The University campus spans a total area of 605 acres and is comprised of 313 buildings, according to the University’s Web site. With numbers like this, it is natural to worry about arriving on time to class.

That is, unless you know the shortcut.

From Russell to Park Hall, Brumby to New College, Myers to Fine Arts or Soule to the Ramsey Center, there is only one secret to getting to class on time: leave your location to get to class extra early.

The stretched out, uniform, straightforward machine that is the University campus holds little favor with those who have become accustomed to its spider web of trails and crosscut pathways in past semesters.

This is to say that class standing is simply not a large enough factor to create a distinct separation between those on time and those stumbling into class fifteen minutes late with a sweating forehead and a rather sheepish look.

The rate at which you walk and the amount of time you allow for the walk to class is the key element in punctuality, which will keep your nerves at bay long enough to sit back and get hold of some knowledge.

Budgeting time to walk to class is a simple action requiring little effort.

Like the trial and error method often employed in some forms of scientific experimentation, make an educated guess as to the amount of time required to find your class and leave earlier than that.

It is better to have time than to need that extra five minutes and have nothing other than the discomforting feeling of being late.

One option in the race to be punctual is a firm reliance upon the University campus transit system. A total of nine bus lines run through the entirety of the University campus with pickups and drop-offs everywhere from the Ramsey Center to the Arch downtown.

Some of these buses – such as the Russell Hall bus and East West – come directly up to the bus stop at Russell Hall.

An additional piece of advice is a strict avoidance of construction zones.

With construction crews on Baxter Street and Carlton Street, those University students with destinations on some parts of both North and South campuses should walk on the construction-free side of the street or the pathways behind the main street sidewalks.

Using pathways such as the walkways extending behind Snelling that lead down to Forestry and Plant Sciences may save a minute or two.

Also, many pathways tend to run diagonally between buildings such as the many crossing patches of concrete on North campus.

Even if you are not planning on becoming the next mathematician to win the famed Abel Prize, remember that the distance constituted by the diagonal of any right triangle is less than the sum of the perpendicular sides.

The idea here is to cut diagonally when possible, remembering that bare grass without a proper walkway is fair game – but don’t forget good shoes – and in the world of cutting corners to save time in which to get to class, this is about as good as it gets for the campus walker.