Planning a schedule for school, work or extra curricular activities can be a challenging process.

The time has come once again to start making a schedule and to choose classes for fall 2014.

There are a quite a few new classes offered in each of the departments.

Creating a schedule that works, and fills the requirements for a major(s) and minor(s), and that leaves some space for a few enjoyable classes takes a considerable amount of time to plan.

It is essential when planning a schedule to look at a few things.

The first is making sure it is a manageable workload. Second is to make sure you have left some time for extra-curricular activities.

Planning a schedule that is around 18 credits may seem like the best thing to do at times, but in reality it should not be necessary to take that many credits in one semester unless you are a double major or minor.

Students have a considerable amount of control in regards to courses they take each semester.

All students have an advisor, they are there to make sure students are taking enough classes, and that they are on track to graduate.

Taking a class in January always helps balance your workload each semester.

Creating three schedules to take to your adviser can be helpful for student who haven’t decided on a major yet or who are still exploring majors.

It’s also a good idea to look at course requirements for majors that you are looking at so you know how many classes you will need to take in the future.

Bringing three schedules, a four year plan, and course requirements for majors or minors to your advising meeting will be a great addition to help your adviser.

Many students don’t follow their four year plan they made their freshman year because it’s hard to know what your major may end up being down the road.

Updating it often, as well as writing down what Linfield Curriculum classes you have completed will help cement what classes you need to take.

Though students who are junior and seniors face different challenges when scheduling classes they still have a lot of things to consider.

Some juniors may want to try and balance out their fall and spring semester for their senior year so they have time in their schedule to think about applying for graduate school or looking for a job after graduating.

Regardless of what you are studying it’s essential to always look at how your schedule will affect the rest of your college career.

Jonathan Williams

Opinion editor

Jonathan Williams can be reached at [email protected]