Unfortunately, the perfect schedule does not exist. 

Scrolling through the Section Tally open on one tab with Rate My Professor on the other, I am juggling so many things only to create one schedule of five courses. It shouldn’t take longer to make a schedule than it does for the average assignment in some of my other classes, but I don’t want to blindly go into a course.

Which is not to say that I only base my decisions on what people post online about professors and courses. Rate My Professor just serves as the last step in determining whether or not I’ll take a course. If a professor has entirely negative reviews, and those reviews span years and go into the double digits, then I take the warning and choose another course. 

However, the rest of the criteria for course scheduling feels like planning out a long-term strategy. As a political science major, I have to take one elective related to my major in each of four categories. Each of these four categories has a plethora of courses, but the ones actually offered can be counted on a single hand. I’m already indecisive, so limiting my choices isn’t disastrous for my scheduling, but it does make scheduling so much more rigid. 

Then, having to plan the prerequisites before the later courses while having to cross out all the other required courses unrelated to my major, it overwhelms me. 

Eventually, I will take public speaking. Eventually, I will clear out the scientific literacy requirement. Eventually, I will take the Logic of Everyday Reasoning. For now, as a rising junior credit-wise, I have to focus on knocking out the courses related to my own program before branching out to these final requirements. 

Beyond the actual courses themselves, the scheduling part of it all proves to be the hardest part in balancing a schedule. Having classes that are all back-to-back while starting at a reasonable time for me proves to be the hardest part in choosing a schedule. As a commuter, I don’t want breaks between classes, and I don’t want to arrive on campus after every spot in a parking lot has been filled. 

When the time slot offered for one requirement overlaps with another, with no other viable time slot for either, I have to just accept that I’ll have to push another course back a semester.

Choosing these classes reminds me, however, that I am in college and I do have the responsibility to choose my entire schedule for the fall. I can be annoyed at the entire process not aligning perfectly with my schedule, but I won’t be ungrateful for the opportunity that I am living out. With my Fall 2026 schedule, I spent hours on and off between finding classes and scrolling through my phone, but it was weirdly fun to plan it all out. 

Looking at this upcoming schedule, I am content with what I chose and feel that I matched most of the arbitrary criteria in my head. I can’t have my cake and eat it too, but I can certainly have a schedule that balances most of what I want with what I need.

For comments/questions about this story, DM us on Instagram @thewhitatrowan or email [email protected]