Research Guides: Registration Information: Choosing Your Classes

The Big Picture

The basic idea to know what classes to take is to work backwards:

Figure out what your final goal is: i.e. get __ job in ___ career
Identify a major: Look at job postings to see if particular degrees are requested. Research what majors best support that career.
Find a school that supports that major and look at their degree requirements for that major
Even if you start at LSC, you have to keep your eyes on the 4-year school you want as you make your plans!
Build your degree plan of when you'll take which classes
Meet with an advisor to confirm your plan or resolve any questions you have.

Pathways at Lone Star College
Use the Pathway Plan available in your myLoneStar account to make sure you plan and register for the right courses to complete your goal.
Career Exploration Guide
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Created for the EDUC 1300 assignment, this guide provides resources for discovering career and major information you'll need to make plans.

How many classes? Balancing Workload

The standard rule of thumb is that for each 1 credit hour, you should expect to spend 2-3 hours outside of class engaging with the material. Being a full-time student is a full-time job! Between attending class and doing homework, you're looking at 40 hours each week dedicated to school alone.

Outside work includes:

reading
reviewing notes
doing assigned homework
studying or researching

While it can be done, it won't be fun or easy for most people. The more hours you need to commit to your job(s), the fewer classes you can commit to.

Status	Credit Hours Enrolled	Weekly Study Time Outside Class	Suggested Weekly Job Commitment
Full-Time	12 - 18 hrs (max: 18 hours; requires approval)	x2: 24 - 36 hrs x3: 36 - 54 hrs	20 job hours for 12 credit hours
3/4 Time	9 - 11 hrs	x2: 18 - 22 hrs x3: 27 - 33 hrs	30 job hours for 9 credit hours
Half-Time	6 - 8 hrs	x2: 12 - 16 hrs x3: 18 - 24 hrs	40 job hours for 6 credit hours
Student Loan Minimum	6 hrs

LSC Advising Guidelines for Planning Your Courseload
Course Workload Estimator
You kind of need to know coursework details for the best estimate, which is hard to know before you've enrolled. This may be helpful to help you make adjustments -- and you can also just try entering random numbers to observe what happens.
more...less...
Enter how much work your class(es) are requiring -- pages to read, tests to take, etc -- and the form will give you a recommendation for how much time you should expect to spend outside class getting those things done.
Money for College: Scholarships, Grants, & More
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Choosing Class Mode (Online, Hybrid, In-Person)

LSC Class Options

Choosing Instructors

Rate My Prof
The classic. Keep in mind that like many review sites, the people most motivated to leave comments are at extreme ends of opinion -- very positive, or very negative. As well, research shows a strong correlation between final grade and how a student rates their instructor... so a terrible teacher who still passes someone may still have a good score.
LSC Faculty Assessment Information
Search for a professor's overall rating from student evaluations for a given semester and course.

Some Casual Citations about the Fallibility of Reviews and Ratings

Inside Higher Ed: Bias Against Female Instructors
New analysis offers more evidence against the reliability of student evaluations of teaching, at least for their use in personnel decisions.
Inside Higher Ed: What Are Students Rating When They Rate Instructors?
New study suggests student evaluations are dependent on discipline and they tend to be especially “hazardous” to professors in quantitative fields.

But -- I haven't finished this semester yet.

Yep -- you have to pick your next semester classes before you 100% know if you've passed the current semester. (You'll experience the same conundrum when it's time to apply to graduate in your last semester, too!)

Hope Plan for the Best...

Unless you're certain there's no way to pass, go ahead and register for the next level of the course sequence.

...But Have a Plan B

If you don't pass ENGL 1301, you'll just need to drop your anticipated ENGL 1302 and re-enroll for 1301. Take some time now to plan for that, just in case.

Would you want to take the same prof, or a different one? (Who're your top 3?)
Do you want in-person or online?
What time of day?

Many sections will already be full by the time you get your grades, but knowing what you want can help you move quickly later on.