Planning Ahead

Knowing the Expectations for Your Degree

In order to be successful, you first need to know what is expected of you, both for completion of your degree and in each class. This begins with understanding all the requirements to successfully complete your degree. A solid long-term plan will help you fulfill all the LSA requirements with classes that you find most interesting. Knowing what is expected of you in each class is addressed below in the Making the Most of Your Time section.

Your LSA Degree Requirements
You are responsible for knowing and meeting the LSA degree requirements. You can find the degree requirements in your copy of the LSA Bulletin or at the electronic LSA Bulletin, http://lsa.umich.edu/bulletin. If you have any questions about the degree requirements, ask your Academic Advisor.

Remember that if a class meets an LSA requirement, it will be designated as such in the Course Guide. Do not assume that because a class looks like a Humanities class or even looks like a class you previously took that counted for Humanities, that it will count for Humanities. Just because a class has the words race or ethnicity in the title does not mean that it fulfills the Race & Ethnicity requirement. Only classes designated as fulfilling a requirement can be used for distribution. Also keep in mind that some classes do not fulfill any LSA requirement beyond counting for the 120 credits you need to graduate.

Your Concentration Requirements
The first step to choosing a concentration is taking the prerequisites. The prerequisites for each concentration are listed in the LSA Bulletin and on the departments' websites. After choosing a concentration, you will meet with a concentration advisor, who will outline the requirements for completing the concentration. These concentration requirements are also listed in the LSA Bulletin and on the department's website.

Your Minor Requirements
The first step to choosing a minor is taking the prerequisites. The prerequisites for each minor are listed in the LSA Bulletin and on the departments' websites. After choosing a minor, you will meet with an advisor in the department, who will outline the requirements for completing the minor. These minor requirements are also listed in the LSA Bulletin and on the department's website. While most minors are less intensive versions of the concentrations, there are some that differ significantly in focus from the concentration in the same department. In addition, there are many interdisciplinary minors that are not related to any concentration. It is your responsibility to know the requirements for your minor.

back to top

Strategizing Your Schedule

Take control of your education
This is your education. You choose your concentration, your minor, and the classes you want to take to fulfill all the LSA Degree Requirements. In order to get the most out of your choices, it is important to plan out what classes you will take and when you will take them. Your first step is to solidify your understanding of the requirements for your degree. This includes prerequisites and requirements for your concentrations and all the LSA degree requirements. Once you understand all of these requirements, you can use the following guidelines for planning your long-term and semester schedules. Go to the bottom of this page to download blank four-year, semester, and weekly schedules.

Focus first on your concentration

If you have chosen a concentration, select your classes for your concentration and build your schedule around these. You should plan semesters ahead of time, because some classes are only taught once a year. If you are planning to take classes in a spring or summer term, remember that fewer courses are offered. In this case, you might need to look ahead at the spring/summer course offerings when planning your winter classes.

If you have not chosen a concentration, focus on taking prerequisites for any concentrations you are exploring. You want to use your time to explore subjects that might lead to long term interest. You will have plenty of time later to take classes specifically to meet LSA requirements.

If you are pursuing two concentrations, make sure that you understand the requirements for both. Some of the classes that you take might count for both concentrations. It is a good idea to pick one of the concentrations as your primary focus and center your planning on completing it for certain. That way, if something changes and you cannot complete both concentrations, you will complete one for certain.

How do I decide what else to take?
Your concentration, including prerequisites, will only take up about a quarter of the credit hours of the 120 credit hours you need to graduate. Therefore, you have a number of other choices to make when making your long-term plans and choosing classes each semester.

     FULFILLING LSA DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

Do not stress out about fulfilling the LSA requirements. Most students find that they complete most of them without thinking about them. Then, after a couple of years, students might need to take one or two classes to complete distribution.

You get to choose which classes to take for each requirement. For example, each semester more than 50 classes fulfill Race and Ethnicity and there are more than 200 natural sciences, social science, and humanities classes. You owe it to yourself to take the time to find classes that are interesting to you when looking to fulfill a requirement.

It is a good idea to begin your language classes early because you need to achieve fourth-term proficiency. Students who test into advanced levels usually find it easier to continue their study of the language, rather than take a break.

You are not required to complete a minor, but if you are pursuing one, selecting a class for it is an easy way to fill out your schedule. Remember, you will often have a choice of which classes to take for your minor, so make sure you understand the requirements. You do not want to take a class because you thought it was required only to find out later that it was just one option for the requirement.

Spend some time exploring classes on the LSA Course Guide. You are probably not familiar with what each department offers and will probably find classes that spark the thoughts, "Wow, I never thought anyone would teach a class about that, I've always been interested in it." Or, "Wow, I never even knew that was a subject."

Check Topics courses each semester. Topics courses are courses with a standard number that change topics each semester depending on what topic the professor decides to teach. In addition, some departments offer multiple sections of their topics course every semester, so make sure you look at the description for each section.

For example, one semester there were four sections of History 328, Humanities Topics in History:

Section 1, Scotland Since 1603: History and Culture
Section 2, History of Forensic Pathology and Medicine
Section 3, History of Jewish Visual Culture: Vision and Images Ancient to Modern
Section 4, War and Peace in the Middle East

Ask your friends or classmates. If you are in a class that you enjoy, you might ask classmates if they have taken other similar courses that they would recommend. It is a good idea to ask fellow students why they looked a particular class because their interests and strengths might not match yours.

Taking classes for your concentration during study abroad. Depending on your concentration, you might find classes that count for your concentration. If taking a class or two for your concentration is your goal, then you can use that as a search criteria when exploring study abroad programs. As a general rule, the more proficient you are in the language of your study abroad country, the wider the class choices. If you struggled to fulfill the language requirement, you can choose a program in an English speaking country that offers classes in your concentration.

If you are interested in concentrating or minoring in a language, study abroad is a great way to take a large number of credits in one semester. You can work with your concentration advisor to find classes that can count for your concentration or minor.

Many students fulfill distribution requirements during study abroad. You will need to get your classes pre-approved for distribution credit by your Academic Advisor, but you should not have trouble taking classes that help you complete your degree requirements. In particular, students have found it fairly easy to find humanities, social science, and creative expression credits because most programs offer classes covering the history, culture, and politics of the host country.

back to top

Making the Most of Your Time

Each semester, you will spend a lot of time in class and studying so you owe it to yourself to make the most efficient use of your time. After selecting your classes, the next step is to develop a plan for how you are going manage your time to perform to the best of your ability in each class. The more efficiently you plan and use your time, the easier it will be for you achieve the success for which you strive. The tips that follow will help create a plan for managing your time. With your plan in place, you will then want to turn to the other pages on this website to learn strategies for the time you spend in class and studying.

Knowing what is expected of you in your classes

For each class, it is important to start the semester with a firm grasp of the course expectations and the dates for readings, assignments, quizzes, and exams. You should not, however, rely solely on due dates to map your work for the class. Create your own schedule of expectations for mastering each new concept and section of the class, so that you are not faced with cramming it all in for an exam. In addition, many classes build sequentially, so creating an expectation for learning each concept will help you move on to the next.

Develop expectations about how much time everything is going to take. You will want to plan your schedule around your estimate of how much time you will need to study for each class, not decide how much time to spend studying based on your free blocks of time.

Developing your schedule for the semester

    UNDERSTANDING THE DEMANDS ON YOUR TIME

Start with a list of everything you have to do. Common list items are: classes, work, meals, studying, sleep, exercise, leisure time, research, student organizations, and volunteering. You might have a few additional items.

Separate the list into items that have to be done at specific times and those that are flexible. Your classes are the obvious core of your plan. Other non-negotiables might be your work schedule and volunteering and research activities that might need to be scheduled at certain times of the day.

List the due dates for assignments and dates for exams for each class. Include your expectations for the time you need to spend on each class per week.

    MAKING YOUR WEEKLY SCHEDULE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEMESTER

Start by scheduling everything that has to be done at a specific time. Classes, your job, student organization meetings, and anything else for which you do not decide the time should go into your schedule first.

Effectively using the time left over is the key to your success. Most of your study time will be at night, but it is important to use free blocks of time during your day to avoid being overloaded at night. This does not mean that every free minute during the day has to be scheduled for studying, but using your time efficiently during the day will help you tremendously.

To be most effective, you will want to schedule specific activities for your blocks of time. At the beginning of the semester, you can identify specific blocks of time for each class. Look back to your estimate of how much time each class will require outside of class. Identify blocks of time in which you can study that give you enough time to match your estimate for every class. Then, at the beginning of every week, complete your schedule by planning the specific tasks that you will accomplish in each block.

Some things to think about when scheduling your study periods.

Remember, that reviewing your notes from a class as soon as you can is essential to learning the material. If at all possible schedule time immediately after class for this. It can be as short as 15 minutes. If you have back to back classes, schedule a time later in the day.

Is there a kind of studying that you do better at certain times of day? For example, do you find it easier to concentrate on long reading passages in the morning, but feel equally strong in quantitative work regardless of the time of day? Then your 10:00am to 12:00pm block might be best suited for your literature class.

Does it help you to read the readings right before a class? If so, then that block of time before class is easy to schedule.

Do you plan on studying with a classmate? If you want to study with a classmate, scheduling the same study time for a class each week will allow you to get together when you want, without having to search for a time.

How long can you study a subject? Do you find that you can put in a solid two hours for one class but your mind starts to numb after an hour for another? That can help you decide between what to study during a two hour block.

Plan for changes. Each week of the semester will be different, so leave a block of time free in your initial plan. Then each week schedule work for whatever class has the heaviest demands.

You can schedule in meals, exercise, and leisure activities if that works for you. Some students find this helpful while others like to leave their non-class time blank. Remember that eating well, exercising, and having fun are important to your success and well being, so do not allow your studying to overwhelm everything else. A good time management plan will help you keep the right balance.

    AT THE BEGINNING OF EVERY WEEK FILL IN THE DETAILS

Start by making a list of tasks you need to accomplish for each class. Remember, part of your workload for a class might be studying for an exam the following week. So, do not simply make a list of assignments due during the current week.

Determine how much time you will need for each class. Some weeks you might need extra time for one class. This is where the extra study block you scheduled helps.

For each block of time assigned to a class, schedule specific tasks to accomplish. When you sit down to study, you want to have a plan for what you will learn during that time. You might plan to read a chapter and complete the practice problems or you might plan to complete a set of problems. If you just need to read assigned pages, you will get the most out of it by quizzing yourself to make sure you are learning the important concepts. For more on this, go to Reading for College and Making the Most of Class Time on the Strategies for Success website.

back to top

A Weekly Calendar (pdf)
A Semester Calendar (pdf)
4-yr Academic Plan (pdf)