College Freshmen: A Guide to Registering for Classes

Managing your time in college is difficult, especially for freshmen. You have to factor in classes, work, study time, paper writing time, and, of course, social activities. Believe me, you will spread yourself too thin.

A lot of problems that freshmen - including yours truly - is that they register for classes at the wrong times. Coming right out of high school, a new college student thinks that college classes are the same as high school. A common misconception is that taking classes at 8:00 in the morning is fine, since their classes in high school started at 7:15. That's 45 minutes more to sleep, right?

Wrong.

College classes are nothing like high school classes. Now that I think about it, college itself is nothing like high school. It's a whole new world, folks. You need to approach it as such.

Don't worry. You're not expected to know exactly what to do when you get to college. The first semester is a lot of trial and error. I'm here to try to make things easier for you. If you follow these five suggestions for registering for classes, your first semester will go a lot smoother.

SUGGESTION ONE: College Starts Later Than High School
That's a fact. You might think that having an 8:00 class will be a breeze because you started your high school day at 7:15. For the first couple of weeks, that just might ring true. However, after you realize that your parents aren't going to give you a curfew or, if you're living on campus, that there isn't anyone to tell you what time you have to go to bed, you're going to want to sleep in. The ideal time to take classes is between 10am and 3pm. Most of your friends will be in class during that time. You'll be able to work and/or study in the evening. You'll get enough sleep in the morning, as well as time to have breakfast.