There are a million different ways to create a college schedule. This isn’t high school anymore. You don’t have class every day for seven straight hours. This is college, and college is amazing. You get to choose your own schedule to meet your personal needs.

In college, you are given the freedom to determine your own schedule to maximize your time. Classes range from less than an hour to over five hours (if you’ve chosen the sad, sad life of a science or engineering major.) One can take a class at eight in the morning or 7 at night; it all depends on the person.

After a year of trial and error, I have come away with a couple of tips and tricks to help maximize anyone’s schedule:

1. Start after 10, maybe 9.

Like I said, this isn’t high school anymore. Nothing, NOTHING, is worse than waking up at 7 a.m. and having to pretend that you are ready for the day. I’ve been there. You’re not ready. The only thing 8 a.m. classes cause is extra stress and sleep deprivation. I would suggest starting your day at 10. At least get a couple decent hours of sleep before you have to sit through hours of lecture and note taking; you deserve it.

2. If you start early some days, start late other days.

Let's say you have to take an 8 a.m. Ok, we all do at some point. Schedule your other classes to start later. Much later. The only thing worse than waking up at 7 in the morning to go to class is waking up at 7 in the morning to go to class five days a week.

3. RateMyProfessors.com is the Bible.

If you haven’t used it already, use it. RateMyProfessors.com is the key to choosing your classes. There are real reviews and opinions about teachers and the classes that they teach. Some of the reviews might be bias, but someone who took the class already probably knows what they’re talking about.

4. Give yourself a break.

Food is necessary to survive, and you wont eat any of it if you have class for 7 consecutive hours. Give yourself an hour or so in between class to go get a nice meal or relax and forget about the few hours of torture remaining.

5. Have a pre-planned schedule ready.

When registration time comes around, I picture it as the first battle scene in “300.” It’s not pretty. One way to try and put yourself ahead of others when registering for classes is to have a couple of pre-planned schedules on the side with the registration numbers for each class ready. While other people search class by class, you have the advantage of entering in a few numbers and being finished with it.

Your schedule isn’t just a piece of paper or a tab on your computer, your schedule is your life for a semester; better make a good one.