Any other hints?

Get it in writing! Any time that advisors tell you that you do or don't have to take certain courses or that there is a change you need to be aware of, get it in writing. It is unfortunate, but advisors change from time to time and even if advisors are still there your whole university career, they may forget what they said or they may change their mind. If you don't have documentation on what is said when, you may find yourself having to take courses that were recently been introduced, to take courses that are now required, to take a course an advisor told you was an acceptable substitute, etc. When you talk to advisors either get them to write down what they told you or write the core of the discussion up yourself and have your advisor sign it. Later on, when problems arise, the university will almost always honor what you were told, but you must have documentation on this. Your word that so and so said such and such, is unlikely to be persuasive. Always be ready to say who it was who gave you advice and when.

Keep the catalog of the year when you declare your major. As noted, the catalog is a contract the university makes with you. As the curriculum is updated, you may have to change to keep up with it. But there are many changes that are not retroactive. Also, many departmental advisors do not remember what the older requirements were and may feel you need to take courses that meet new requirements, thereby extending the time and effort you need to expend in order to graduate. By saving the catalog for your major, at the time you declared the major, you have a strong case to make that new requirements being instituted do not apply to you or that courses you took earlier cannot now be rejected as being "obsolete" and, therefore, new course requirements have to be taken to replace the older requirements.