It has been more than a year since UC Berkeley has held classes in person. That means that when you signed up for classes for last fall or this spring, whether you are a freshman or a senior, you could assume that it was going to be online, and freshman students have never experienced classes in person. Online instruction allows scheduling habits, such as lots of back-to-back classes or, even possibly, classes happening concurrently. However, there is a decent chance that next fall will be in person again. If that is the case, you’ll need to keep the quirks of going to class in person in mind when you sign up for classes. Here are some of the things you should consider when making your fall schedule.

Distance between classrooms

The most important thing to keep in mind is that you’re going to have to walk everywhere again. That means you could end up having to cross the entire campus in 10 minutes if you’re not careful. So, when you choose classes, see if the classroom chosen is far from the rest of your classes. Have a map of campus handy to make sure there isn’t some large building or the creek in the way of a seemingly short path. But if you end up having a large distance between back-to-back classes, at least you’ll still have Berkeley time.

Lunch breaks

With online class, you can eat while attending class. The same can’t be said for in-person classes, as most of the rooms don’t even allow food. So be sure to schedule a lunch break for yourself. After a morning of walking to and from class, you will surely be hungry. If you plan to eat at a cafe on campus, you’ll also have to take into account wait times in line. So make sure to leave time around noon or a little later so you don’t end up hungry for the entire afternoon.

When the sun sets

It can be a bit demoralizing to finish a class after the sun has set. You’ll have to walk home in the dark, and you’ll know you have no more daylight hours left in the day. If this sounds like something that’ll bother you, see when the sun sets during the fall and choose classes well before that. It might be earlier than you think.

Whether you can (or possibly cannot) get up for morning classes

Having class in the morning isn’t appealing, especially during this pandemic. You’re staying home anyway, so it’s far more tempting to just sleep in every morning. However, when the pandemic is over, you’ll probably spend a good chunk of your day on campus. So, look deep into your soul and ask yourself if you can get up for those classes. If the answer is yes, then grab those morning classes, as they’ll be easier to enroll in and the rest of your day will be free. If the answer is no — mainly because you’ll have to get up even earlier to commute to that morning class — then don’t sweat it. Just be honest with yourself when you sign up for those classes.

Now, you should be prepared to sign up for in-person class. There are other things to consider of course, such as breadth courses and major requirements, but that has nothing to do with whether class is online or in the flesh. Hopefully these tips will help you have a relatively stress free semester next fall.