Hi guys!
I just wanted to hear some feedback from you guys on how stressful college course scheduling could be. I’ve been stressed recently over planning out courses that I need to take to fulfill my major and graduation requirements and just wanted to know if there are any of you guys who are going through a similar thing. If you can answer some of the questions that I have, it’d be great to hear some of your thoughts! Thank you.
1.Do you find college course scheduling stressful?
-
Does your university make college course planning easy for you?
-
What stresses you out when scheduling for college courses for upcoming quarters/semesters?
-
When you first entered college, was college course scheduling confusing for you?
-
What improvements do you think are need in university college course scheduling?
I’m a parent but want to reassure you that you will have help planning your courses from your college advisor. This isn’t something you need to navigate alone.
Most colleges have sample schedules for your major, software to help track your progression to graduation, and online systems for registering that take the stress out of the process.
At some colleges, students would prefer the old way of camping out in front of the department for hours to get a stamp rather that refreshing the screen every 5 seconds only to find your course filled at 12:01 a.m. 
The Cornell alums on this site may remember course exchange at Barton Hall from back in the day. I still have nightmares ; ).
For OP - at my D’s school, students have their back up courses ready to go if their electives are full. Courses required for your major are guaranteed. You may not like the timing of classes but you’ll get a seat. Then there is a virtual wait list for courses that will alert you when a seat opens up in a class that you are trying to get into. So far, she’s never had a problem getting into a course she wanted, including electives.
If you tell us what school, people can chime in with the specifics.
The worst may have been the touch-tone phone process that existed between the old run around campus and the current web based systems.
Depends on the major and college.
If your college has an 8-semester schedule template, try following that, adjusting for any advanced placement that you may have (which could give you a free elective later if you finish a required sequence earlier due to advanced placement).
Otherwise, list all of the degree requirements for your major and general education, their prerequisite relationships, and whether they are offered every semester. In general, you want to prioritize scheduling courses that are in the longest remaining prerequisite sequences for required courses, then other required courses, then restricted electives, and finally free electives. Some required courses may be required to be completed by a certain semester (e.g. English composition may be required to be completed first year, prerequisites for your major may have to be completed before declaring your major, etc.).
If you are undecided between majors, try to build your first few semester schedules to make progress in all possible majors, so that you will not be “behind” in any of the majors that you may choose.
My D did have some issues, but a bit of flexibility, patience, and help from advisors got her through.
She had to take Chem and Physics out of sequence Freshman/Sophomore year, which would have been an issue with some majors, but didn’t affect her.
The Math department was notorious for not having enough sections for the number of students required to take some of their classes. She often had to regularly check for something to open up and then move things around from her initial, contingent schedule.
But in then big picture these weren’t significant issues. There are usually several ways to get to the finish line.