Course Planning- Lemme in/Stalk-mode

I’ve been playing around with the idea of going to grad school for the better part of the last 27 years. (I’ll be 28 in April.) 

Today I tried to sign up for classes with North Carolina’s online engineering program. 

Long story short, I didn’t get to sign up for the class that I needed to start the program and of course every other class has that particular course as a prerequisite.

Being the practical human that I am, I already signed up for my backup local school just in case. This is only less than desirable because I would rather take the classes online. This would have given me more time to write... and party to my hearts content. 

The situation has me thinking back to how I got my four year bachelor’s degree in only two years of college. 

Regardless of varying views on how difficult this is or if it even helps in life at all, I think people surely underestimate the OCD-esque planning involved. 

When doing something like that you have to pick your classes, major, even the times of the classes several quarters in advance. But Treyci, how do you do that when the available courses aren’t usually released that far in advance? 

My answer: Activate Stalk-mode.

Yes. It is what it sounds like... mostly. Kinda.

With overcrowded Universities, like University of Washington (the school I finished at)classes, especially prerequisite classes, fill up quickly. Also keep in mind there are varying priority dates when students can sign up, with the newer students usually getting the last picks.

Your goal is to look at the previous quarters classes and see which professors are likely to teach the classes you need. Next you PERSONALLY CONTACT THE PROFESSORS. Either by email, but I think in person is better. Just something quick like:

“Hey Prof. Smith, I noticed you taught Calculus 1 last quarter, do you plan to teach that course again? I was hoping to take it with you.”

Usually they’ll feel flattered that you prefer them, even if it’s just because you need the time slot they may offer. They’ll either tell you if they plan on teaching it, (if they know already) or they might recommend a different professor who will teach it instead.

If you plan your classes without knowing for sure and wait for the course schedule to get  posted, you are playing Russian Roulette with your graduation date.

This brings me back to my foolish mistake of attempting to sign up for a prerequisite, online class (as a new student) at NC State. Yeahhhhh, it don’t work like that brah.