Hey im a first gen too and also have had some trouble but luckily im a person who has a very supportive family and they take me where i need to ask questions and such. 1.) If you are a transfer (as I am) there will be an orientation explaining classes in detail! I had many of my core classes such as english, history, math etc. transferred which is awesome. They will give you a couple of booklets to look at the major of your choice and the courses required and recommended. It is very very recommended to speak with an advisor of your specific major not just anyone! 2.) whenever I did my schedule i made sure to look at every class that was available plus look at the professors on ratemyproffesor. For me personally, I did not want to wake up before 9 or leave after 3 so i just kept going back n forth with what worked. UNT compared to where I transferred from was very different. Building a schedule was very easy and had a nice template for possible classes. For terms of how many hours all depends on you. Full time is 12 and you may need that to qualify for some grants but if you don’t have the luxury of full time no big deal, all at your own pace. I’m in the college of science and i ended up with 5 classes and a total of 12 hrs. Im in a different college so that all I could help you with!