<p>For those of you, like myself, who had difficulty choosing classes because you had too many you wanted to take in the first place, how did you go about choosing which ones to take? I guess I'm more asking with respect to electives, but even choosing between courses that I want to take in my major is difficult...</p>
<p>sorted by ease</p>
<p>Find out who the good professors are.</p>
<p>Usually I end up deciding by professor quality and class time.</p>
<p>Always sign up for 1 more than you would normally take. Drop your least favorite before the add/drop deadline.</p>
<p>ratemyprofessors.com and if your school offers the service, CourseRank.</p>
<p>I always select the courses I want, and then go for the best professors possible for those courses.</p>
<p>Assuming that course difficulty and teaching quality are comparable, what then? I have a friend who explained that she planned to avoid classes where you could more or less learn the material on your own through ordinary books (I guess that throws out the idea of comparable difficulty). In other words, assuming that she were choosing between Calc I and Intro to European History, and she knew up front that she would spend the same amount of time outside of class in either course, that she would ultimately opt for Calc I because (layman’s) books about European History are available and not difficult to understand independently. Does that make sense / sound reasonable?</p>
<p>Ratemyprofs and class times/availability basically narrow it down. That, and personal preference for electives, since I tested out of my liberal arts requirements 
</p>
<p>^^When I read Calc I and European History I thought for sure she was going to choose European History over Calc I…</p>
<p>If the deal is that it makes absolutely no difference what you take, and you’re not thrilled about any possibility for any classes you can take, I’d just say find a GPA booster.</p>
<p>Well, there are those students for whom math classes are GPA boosters and history classes put a dent in their record…</p>
<p>^The point was that for this student she thought Calc I was harder (or at least harder to self-teach), and decided to take it off of that basis.</p>
<p>I have a big list of all the classes I want to take in the next 2-2.5 years.</p>
<p>…it’s like two pages long.</p>
<p>Of course it helps that most of those classes are never really offered 
Usually just looking at what will actually work with my required classes scheduled does the trick. My major classes are all pretty much set for me, as there is a specific order you have to take them.</p>
<p>I have a big list of all the classes I want to take in the next 2-2.5 years.</p>
<p>…it’s like two pages long.</p>
<p>Of course it helps that most of those classes are never really offered Usually just looking at what will actually work with my required classes scheduled does the trick. My major classes are all pretty much set for me, as there is a specific order you have to take them.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>I’m totally the same way. In my ideal world I would be able to take ~190 credit hours in four semesters. So it goes… Even choosing between electives is killer.</p>
<ol>
<li>See what you need for your major and any other general mandatory credits you need, along with possibly extra classes you find interest in if you have time.</li>
<li>Start getting rid of classes by checking who’s teaching it (ratemyprofessor.com) and getting rid of classes that clash with each other time-wise.</li>
<li>Make the hard decisions as to what you should take, as well as what classes you can take in the future.</li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck.</p>