Picking the right college courses.

• Author: Jacobs, Lynn F.
• Position: Education

ONE OF THE FIRST orders of business in any new semester is picking--and getting settled into--your courses. The job can be incredibly exciting and, if it is your first time, quite intimidating. Especially at large state universities and community colleges, it can seem like there are more choices than stars in the universe, and who really knows what goes on in anthropology, linguistics, or communication studies--as well as applied developmental psychology, geospatial information systems, and ichthyology?

However, even if your school's course catalog resembles a complicated maze, if you follow these dos and do nots you will have the tools needed to build a balanced schedule full of the best courses your college has to offer:

* Do scour the online course catalog--and the online course page (when available)--for as much information as possible about what the course involves. In the best case, you not only will find a detailed course description, but a list of the books to read, the assignments required, and even a course syllabus.

* Do not limit yourself to just the courses you know--like American history, English literature, or Spanish--or to those courses recommended by an advisor as the "standard first-year program." One of the main points of going to college is to find out about subjects-even whole fields of knowledge--that you never even had heard of before, or that are not required. Besides, you probably are tired of those old subjects anyway, and you quickly will get tired of taking all of the subjects your college requires, too.

* Do haul on over to registration (or, if you are just starting college, orientation) at the very first available opportunity. You will guarantee yourself the best choice of classes and times if you are at the head of the fine. Many popular courses--and some required ones-do not have enough places at some colleges, and, hey, it is a first-come, first-served world, especially in a time of overcrowding and cutbacks.

* Do not load up with a basket of courses that would overwhelm even Hermione Granger and her Time Turner. Although you might impress your dorm mates with the biggest course load ever, their admiration might fade as you start to fade by midterms. It is better to take the normal course load, perhaps even one that is a bit lighter than normal if it is your first semester and if you can. Going from high school or the professional realm to college can be a steep learning curve with lots of adjustments, so...