<p>I know there are some threads floating around about schedule issues, but those are more specific to the individual OP. What works for you, if you're already in college? Early start, late start? Are classes back to back a killer, or does having classes spaced out mean your day drags on? Any advice for incoming freshmen?</p>
<p>Spacing your classes really does just make your day longer. I HIGHLY recommended that you cram your classes as close together as possible. I made the mistake of spacing them out in my 1st semester, thinking that I’d want breaks, which ended up being more annoying than anything. </p>
<p>The time of your classes is up to you. I personally like early morning classes since I like to get my lectures over with as early as possible and get on with my day.</p>
<p>Last semester, all of my classes were back to back. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’d have three 1.5-hour lectures with only fifteen minutes between each. It was unbearable and not something I ever want to repeat. The saving grace of this schedule is that I had no classes before 12.</p>
<p>This coming fall, I have lots of space between my classes and no classes before 12. If you can, I recommend scheduling your classes so that you have some time between them to eat, study, or relax.</p>
<p>The first two responses in this thread clearly reveal that scheduling is a very personal matter. :P</p>
<p>I like to cram a couple classes in mid morning (10am-12pm), have an hour lunch break, and then put another class right after lunch (1-2pm).</p>
<p>cramming is stupid if you have to test with extended time…</p>
<p>Classes back to back can be a pain, especially if you have three back to back classes with midterms on the same day with professors who design exams to be finished in more time than is allotted (personal experiences, but either way I did very well, just had to be in a rush sometimes). You should have some spacing, but not huge gaps.</p>
<p>My advice from my 5 semesters at college are:</p>
<ol>
<li>Block your classes together when possible.</li>
<li>Either spread your classes out so you have 1-3 classes a day, or block them all in 2 or 3 days and give yourself 2 or 3 off days during the week.</li>
<li>Going to class at 8 am is a hell of a lot better than being stuck in class at 6 pm.</li>
<li>Try to give yourself an easy Friday. (When scheduling Freshman classes a lot will be a Monday/Wednesday lecture with a discussion section. Try to schedule as many of these discussions on days earlier in the week…so you can end up with a very light Friday).</li>
</ol>
<p>From my experience, when I lived on campus, breaks in the day weren’t that big of a deal. I would just go back to my dorm room and watch tv, play video games, or mess around on the computer or whatever. When I lived off campus, breaks in my day were annoying as hell.</p>
<p>I prefer to have my classes back to back, because if I have downtime I am pretty likely to skip the next class. If it’s back to back I always go, I don’t have any time to consider all the things I’d rather be doing. 
But I don’t do more than two classes without some kind of break, one semester I had classes back to back from 10am to 6pm and it made it really hard to eat and pee and stuff.</p>
<p>I disagree that 8am is better than 6pm. I will not take classes before 10:30 no matter how late I am in class. I have never been in class later than 6:30 and it was okay. But I get sick if I get sleep deprived so I really need to be able to sleep in.</p>
<p>I like a 9:30-11:30 start, and a finish by 5:15.</p>
<p>Having two classes back to back is fine, but 3 would be harder, especially if they went over a meal period…however, that doesn’t mean it’s bad.</p>
<p>Last semester, I had a great schedule!</p>
<p>I had an 8:30 class MWF, then a break until my 11:30 class, and a 12:30 class…so I was done at 1:20 and had the rest of the day to myself. Had I gotten the schedule I wanted, I would have had class from 9:30 to 12:30, but then be done.</p>
<p>On TTH, I had an 11:30 class and a 2:30 class along with a 5:30 lab on Thursday…so I went to my 11:30, ate lunch, went back to my room to do work for my 2:30 or get a power nap in, and then went to my 2:30.</p>
<p>It all depends on you though.</p>
<p>I have a friend who only had class on MWF and didn’t have class at all on TTH. I also have a friend who scheduled all 8:30am classes M-F. I would hate either of those schedules, but they worked out for them!</p>
<p>For the classes I’m taking, I crammed 3 lectures back to back from 9:30am - 12:20pm MWF, and as for extended tests… profs here don’t let you do that. They take off points if you keep your pen still moving after the test. My midterms and finals (schedule is out) is also very spaced out, so it’s not like I’ll have a midterm right after each other all in one day. I also have two seminars randomly in late afternoon because they are mandatory for the programs I’m in and the program admins want everyone to be able to take them/</p>
<p>^^^Yuck at 8 am classes. They’re so much worse than night classes. I had a physics lab from 7-10pm 3 semesters ago…It was fine, and it’s a nice option that a HSer would never have. </p>
<p>Make sure you don’t have late afternoon/evening classes on Thursday or Friday–otherwise you’ll be missing out on social life events or club outings.</p>
<p>8am classes are AWESOME. The sooner you start, the sooner you’re done (usually). </p>
<p>I am a firm believer in cramming it. Get done in the morning so you have the rest of the day to work, do extraccurriculars, etc.</p>
<p>Still haven’t found the perfect schedule but what I learned:</p>
<p>First semester: classes were mostly spread out, every day of the week, going from about 8am-5pm on various days. Didn’t enjoy how it was spread out, and didn’t enjoy the length of my days.</p>
<p>Second semester: classes were also a little spread out, but the days were generally shorter (9 or 10am-3 or 5pm). Length was better but hated the class times.</p>
<p>Next semester: scheduled my classes to be back to back, starting at 9am most days. Taking Tuesdays off, and all my labs are on Thursday to get them over with. I have a feeling I’ll really enjoy it.</p>
<p>I have a 3 hour break for lunch between morning and afternoon classes with the last one being done at 2:30.</p>
<p>8:30 AM classes MWF and TR classes at 9:30 AM I can’t get a break 
The most typical method of scheduling? Just taking whatever is available…</p>
<p>The good thing about early morning classes is that there is good parking :D</p>
<p>I like to be done early on Friday…my mind has a way of shutting off after a couple of hours of being awake on Fridays. If I don’t get out early I’m more tempted to skip classes. Plus getting out early gives me more time to work or drive home to visit family.</p>
<p>Tu/Th 10:15-5:45
No class M/W/F.
Can’t wait. Last semester I had class 10:15-4:45 Tu/Th and 4:30-7 Wed. I hate going to class, and I am highly unmotivated to get out of bed, so I need to go to class on as few days as possible, otherwise I wouldn’t go. Once I’m up I’d rather push through and have two long days than have 4 or 5 short days.</p>
<p>Don’t do back to back unless you know you can get to the second class on time! I learned this the hard way last semester when I had classes back to back on both M/W and T/Th (starting at 9am no less - that’s another thing you should stay away from). The T/Th wasn’t bad because the classes were in the same building, only a floor apart (the prof had a tendancy to run over though). M/W however…ew. I had ten minutes or less to go a massive city block, crossing two streets (the building was on the opposite side of the street) and up three floors in the second building…I was late many times. Not a fun experience - and I stuck myself with it again, only in reverse. </p>
<p>I start at 10 every day this semester, except for Friday when I start @ 11 (one M/W/F class and a recitation for another, back to back, but in the same building). It’s looking something like: 10:00, 11:00 and 4:00 and T/Th is 10:00 and 2:30 (I love T/Th). Both days I have enough time to get something to eat, get a little work done and maybe relax a bit. Next semester, I WILL have later classes. Or an interesting class to get up for, as is the case this semester.</p>
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<p>why would a professor give a test and allow you to take longer than the class period to complete it (assuming it was an in class exam)?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Because (s)he wants to be nice. </p>
<p>
That’s one of the major reasons they appeal to me too. You know you’re in college when you have a night class, a night test, etc. </p>
<p>Also yeah in theory it’s desirable to get classes done early in the morning, but if you’re going to do that make sure you plan out your sleep schedule. You don’t want to have some days start at 9 and others start at noon. Inevitably you will sleep in on the days you can, which can very easily throw off your sleep schedule and make that 9AM seem even earlier. 10 or 11 is a decent time to start, unless you like going to bed at midnight to get the recommended 8 hours of sleep. </p>
<p>As far as grouping classes, I’m more than fine with that provided there’s more than a 10 minute break in between. It’s really nice if there’s like a 25-30 minute break (although your schedule will rarely work out that way, though) because then you can arrive at your next class early and (if an empty lecture hall) just sit and wait or look over your notes for a few minutes. It’s an easy way to stress down. With 10 minutes, I have to rush to the next class, and I have little if any time to go to the bathroom or do stuff like that. </p>
<p>I generally would have a morning block of classes and a late-afternoon to night block of classes. This gives time in the middle of the day to eat a long lunch, do homework if necessary and chill out and play piano or tennis if I didn’t have much homework. Then I would come back, eat, and have a nice long study block at night (unless I worked ahead and did the work during the early afternoon, then I’d have the night off!).</p>
<p>Regarding Friday, classes are fine on Friday (like a bit before and after lunch), but try if possible to make sure you have classes that do not have work due on Friday. That’s a killer. Thursday night is the third biggest party night generally, and it makes the weekend feel that much longer if you have no work Thursday night. I might avoid a very appealing class next fall if only for the reason that apparently I’d have work due on Friday night that was assigned Wednesday night.</p>