In the spring semester of my freshman year, a few hours after I completed my scheduling for the following fall semester, I sat in the basement of Eberly Library. Usually, when I’m in the library, I am using my laptop, either for classwork or for leisure. On this day, however, my focus was on the academic catalog and figuring out what classes I wanted to take for the remainder of my college career.

Planning out my classes for the next six semesters was smart back then, and it still is a good strategy to implement today. I left the library feeling excited for my future. Somewhere along the lines, however, I abandoned my plans, and for the past two years, I’ve waited till the week before scheduling to even consider what I wanted to take for the next semester. I have two semesters left to schedule for college, so it’s a little late for me to plan far ahead. I understand that taking your time is probably a theme for most college students, so for any underclassman reading this article, I implore you to not repeat my mistake. Instead, decide what classes you need to take and when you need to take them to graduate.

Since the end of my freshman year, I’ve had to withdraw from two general education courses, and while I’m still on track to graduate on time in the Spring of 2020, I’m a little behind because of losing those six credits. I’m not sure if outlining my classes ahead of time would have affected my performances in those classes, but I do know that I’d be spending a lot less time stressing about what I still need to take to graduate.

Believe me, I understand how hectic college is. I know that we spend every day thinking of our present challenges and worrying about the future when it gets here. We don’t like to plan ahead, and often, we don’t have time to plan ahead. Scheduling future classes, however, is something that’s worth doing as soon as possible.

Now, planning to take certain courses at specific times doesn’t always end up working out. I found that out last week when the seats for one of the classes I had planned on taking filled up just before I completed my registration. It’s likely that students will have to tweak their schedules at some point, regardless of how far in advance they plan out their classes. Having a good idea of what to take and when to take it and then making a few adjustments, however, is better than putting off thinking about next semester’s classes until the deadline.

I did the latter, and I strongly encourage freshman and sophomores at Waynesburg University to do the former.