Optimizing your time - Tips on Class Schedules and Meeting with your Advisor

     One thing we learn early on in our academic career; time is our most precious commodity. Unfortunately, this truth only becomes more evident as we advance our academic and professional careers.  As such, anything that can help you make better use of you valuable time will always pay for itself multiple times over.  Keeping this in mind, let's discuss how to create a smart class schedule that allows you to take only the courses you need to graduate and keep from taking useless courses that result in returning for a 5th year to finish your graduation requirements, and also some quick tips on how to communicate with your advisor.  Being smart with your class schedules each semester not only gets you through college on time, but also saves you thousands, even tens of thousands in extra tuition and living expenses associated with spending an extra year finishing up your degree.

Optimize your Class Schedule: An Intro to Class Scheduling in College.

  

     At most colleges, your schedule will be different on different days of the week, usually certain classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and others on Tuesday and Thursday.  The Monday-Wednesday-Friday (a.k.a. M-W-F) classes are usually shorter, lasting around 50 minutes while Tuesday-Thursday (a.k.a. T-TR or T-TH, T-TR will be used here) classes will last a bit longer, around an hour and a half, so that the actual amount of time spent per week is the same (2 1/2 hours for each class per week) regardless of which days you have class.  Many students prefer the Tuesday-Thursday schedule, since it allows them to have every Friday off (which is why many schools' Greek organizations tend to have their weekly parties on Thursdays instead of Friday's).  This is not true of all schools however; at some schools the length of each class period is the same no matter which days you have classes on, and instead of having to choose between a schedule with 3 class days a week or 2, they simply alternate Fridays.  This means that one week the Monday-Wednesday classes will also have a Friday class, then the next week the Tuesday-Thursday classes will have a Friday class, and it alternates in this way throughout the semester.  

     I' m sure basically all prospective students young and old reading this are thinking the same thing, "I'm totally going for the Tuesday-Thursday classes!", and why wouldn't you?  It's a whole extra day off every week!  Well, don't get overly excited yet, because in all honesty it rarely works out so that you can have all your classes scheduled on M-W-F or T-TR.  In most cases, to get the classes you want (and need) you will have to have classes every day, some being M-W-F and others T-TR.  Now this is a great time for a little friendly advice:  If you ever have a choice (and at some point you will) between getting to take all the classes you really need that semester or missing out on one or two and taking courses you don't truly need just so you can have all your classes on T-TR, for your own sake take the classes you really need!  

     After the most basic courses in any discipline, more advanced courses have prerequisites that must be met for you to be allowed to enroll in them.  As an example, you can take Intro to Biology without any other courses under your belt; but to take Botany or Zoology (which are likely required for a major in biology), you will have to have passed the Intro to Biology course.  As classes become more advanced, there will be even more complex prerequisites, for example, to take Genetics, you may have to have passed Intro to Biology plus either Botany or Zoology.  This may not be exactly how it works at your particular school, but it will have some sort of similar requirements; I'm just giving you an example to help you understand how it works.  So say you decide not to take Botany or Zoology your second semester because it will force you into a 5 days-a-week schedule instead of the 2 days-a-week schedule you were hoping for; when you go to sign up for classes next semester, you may only be able to take either Botany or Zoology, not both together.  Genetics is still available, but you don't meet the prerequisites because you didn't take Botany or Zoology last semester like your other classmates did, so you are stuck and can't take any more classes that count towards your major until next semester!  Now you are behind schedule to graduate, while also being forced into taking (and paying for) classes that will not count toward your major, and therefore don't count toward you graduating on time.  This is a trap that many, many students fall into early on in college, and it ends up taking 5 years to graduate instead of 4, which can ultimately cost you thousands to tens of thousands of dollars depending on your school.  You will always have a few friends that seem to magically work out their schedules so that they only have to attend classes two days a week, but try to remember when you're sitting in class resenting the fact that they are still asleep in their bed, that they will be the one sitting in the classroom later while you have already graduated and are making a great living.  

Advice on Advising your Advisor (try saying that 3 times fast). 

     It cannot be overstated how important it is to have all the knowledge you can gather about the most efficient path towards completing your major or area of concentration.  Your advisor can help a great deal in creating an efficient 4 year plan to graduate on time, but don't take their word as law.  Most advisors are extremely helpful and will do their very best to help you succeed in the most effective way possible, but some can be just going through the motions and may not have reviewed your completed classes and looked at all the possible ways you can move forward.  Advisors typically see many students, and sometimes they can go into "autopilot", basically recommending the same exact classes for everyone that comes in.  Make sure to be as prepared as possible for any meeting you have scheduled with an advisor, so you can ask good questions (this tends to snap them out of "autopilot"), and so you won't be afraid to question their recommendations if the need arises.  If your advisor is unresponsive to your questions and concerns, you may have to try to see another professor (perhaps one you have already built a good relationship with) and see if they have any suggestions on how you should move forward.  Professors typically won't contradict another professor, but if you can show them good evidence for why you should deviate from your advisor's plan, a good professor will ensure that you are able to do so.

 

The Tools of Organization: Using your Tablet/Smartphone as a Planner

     We live in a digital world.  As such, many students may feel that using a traditional planner may be too outdated.  Others may be more comfortable with a traditional planner, but it you feel better using your phone or tablet there are several clear advantages.

     Using a digital device such as a smartphone or tablet will allow you to get automated alerts and reminders for events in your schedule.  This is great because it allows you to spend less time having to continuously write down the same schedule over and over and having to check it again and again to ensure you don't forget anything, which is the case when using a traditional planner.  When using a your tablet or smartphone you can actually automate the process fairly easily.  With apple devices you can use the "Calendar" app that comes with the device to input your schedule.  Once you finish entering an event, you can choose to have it repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.  This allows you to automate the process so that you are alerted automatically and you won't have to check your calendar app each time you want to see the day's schedule.  So once you have entered in all the events for what will be your normal weekly schedule, you can have it repeat every week and never have to enter it or check it again unless you decide to alter your schedule for some reason (like exams, or seasonal breaks).  It is also very helpful to turn on alerts for each schedule event so that you never forget when it is time to study, and also when it is time to quit for the day!  This makes it far easier to stick to your schedule, because you are always reminded when it is time to study, and you have to actually dismiss the alert for it to go away, so it is very hard to just forget, truly you will basically have to consciously not to study.  

     This can be a great help once you get into the groove of college life,  because it can become far too easy to fall into the trappings of parties and social events (which occur nearly all the time, especially near the end of the week and weekends).  Another stumbling block can be to follow suit when you see your roommate roll over and go back to sleep when his alarm goes off for class at 8am, or when you decide to end your study early because you see many of your friends stopping their study early.  Don't be a follower!  Make them follow your example by staying vigilant and always adhering to your schedule.  After the first round of exams are over and you are sitting at a high B or even an A and they are just barely passing or even failing, your friends will come to you asking for advice and will look up to you from that point on.  

     Something you will always see for the first few weeks of classes each semester is the bulk of students walking around with their nose buried in their class schedule trying to remember which class they have next and navigate themselves to the correct room.  If you go ahead and enter your class schedule into your smart device as soon as you get your schedule, you won't have the need to take your schedule with you everywhere like most students.  As part of any event, you can include the start and end time, location, and for the title you can simply put the name of the class and the professor teaching it.

     It is also a great idea to put all your professors' information into your smart device in the "Contacts" app that also comes with the device.  You can include their name, office location, office hours, email address, phone numbers, and any other pertinent information.  In this way, you will be able to simply go to a professor in your contacts and call them or email them, rather than having to look through the course syllabus to find the information.  You will also look very cool and organized when you friends need any of the information and you can immediately give it to them.

     These few simple tips may not seem very impressive at first glance, but believe me when I say that making a schedule and sticking to it can be the difference between success and failure.  While it can be quite tedious to take the time entering all the information required to create these schedules and events, it is well worth it to ensure that you have success in your endeavors, and keep in mind that once you initially set up the schedule you never have to worry about it again unless you need to change it for som reason.  It is not all that time consuming anyway and should only take you an hour or less to create a good solid weekly schedule.  Once the information is entered and your alerts are set  up, you will always be reminded when it is time to study, time for a break, and time to quit for the day.  To ensure you never forget about a quiz or assignment, you can add them in as an event to your calendar app.  You can also add a second alert for the event, for instance have the first alert occur 2 days before and the second alert occur 1 day before.  For most of your classes, the course syllabus will include a complete schedule for the class including quiz dates and assignment due dates, so when you get the syllabus on the first day of class you can go ahead and create and event for each quiz or assignment before classwork begins to pick up and you have much less time to do this.

     I hope this information will help you to create strong solid schedule and also help you to stick to it, because having a schedule is useless unless you actually use it!  Later I will include more detailed information on exactly how to access and create a schedule on your device and various other features that you can use to your advantage.

The Tools of Organization: The Planner

     One of the greatest tools at your disposal during your college career is the use of organization.  Organization is the key to being able to get all your work done while still having free time to do things you enjoy, like hanging out with your friends.  I'm going to lay out a few quick and simple tips that will get you organized and well on your way to having much more free time to spend however you please.  One easy way to get organized is to start using a planner, and that will be the focus of the 3 steps in this post.


1.  Get a handbook or planner. 

     Most incoming freshmen will receive a free planner from the college or university, so make good use of it!  Electronic planners work wonders as well.  Have it handy at the beginning and end of each class, as these are the two most likely times for your instructor to lay out their class plans and assignments for the week.  Try not to get into the habit of waiting until later to fill in your planner, because you will be likely to forget some important detail about the next class or an assignment.  
     You can also jot down any social events or plans you make with friends in the planner, this will actually help give you some idea (when you review your planner later) about what activities will be feasible with your work load for a certain day or week.  After you are done with classes for the day, take a few minutes to review what you have written down in your planner.
 
2.  Check your planner regularly. 

     Your planner will do you absolutely no good unless you check if frequently!  Try to get used to checking your planner often, and once you do this for a while it will become habitual and you'll check it without even thinking.  Ideally, you should check your planner first thing in the morning (to make sure you didn't miss anything you were supposed to do before class), then give it a quick glance when you add things to it at the start and end of each class (this will help you keep the agenda fresh in your mind throughout the day), and finally check your planner one last time before you go to sleep each night (again, making sure that you have gotten everything done that you had planned, and that you haven't missed anything).  
     However, the most important time to check and review your planner is after you are done with classes for the day and have a few minutes to get your plans in order.  Get out your planner and a scrap sheet of paper, and you'll be ready to do the most important part of planner organization, making a priority list!


3.  Prioritize your list of tasks for the day. 

     When you are reviewing your planner, it may be a good idea to get out a separate sheet of paper so you can actually write out how you want to go about doing everything.  The best way to prioritize your assignments and tasks is to consider the obvious factors, such as how long will the assignment take, how difficult will it be to do, which assignment is worth the most credit, the least amount of credit, and so on.  
     The assignment that is worth the most credit or is the most difficult should usually be done first, even if they won't take the longest to do.  The length of time it will take to do an assignment is more of something to consider when thinking about how long it will take you to complete your tasks as a whole, not really in whether or not it should be done first.  And if you find yourself running short on time and don't have an assignment quite finished when it's time to turn it in, keep in mind you will be much better off losing a few points on an assignment that is worth 10 points than one worth 100 points!  As hard as this may be to do sometimes, you should ALWAYS place social events and plans with friends at the bottom of the list!  If an event takes place at a certain time, factor that in to your priority list, and try to have as much done as possible before that time, with your least important assignments to be completed afterward.