Lecturer Debbie Fetter teaches her class on diet during Nutrition 10.

Aggie Basics for Freshman, Step 2

Building Your Fall Schedule

We understand it can be a challenge to develop your first quarter schedule. The resources below can help guide you through the process with helpful tips and tricks for creating your very first schedule. 

Remember: everything counts! Whether it's for your major, General Education (GE), or units, every course you take in the fall will meet a requirement. A good quarterly schedule is comprised 12-15 units with a combination of major specific courses and General Education/elective courses.

  • Take one to two major courses. For your specific major requirements, you can check out your department’s website and the General Catalog.
  • Take a writing course.
    •  If you haven't satisfied the Entry Level Writing Requirement (ELWR), it is very important to begin making progress towards satisfaction immediately and enroll in the appropriate course.
    •  If you have met the ELWR, consider taking other lower division courses in composition during your first year: Comparative Literature (COM) 1, 2, 3 or 4, English (ENL) 3, Native American Studies (NAS) 5, or University Writing Program (UWP) 1.
  • Enroll in a CDG course
  • Take a First-Year Seminar. These are small, innovative classes that reflect an instructor’s intellectual interests. Limited to 19 students each, these once-in-a-lifetime courses promote intellectual exchange, critical thinking, and community. These 1- or 2-unit courses can be a great way to round out your schedule.
  • Take a General Education or an elective course – the sky is the limit when it comes to explore courses in an area of particular interest to you.