Your education plan...your plan for your future

The first step in creating an education plan is to visit your academic advisor. The academic advisors in your college department have the expertise and updated information regarding the requirements for your major. They can also have pertinent information such as changes in prerequisites and class schedules. You can also ask your advisors for advice on which classes are easier, which professors to avoid or which scholarships are available.

Once you have your education plan, you can have your advisor map out your classes for you for each future semester/quarter. This comes especially handy if your classes are not offered throughout the school year (this is usually the case for upper division classes in specialized majors due to limited student enrollment). However, do not completely rely on your tentative class schedule because your school may change their schedule at any time. You can do this by checking the new class schedule as soon as they are made available then you can make your changes then.

Note: Use your tentative class schedule only to give you an idea about how your schedule is going to look like. Also, look at alternative class schedule offerings since some class times are more in demand than others.

Some advantages of the education plan are:

• Avoid taking duplicate classes

  Since you have a plan, you'll know the specific classes to take.

• Avoid overloading with units

  Students who don't have an education plan often take classes without any guidance. As a result, they take more classes than they should, graduate later, and go over their required units. Going over your required units can be costly since federal financial aid only covers your first four years of school.

• Processing your graduation paperwork is faster

  Your advisors will have most of the records they need to do this.

• Reference for letters of recommendation

  If you have been communicating with your supervisor throughout your academic life, they will know you well enough to recommend you for scholarships or graduate school.

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