22 Important Considerations when Picking Courses

It is that time of the year again. You have to get off the horse/stretcher/seat/bed and crack open your computer to pick out your courses. Navigating the e-prospectus is not easy, and picking courses only gets harder, so in the spirit of the New Year, here are 22 important considerations you might have to take into account when picking your courses.

1. Is this the 2015/16 e-prospectus, or are you on the 2014/15 e-prospectus again?

How do you always end up on the 2014/15 e-prospectus? More importantly: How do you return to see all the courses without being sent back to the e-prospectus index for all of Leiden University?

2. Are you allowed to take another 100 level?

When do I have to start taking 300 level courses? I’m still here on the baby monkey bars.

3. Are there weekly written assignments?

Am I going to have to write a reflection or summary every week? How many words? 300, thats alright. 1000!? That's already a midterm!

4. Does it have an impressive name?

Institutions in Time, Law of the Sea, World Philosophies, Game Theory. That’ll look good on my CV.

5. Do these courses take place at 9am?

Do you desperately want/need to take this 9 am course? Are you sure!?

6. Is given by an LUC Professor, or a random Leiden one?

Endorse the local talent. Those rosy-cheeked professors you see hiccupping at the winter gala, they are the best professors. A Leiden Professor is always a gamble.

7. Who could be in the course with you?

Are your friends also enrolling? Is that annoying second years who talks all the time going to be there? Am I going to be able to squeeze in a word during class?

8. Is the professor an easy grader?

A lot of LUC professors are harsh, but as they say: "No pain, no gain."

9. Does the professor like you?

Do you smile at him/her in the hallway? Have you given him/her a chocolate? Have you had a class with them before? What was your grade? Maybe you should reconsider.

10. Did your friends say it was nice?

The opinion of an experienced friend is always valuable, unless it's that one friend who coasts from deadline to deadline, teetering on the edge of failure. How do they always end up with a better grade than you?

11. Do you end up having 3 classes in a row on Thursdays?

When will you eat lunch? Apparently chewing loudly in class is rude. Who knew?

12. Did your tutor recommend it?

You only HAVE to see him/her once a semester, but facing him/her again after not following his/her advice is going to be hard.

13. Do you need to buy a textbook, or worse - several textbooks?

How much money is on my bank account again? Damn, I should pay that tuition fee thrice overdue! In any case, this is money that could be spent on other, more pertinent needs. (READ: food/beer)

14. How long is the final essay?

With 8 reading weeks behind the belt, a 2000 word final essay is really a nice surprise.

15. What percentage of your grade is the final essay?

If the final essay is only 30 pecent, and I do everything else really well, I'll get a 70%, and then even if my final essay is really crappy, I'll get like a C!

16. Which course have you NOT taken?

Year 3, Block 4, you’ve been everywhere, seen it all. Battled the mightiest of graders and argued the toughest of debaters. Which course is left?

17. Will you graduate with these courses?

Pull out the trusty Excel sheet and look it over. What are the requirements again?

18. Do the time slots of these courses clash?

Time to whip out the timetables and the agenda, or alternatively take a gamble and just submit the survey. Maybe they all work out!

19. How likely is it that you will get into this course?

Or, how likely is it that Joppe will believe the sob story you’re going to tell to get into the course?

20. In what order should you strategically place your courses in the survey?

If I only put three, will I definitely get them? Do you really have to fill out 6 courses per block? Can you fill out the same ones over and over again?

21. Why can the courses on the drop down list not be in alphabetical order?

Pressing the letter and jumping straight to the course would really streamline the process and help me get back to vacationing.

22. When is the deadline again?!?!?

January 4th? 3rd? Poor people who need to work this early in the year! Also: TIME DIFFERENCES. LUC is a very international community. 23:59 in the Netherlands. What is that in your time zone?

Scroll down and click submit and get back on your horse/stretcher/seat/bed! Its time to keep resting and travelling!

Always keep checking LUC News for semi-regular updates on things LUC-related!

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