5 Tips For Making The Perfect Schedule At MSU
Whether it is your freshman year or your senior year at MSU, having the perfect schedule is the key to having a good semester/year. When making a class schedule, there are a bunch of factors that come into play. From avoiding an 8 am on a Monday to saving yourself a long walk in a blizzard, these are the top 5 tips for making the perfect schedule at MSU!
1. Where’s Your Class?
One fact that anyone can justify is Michigan State is a big school. Period. Michigan State covers miles of East Lansing that can lead to an unplanned hour walk to class. By senior year you may have a class in a building that you’ve never even heard of, it’s that big.
Scheduling your classes requires thought, google maps, and your advisors advice. Always when mapping out your classes look at the time it will take from your house, dorm, apartment, etc. because if you don’t you may end up with a hour walk every Monday morning. Use Google Maps to your advantage and time out your class walk especially if you’re scheduling two classes back-to-back. MAPPING your classes is key to surviving at Michigan State during the school year.
2. What’s the Weather?
We can’t ignore the brutal Michigan seasons and weather we have to suffer through. Michigan has gifted us with 4 seasons throughout the school year. Temps range all the way from 80 degree days to getting frostbite on a walk to class.
You don’t have to worry about the weather when mapping out your class schedule during the fall semester because it is pretty good weather all the way up until November/December. I suggest you get all those long walk classes out of the way in the fall. Spring semester is a different story. Be aware of the times and distance you’re scheduling your classes. I can promise you no one wants to get out of bed for an 8 a.m. on a Monday morning when there’s a blizzard awaiting you outside. Give yourself time to get to class and expect delays. We don’t run the snow, the snow runs us.
3. Day and Time?
Everyone loves Taco Tuesday, or maybe a Friday morning tailgate. Sometimes when we’re making our schedules we don’t have much of a choice for what times and days classes are given. I can almost guarantee a Friday morning 9 a.m. will force you to choose between social life or class more than once during the semester. Friday morning classes will always be a brutal awakening for any student at MSU. Whether you’re traveling home for the weekend or wanting to tailgate with your friends on a glorious fall day, a Friday class will intervene your plans. Be aware of your class times and which day you’re choosing. Allow yourself a chance to have a long weekend or join your friends for Wine Wednesday.
4. Who’s Your Professor?
Rate Your Professor will save your life. Before I enroll, let alone pay for any classes, I always check who the professor is and use rateyourprofessor.com to see what previous students have experienced with this professor and the class. If you have a great professor it will make your whole semester, I promise you. A professor who isn’t focused on the course or the students could ruin the class for you and makes you dread going every week. We all have classes that we’re required to take for graduation, but be smart with who you choose your professor to be.
5. Find A Friend
Any class is better when you know someone. It makes the first day that much easier when choosing where to sit and it also saves you from panicking over last-minute homework because you always have someone to ask. Having a friend just gives you another mind to brainstorm with and a person to have study dates with before huge exams. If it happens to be a small or huge lecture and you don’t know anyone in the class, meet someone.
It makes it easy on the first day to just grab someones phone number especially just from the person you sit next to. That way if you have any due date questions or can’t figure out an assignment you have a friend to text. From my personal experience I’ve met so many friends from classes just by sitting by them and grabbing their number. Even if you don’t develop a meaningful friendship it does come in handy when you have another class with this peer. Most of the time in our lecture halls people have similar majors meaning we all have to take the same required courses. Get ready to see familiar faces and be smart and grab their info.
Do you have any other tips for making the perfect schedule at MSU!? Share in the comments below!
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