How to Choose Your Classes
Choosing your courses for the semester isn’t difficult, you just have to be sure you know what to take and when to take it. For example, prior to applying to Tippie College of Business, I had to take four pre-requisite classes; and, I have to take two specific classes before I can declare my major. It’s extremely important to know what classes are required for specific parts of your degree. Each college at the University of Iowa has specific degree requirements that you can find in your degree audit, or on Planning Major Sheets.
Advisors are your best friend when it comes to picking what classes to take! The balance between gen-eds, fun classes, pre-req’s, major, and minor classes is such an important factor in all of your semester schedules, and advisors work with you on finding that balance because they know what classes work well together.
Here are some tips of mine for choosing classes:
- Know what classes you want to take before you talk to your advisor at your planning meeting. This makes the process go a lot smoother and quicker!
- KNOW THE TIME YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO CHOOSE YOUR CLASSES!!! They fill up extremely fast, so it’s important to be on the ball so you don’t miss out on a class you really want to take.
- Go on the waitlist. You might get lucky and end up having a seat in a class that you couldn’t get into when you were choosing.
- Schedule Builder is your best friend! Find what classes you want to take and when you want to take them and mess around with different potential schedules. Save five that you really like because odds are three schedules won’t work out in your favor when it’s choosing day.
- Don’t forget about “My Plans” in your MyUI. “My Plans” is an amazing feature because it allows you to map out all four years of your education! You can put in your major(s) and minor(s) and move classes around to see what you want your schedules to be like every semester.
- Stick to 15-17 semester hours. I have found that this works for me extremely well because it allows me to balance my academics and social life. 15-17 s.h. is a good range because you should also stay on track for finishing your degree on time.
Find what interests you, what you like to do, and what you want to do in the future, choose your classes depending on that. I am inserting links for all of the UIowa colleges so you can look around and see what would be the best fit for you!
Tippie College of Business: https://catalog.registrar.uiowa.edu/tippie-business/
College of Dentistry: https://catalog.registrar.uiowa.edu/dentistry/
College of Education: https://catalog.registrar.uiowa.edu/education/
College of Engineering: https://catalog.registrar.uiowa.edu/engineering/
College of Law: https://catalog.registrar.uiowa.edu/law/
Carver College of Medicine: https://catalog.registrar.uiowa.edu/carver-medicine/
College of Nursing: https://catalog.registrar.uiowa.edu/nursing/
College of Pharmacy: https://catalog.registrar.uiowa.edu/pharmacy/
College of Public Health: https://catalog.registrar.uiowa.edu/public-health/
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences: https://catalog.registrar.uiowa.edu/liberal-arts-sciences/
Quote of the day: “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step”. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Have a beautiful rest of your day!
Heather :)