Signing up for college classes

I remember signing up for classes while I was in college.  Every one wants the same classes, there are a limited number of seats, priority is given to upperclassmen, thus freshmen spend a year taking lame classes at lame times because everything was full upon sign up.

When signing up for classes you are often given a date upon which you are able to enter the school computer system and sign up for classes. Typically the school server gets bogged down on that day by the high volume of traffic and it takes forever to sign up if the system doesn't crash.

Don't wait until that day to come up with a plan.  Have every class picked and have backup classes picked as well.  If at first you can't get your desired classes, return to the system multiple times a day.  Often times classes open up, and you want to get that class locked in.

Be sure and sign up for enough classes.  If you need full time student status make sure you have enough credits.  If a scholarship requires a certain number of credit hours, get what you need.  You can always drop an extra class later if needed.

If you really can't get signed up for a class, meet with the teacher in person to request their class, they might know of a student that is thinking to drop the class.  Or show up to the class on day one and see if they can get you in.

It's all about "the hustle"
Getting the classes you want/need is not a fair process.  It will get frustrating.  Don't just give up and take what you are given.  Do some hustling, pull some strings, overcome the barriers, network.  College is a strange new place, and other students can help you in amazing ways.  Find out who the best teachers are, who grades easy, who teaches to the book etc.

My freshman year I got stuck with a couple 7am classes which was tough in the morning.  All because the other classes were full.  But it turned out to be a blessing in the end.  Because of my 7am start, I was done with all of my classes by noon.  After my last class, I would return to the dorms to find my roommates, just waking up and going to class.  This meant I had the whole afternoon to a quiet dorm.  I would do all of studying while my roommates were in class, then we would go out and have fun when they got back from class.  Meanwhile my roommates could never find time to study.

To this day, I start seeing my first patients as early as 7am.