The DO's and DON'Ts in Choosing Classes

The process of choosing classes may seem a little overwhelming and complicated when school year starts at university, especially for you freshmen out there.  But CHILLAX~ and yes I mean chillax.  This ain’t harder than the course content that you'll be learning later on in the school year, so quite worrying.  This doesn’t mean you can treat it with a careless attitude.  Instead of thinking too much about how you'd screw your year up by choosing the wrong courses, why don't you focus on what sparks your interest?  Here is a list of the do's and don'ts in choosing classes.

Sources: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/find-colleges/academic-life/8-tips-for-choosing-college-classes

DO 

1. Check out the available options for you: review the course catalog.

2. Find out about the core requirements that you need to fulfill at uni: try to take most of these core classes during your first two years so you can focus on your major later.

1. Meet with a college advisor or academic counselor.
2. Visit the class or contact with the professors who teach the classes that you’re interested in taking.
3. Consider courses that are relevant to your future plans.
4. Pick the classes that fit into your schedule: allocate a fair amount of time for studying and other activities each day.
5. Maintain balance: choose classes that require different types of work, so you don’t end up writing five papers or solving five problem sets in a week.
6. Sign up ASAP: don’t wait till last minute or vacancies will run out.
7. Find out if you can fulfill any core requirements by using college credits and placement exams before registration.
8. Consider taking a writing course: good writing skills will be important in all your courses and in your future career as well.

DON’T

1. Double-book yourself: check that your courses don’t clash with one another.
2. Overwhelm yourself by choosing many hard courses since uni courses will require much more effort and time than those of high school.
3. Follow the crowd(or friends): make your own decisions, what your friends or other people want to do don’t apply to you unless you truly feel interested as well.