so i think every college student at some point has had a bad experience with an academic advisor. at some point, everyone walks out of their office feeling a) extremely anxious b) extremely confused or c) extremely fucked over. advisors have the unfortunate job of translating whatever the heck your college requires for graduation into comprehensible english, and since they have usually have lots and lots of students, this means they are very prone to making mistakes. this can cost people money, time, and even their degrees, which is awful. after hearing a lot of these horror stories myself, i decided to make this post so that i could share how i managed to avoid most of that anxiety, frustration, and confusion by staying on top of my graduation requirements myself and avoiding advisors giving me conflicting information.
disclaimer: this is my own personal method as it applies to the experiences of an american college student. this might not apply to you, but that’s ok!
before you get to college
if you’re like me, you took a lot of AP and IB tests in high school and you want them to count. you paid money to take them, after all! so before school even started, i went through and checked what AP or IB exams counted for what classes at my college, and marked whether i would receive credit towards graduation for these classes. i put this all in an excel sheet like this:
if i had dual credit or any class at all that would get me any credit in high school, i put in this spreadsheet, in which i listed 1) the test i took 2) my score 3) whether i’d receive credit 4) the class i’d receive credit for 5) the number of credit hours for that class and 6) what part of the graduation requirements i’d satisfy with that class (basically what the UC branch/credit stuff is in my spreadsheet), such as a math requirement, a second language requirement, etc. this spreadsheet will prove very important if you have a lot of credits transferred from high school.
this helped me keep track of all the tests i took and ensured i would be able to catch mistakes in my degree progress report online in case i didn’t receive credit for a class i was supposed to. if you’re able to, make sure you check your degree progress report or unofficial transcript online regularly. this will make sure you are not caught off guard when it’s time to graduate and you haven’t fulfilled a requirement yet. these people make mistakes. make sure you catch them!
freshman year
in your first year of college, you usually take a lot of general education courses, as well as additional courses for your supposed major. it differs from university to university, but during this time, unless you’re very set on a particular career track (i.e. prelaw, premed, engineering, business), you can do what you want and take different classes to see what you like. i would first suggest writing down a list of possible interests/majors you’d want to pursue, and then take an introductory course in each if possible to see what you actually enjoy. every class i took i put into a spreadsheet like this:
as you can see, i had one “block” for each semester, and i noted my grades, gpa, the reason i took the class, whether i fulfilled some sort of graduation or honors requirement with them, and my total credit hours, which will come in handy when you’re adding up all your hours to see if you meet the number required for graduation (which should be posted online).
i also had a tracker specifically for my general education courses, as well as my premed courses and honors program to make sure i hit all the necessary classes. this is especially important if your requirements are extremely confusing- you want to put it in front of your face visually so that you can make sure you get everything. here’s the example for my premed program:
i was given a sheet of all the classes recommended for premeds and when to take them at the beginning of the semester, so i basically copied that into my spreadsheet and kept track of when i finished them.
sophomore-senior year
i made one of the above sheets in excel for each year of college, cataloguing exactly what i took over the two semesters of that academic year and the credits i would be receiving for that. now that i was in my sophomore year of college, i added sheets for each major or minor i had since by now, i had declared my major and additional minors. here’s an example for my biology minor:
i got this required class information either from my advisor or from the university website, which has most major information now. i suggest you put everything into a spreadsheet at once before you declare and then track when you finish these courses, just so you know where you stand and how you’re progressing.
overall, i ended up having 11 sheets listing class and credit information in my excel file:
one for ap/ib credit
one for each year of college (4 in total)
one for each major/minor i had (3 in total)
one for specializing program i was in (1 for premed, 1 for my university’s honors program)
one for general education requirements for graduation
that sounds like a lot, but that’s the way i made sure that i hit all the necessary buttons and took exactly the requirements i needed, both for applying to medical school and for graduation. in the end, the main gist of this post is to track everything. track every class you take, write it down, have it in a nice color coded spreadsheet cataloguing everything you take. you don’t want to have to go through the hassle of changing your major just because you haven’t taken all the classes necessary, as i’ve seen some people i know do. it’s also a good reference if you ever apply to professional school- i know med schools have you input all the classes you take by hand, so this is a good resource to have on hand. and you definitely don’t want to rely on your advisor to tell you things!
hope this helps you plan your own academic journey in college, and remember, you can ask me questions anytime! my dms and asks are open to y’all <3
