#college masterposts

1. Start with paper.

My first ever four year plan was on a template from the journalism department that my friend printed for me.  When I was a business major, all of the classes I needed to take were laid out for me in order and so my first four year plan was a test plan for an Anthropology and Japanese double major. Since then I have definitely finessed that but my best thought out plans have been on paper. Starting on paper is best because it allows you to make mistakes and erase and just scribble right away.

2. List all of your requirements 

I list anything I need from the school to graduate first.  So general education/core requirements should always come first.  You should know what all of your requirements are and how many credits/credit hours/units whatever you need to take of these.  

Then list major requirements. List how many credits/units/whatever you need to complete each of these and how many total credits are in your major. List any living and learning or extra program requirements as well.  I essentially have a double major and a minor with my living and learning program. 

Remember to leave space for what course your plan to fulfill with and when.  In my bullet journal I also like to have a way to mark each thing off. 

3. Set up your four years

This is a little trickier.  I break this whole thing down by term in chronological order.  Each term is broken down into a little chart in four sections: Course Code, Course Title, Requirement, and Credits.

Course code is just the course of the code as it appears in your registration documents.  I do this so it’s easy for me to search and register for classes when the time comes.  Course Title is just so I know what I’m getting into.  Requirement is just a space to write down all of the requirements that this particular class fulfills and credits is for the number of units this class will fulfill. 

I will include an excel template at the end of this so you can copy that onto paper or just do it on your laptop right away. 

4. Fill in requirements in order of need 

So I have set up this example of my next fall semester.  For any semester you have not completed, write in something erasable: a frixion pen, a pencil, whatever as long as you can cleanly remove it.  For any semester you have completed, write in something permanent like a pen or a marker.  Since this is for the future, I’m going to write in pencil. 

First I add the things I know I need to take to graduate.  I have to take a professional writing course for a general education requirement and I want to get it done before I go abroad so I’m going to write that first. 

Next I know I need to take another Theory class for my Anthropology major and History of Japan to 1800 for my Japanese major so I plus those in. I don’t know which Anthropology class I’m be taking so I’ll fill it in in a more vague way. 

So last I, have a requirement for a scholarship that says I have to take a full load of at least 15 credits a semester which means I need 6 more.  I look at my requirements and see that I have time to take two Japanese electives or a Japanese elective and an anthropology elective.  Because I definitely have more time later on to take Anthropology electives, I want to take a Japanese linguistics course and an elective for my Japanese major so I fill those in too.

Do this for every semester.  When you run out of classes or something it’s okay to leave it blank.  As you fill in the plan, make sure to fill in the term when you complete each requirement with pencil of course. \Once you have completed a term you can always go back in and make it permanent so you know what you have finished.

5.  Transfer your plan to Excel or another program

My last step is to transfer everything to something electronic.  I check a few times a semester to make sure both versions are accurate so that if i’m in a pinch, I can get to my four year plan whenever I need it.  If my laptop isn’t working I have my bullet journal and if my bullet journal got left behind at home, I have my laptop or my phone.

Here is a link to a folder on OneDrive of a three templates and an example (my actual typed Four Year Plan).  If you are interested in the University of Maryland and/or Honors Humanities, two of the templates are specifically for UMD and the HoHum program so you know what those requirements look like.  There are already functions built in for credits so all you have to do is add in your credit numbers and it will automatically add them up and put everything in the right place.