(this might could tag onto #3)
Course plans are the devil. Avoid at all costs the first semester, if not the entire first year. In the case of UA's Engineering course plan, it could not be avoided, but this isn't the case in most everything else. Avoid the insane the first semester such as Calculus and Chemistry. I recommend general education classes all around. I must admit, this advice was passed down to me from a strangely and scarily prophetic eRIc, though it was unavoidable in my case, but I saw the soundness in the claim nonetheless. As long as you have the courses completed when they become prerequisites to others, and ultimately before graduation, it should be fine (I obviously haven't graduated yet, so Jeff C. may refute this).
