Semester
- Take at least one course in an area of potential interest every semester until you declare your major.
- Balance your schedule. Take some Math and/or Science, some Social Science, some Humanities each semester.
- Take about fifteen hours each semester until you decide your major. Give those exploratory courses a fair chance.
- Plan your exploration several semesters ahead. What prerequisites (if any) are needed? Take those now to explore better later.
- Some people are afraid of "wasting" hours on exploration. But finding your major is the best way to work efficiently towards a degree. Try nine hours for basics and three to six hours for exploration.
- If you plan to transfer credit, do your research to ensure that courses will transfer and "count" in your destination major. See K-State's transfer equivalency site for details.
- Classes one after another? The benefits are larger blocks of open time and less trips to campus. The drawbacks are an exhausted brain by late afternoon, lunch at weird times and the potential for several exams in a row.
- Classes with breaks in between? The benefits are time to recharge the brain & eat lunch and time for short study sessions. The drawbacks are too much frittering around and difficulty finding the time for extended study sessions.
- Remember that labs and studios often take up substantial amounts of time. Plan your schedule accordingly.
- Read the K-State Undergraduate Catalog. It is a catalog after all! Spend some time shopping for the right courses.
You will want to look at the Course Schedule to start putting these tips into action. You can also find a printable Course Scheduling Grid in the The Toolbox. And remember, a good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. Although it might prove impossible to use all ten tips at the same time, any exploratory effort should prove helpful to the decision-making process.