How to make the best class schedule

Building a class schedule that works well with your personal, social, and work life is the ultimate key to a successful college career. You’ll want to consider your degree and major requirements, while also accounting for breaks, homework, and extracurriculars. Here are some tips and steps on how you can make the best class schedule in college, plus a sample course schedule.

Considerations when building your schedule

Before you start selecting courses, keep these points in mind.

Credit hours required for your degree

When building your schedule, consider the number of credit hours you want to take for each semester. Are you a part-time student or a full-time student? Full-time students take at least 12 credits per semester, but you’ll need 15 per semester on average if you want to graduate in 4 years.

When you are most productive?

Classes can start early in the morning, midday, and in the evening. If you’re a true early riser, you can take your classes in the morning and midday so you can have the rest of your time to study or work. If you prefer to sleep in and enjoy your slower mornings, you can take midday and evening classes.

It’s important to be honest with yourself about which part of the day you feel most productive. If you’re not someone who easily commits to morning plans, taking all 8am classes won’t be beneficial for you. You may actually end up skipping classes if you don’t consider your productive hours when creating your class schedule.

However, keep in mind that not all classes will fit into your “best productivity schedule.” For example, even if you’re a late riser, you might find you have a major-required course that’s only ever offered at 8am.

Work hours, if employed

If you’re working while you attend college, you’ll also need to account for your job. While having a job and juggling college classes can be difficult, creating a class schedule that aligns with your work schedule will make doing both so much easier.

If your job allows you to work evening hours, you should take morning and midday classes. If your job prefers you to work morning hours, you should take midday and evening classes. You can even take online classes so you can work more hours and do schoolwork in your own time.

Extracurricular schedules

Clubs, sports, and other extracurriculars have set times for meetups. If you’re a part of a club that always meets on Tuesday at 7pm, you’ll want to try to avoid courses during that time slot. However, at times you may need to choose between the class and the club, if the class isn’t offered on different days or times that work for you.

Make time for breaks

While scheduling all of your classes in the morning frees you up your afternoon for homework, study, work, and extracurriculars, are you making time for breaks?

You’ll want to account for meals, snacks, and bathroom breaks between your classes. If you select courses that are on opposite sides of the campus, do you have enough time to make it to the second class? Think about your daily schedule and be realistic about how much time you need between your courses.

How to create a college course schedule

While you’ll likely create your first semester college schedule with your advisor, you might be on your own in subsequent semesters. In most cases, your advisor will only check in to make sure you’re on track for graduation or give their approval for you to take certain courses.

At most colleges, you’ll sign up for your classes online using the school’s program. To create a schedule that works for you, we recommend these three steps:

1. Choose classes that interest you

With your general and/or major requirements in mind, look over the academic catalog for the upcoming semester ahead of time. On a notepad, write down every single class that catches your attention, its available days, time slots, and the professors.

2. Look up professors

Do you have classes with options for professors? For example, if you need to take English 102, there are going to be various instructors available. Before you decide to take one professor's class, take a look at what other students are saying about their experience with this professor online.

Are they difficult to work with? Do they have enough hours outside of the classroom should you need help? Are they boring? Interesting? Highly informative? Difficult? You can find out what other students are saying on social media and resources such as Rate My Professor.

However, go in with an open mind – if an instructor only has a single review and it’s bad, is that really a good look at the teacher or did this student just have a bad experience?

If you find a professor with glowing reviews, you can put a star next to that option to keep in mind as you create your final schedule.

3. Narrow your list

To start finalizing your schedule, you need to look at the week as a whole and compare your options.

Here is an example.

The student has to take English 102 as required by their school, and they want to focus on certain general electives in foreign language, math, science, and history.

With these times in mind, the student can start narrowing their list, starting with the more important courses first. Here are a few conclusions they might come to:

• Robertson has stellar reviews online, while Harding has very mixed responses. They also really want to take Descriptive Astronomy, which has overlapping times with Harding’s class on Wednesday. They decide to go with English 102 on Tuesday and Thursday between 1 pm and 2:30 pm.
• Since the student took French 101 during their first semester, it makes sense to take French 102 during the second semester – especially since 102 is unlikely to be offered during the following semester. They add French 102 on Monday and Wednesday between 9 am and 10:30 am.
• Since Chemistry in Art is only offered on Monday and Wednesday between 9 am and 10:30 am, they can’t take it at the same time as French 102. The student crosses Chemistry in Art off of the list.
• While the student is comfortable with 9:30 am classes, 8 am is a little too early. They cross Math in Context at 8 am - 9:30 am off the list.

Following these conclusions, the student will have the following schedule:

Creating your own schedule using this method will be a little more complex, as you’ll likely have more classes to choose from. However, writing it down on a notepad or using an online college scheduler can help you visualize what your day will look like and what options you have that best fit your desired schedule.

Tips for building your class schedule

If you’re having trouble creating your college schedule at times that work with you, use these two tips:

Talk with your academic advisor

Most colleges provide class requirements for various majors and general education on their website through course catalogs. However, even if you have easy access to this information, knowing what you have to take can become confusing, especially since some schools let you substitute one class for another.

In addition, you might find it difficult to create a schedule that keeps you on track for a 4-year graduation. As course options and time slots change from semester-to-semester and year-to-year, students aren’t always sure if their required class will be available at a time that works for them in later semesters.

To help you navigate this confusion, talk with your academic advisor. You can email or schedule a time for a meeting. They can help you build a schedule that will keep you on track for your graduation timeline and eliminate the guesswork.

Use an online schedule builder

Some colleges and universities provide you with an online schedule builder that allows you to add classes to an “online cart” and preview your schedule before you finalize it. Even if your school doesn’t offer this, there are third-party schedulers and resources that can help you better visualize your upcoming semesters.

The “best” class schedule looks different for each college student. When crafting yours, think about your course requirements, but also when you do your best work, clubs, and other responsibilities. If you’re having trouble putting together a schedule that works for you, reach out to your academic advisor as soon as you can for assistance.

As you put together your class schedule, are you on the fence about your major? Our Major Search tool can help you compare areas of study, jobs, salaries, and more. Start here.