In the middle of every semester, the chaos of scheduling commences—just picture yourself scheduling your courses. You click on “view schedule request” and see that the traffic is too high and you’ve unsuccessfully refreshed the page 10 times. It’s a very stressful experience that LSU has created for many students.
While the student advisors may be helpful in these situations, that may not always be the case because they may be busy helping other students. However, there are certain things that you can do as a student to make your scheduling go by without a hitch or as few as possible.
One of the most important things I’ve noticed is that the school will not notify you ahead of time if you have a hold. This has happened to me on many occasions, and the only way to get a hold lifted is to meet with an advisor and solve the issue.
The best way to avoid being unable to schedule because of a hold is to check if you have any before you plan your courses. This can be done on your myLSU account by clicking Registration Services and then clicking on Student Holds.
If you don’t already, always utilize your degree audit to guide what classes you need to schedule. A great way to do this is by making a spreadsheet of your degree audit. List every course you need to take, grouping them the same way as the degree audit, including total hours, and put “elective” as a placeholder as necessary.
You can then color code the spreadsheet using one color for classes you have credit for and a different color for classes you need to schedule for the upcoming semester. This spreadsheet will let you quickly see the classes you plan to schedule, what classes you have left to take and how many hours you have left.
It’s also important to plan several backup classes when planning to schedule, in case a class is full or you can’t join it for any other reason. This way, you don’t have to scramble to find another class to schedule at the last minute.
If a class you wanted is full and you’re on a waitlist, stay. People may drop the class within the first week of the semester. You can just schedule an extra class, and if you make it off the waitlist, you can drop the additional course.
Don’t freak out if a class you “need” is full. The only time-sensitive courses are prerequisites and capstones in your senior year. An exception is a required class that is only offered once a year. Any other classes can be pushed back a semester if needed.
It’s wise not to schedule all your easy classes and electives immediately, disregarding prerequisites, because you’ll want some light courses towards the end of your undergrad when you are mainly in higher-level classes.
The scheduling booklet and degree audit are two of the most essential documents for scheduling. When it comes to electives, I suggest checking the courses offered for any subject you may be interested in, especially since not everyone can take a surplus of electives.
Alternatively, if you have enough required electives, you can use them to minor in something. I chose to do this because I had so many electives to take. So I got a minor in psychology because I’m very interested in it, and I hope to utilize it in my future career.
What days and times you schedule is up to your preference, but I recommend having most classes on the same days so you have two or three lighter days to study, work or have free time.
If you get stuck waiting to schedule for more than 15 minutes and are incredibly busy, wait an hour or two for the traffic to decrease significantly. Waiting may be better if you have a highly time-sensitive or critical class.
All in all, there are many things you can do as a student to ensure that your scheduling goes smoothly. You can also utilize academic counselors at LSU or the LSU Center for Freshman Year’s scheduling checklist.
Kate Beske is a 21-year-old journalism major from Destrehan, LA.
