Four-Year Plan Template

Eight semesters, roughly 15 credits each, totaling 120. Year one is mostly general education and introductory major courses. Year two layers in required major courses and continues general education. Year three is dense with upper-division major courses. Year four finishes the major, adds any remaining GE, and leaves space for a capstone.

If you are on a quarter system, the same structure works across twelve quarters. Credit counts change, the shape does not.

Load general education categories that are prerequisites for later major or upper-division work: written communication, quantitative reasoning, any required science sequence for your major. Add the first course in your major's required sequence.

Avoid frontloading electives. They feel easy but they do not move your major forward, and you will want those slots later when the major gets harder.

Take the second and third courses in your major's required sequence. Finish the general education categories that feed upper-division work. If you are adding a minor, this is the year to start it so the minor does not push graduation.

Upper-division major courses usually cluster in year three, and their prerequisite chains mean you cannot move them earlier or later easily. Protect this year. Do not overload it with electives or optional minors.

If you have to take a lighter semester anywhere, take it in year four, not year three.

Place your capstone or senior project in your final semester. Finish any remaining GE or elective credits. File your petition to graduate on schedule, usually the term before your final term.

Leave one flexible slot in your final year for a course you want to take, not one you have to take. You have earned it.

This template is a starting point. Your real plan depends on your major's prerequisite chains, your catalog year's GE list, and any credit you brought in from AP, IB, or transfer. Quorum builds the real version from your school's catalog and your actual course history.