- avoiding subject areas that may challenge your academic skills
- avoiding subject areas that may challenge your beliefs and values
- avoiding a subject of which you think you have a phobia
- picking classes at random with no relation to your interests and life goals
- taking only courses in which you're convinced you'll get an 'A'
- taking only courses in which you think that you'll be entertained by the professor
- taking courses with no prerequisites
- having no principled guidelines for choosing classes
