Course Selection (Academics)
Selecting the right courses each semester requires more than browsing what fits in your schedule. Strategic course selection means understanding how your courses connect to each other when they are offered, and how they move you toward graduation in a manageable, well-paced sequence. Students who plan their course selection carefully are less likely to encounter prerequisite bottlenecks, scheduling conflicts, or graduation delays.
For general guidance on navigating the Mass Communications major scroll through the Mass Communications Advising Website and plan a meeting with your Academic Advisor. For general education course selection, see the General Education Requirements in the VSU Course Catalog.
Understanding Your Major's Course Sequence
The Mass Communications Department recommended sequence of courses is generally a four-year plan. This sequence exists because general education, Humanities and Social Science electives and restrictive elective courses often build directly on the major foundational ones. Taking courses out of order can mean you arrive in an advanced course without the preparation the instructor assumes you have.
Your Mass Communications Advisor available through your advisor can help you to outline the recommended order for completing major requirements. Use this Mass Communications Advising Website as the starting point for building your semester schedule, and discuss any deviations with your advisor before registering.
Prerequisite Sequences
Prerequisites are a significant factor in course selection planning because missing a prerequisite can delay your progress by an entire semester. Many required courses in your major are only offered once per year, so a missed prerequisite can push your graduation back by a full year in some programs.
Before each registration period, review your degree audit and the course descriptions in the VSU Course Catalog to identify which prerequisites you have completed and which you still need. Pay particular attention to:
- Courses offered only in fall or only in spring semesters, since you must plan to take prerequisites in the semester immediately before
- Multi-course sequences where each course builds directly on the previous one
- Courses with both a prerequisite and a co-requisite, which must be taken simultaneously
If you believe you have equivalent preparation for a course despite not having completed the listed prerequisite, discuss a prerequisite override with the department offering the course. Overrides are not guaranteed and should not be treated as a routine option.
Course Offering Patterns
Not every course is available every semester. Some upper-division major courses are offered once per year or even less frequently. When you discover that a required course is only offered in the fall, for
example, that information should shape your planning for the preceding spring semester. Missing that course in the year it is available can mean waiting an additional year to complete your program.
Talk to your advisor or your department's administrative coordinator about the offering pattern for courses still on your degree plan. Build your academic plan around these constraints rather than discovering them too late.
Balancing Your Course Load
Strong academic performance depends partly on building schedules that are ambitious but manageable. A heavy semester of demanding courses taken all at once often produces worse outcomes than spacing those courses thoughtfully. When selecting courses, consider the workload requirements of each course, whether any involve labs, fieldwork, or other time-intensive components, and whether you are balancing major requirements with general education or elective courses of varying difficulty.
Your advisor can help you assess whether a given semester's proposed schedule is reasonable given your academic history and any other commitments in your life.
Elective Choices in Your Major
The Mass Communications degree include elective credit hours within the major itself, allowing you to specialize in a particular area of interest. These electives are often upper-division courses that let you go deeper into topics that align with your career goals or intellectual curiosity. Discuss elective options with your advisor, particularly if you are a double major or minoring in another department.
Reserved Seats and Major Priority
Some courses reserve seats for declared majors, meaning you cannot register for them until you have officially declared the relevant major and met the prerequisite requirements. If you plan to change your major, you may not have access to certain courses until the change is processed and reflected in the registration system. Complete any major change paperwork as early as possible to avoid registration complications.
Contact Information
Office of the Registrar Phone: (804) 524-5275
Department of Mass Communications Phone: (804) 524-5000