Advice on choosing a class to take to meet scholarship requirements
I am currently frustrated with having to pick another 2 hours of classes to take to maintain eligibility of a scholarship. I can't take any more major (CS) related classes, as I do not have all the prerequisites. I can't take any lower core classes as I have finished them all, from getting my general ed AA degree first. There are little filler electives I can take. One of them being first aid, a class that everyone says I need to take. However I do not want to take that class, it will be online and I had that professor for another online class last semester. I did not like the class at all. It was a read the textbook and answer the questions kind of class with no professor interaction at all. I think the first aid class will be exactly like that as well. There are some 1 hour classes I could choose from, however that would mean 2 more classes to juggle just to meet scholarship requirements. I am frustrated with this for multiple reasons, I'm indecisive, I've been putting it off all summer, and classes will start back very soon (aug 24th). I have tried talking to my family about it, but it ends up being a "you need to get this done" or a "just take the first aid course". They make choosing a class sound so simple when it is not as other stuff to juggle through. With it being so late it adds even more problems, as classes are filled up and deadlines are soon.
Does tildes have any advice about this? Anything you want to comment or add?
Music appreciation classes are great for this, yeah. I took a Jazz History course as a filler credit and it ended up being one of the coolest and most interesting things to learn about. My musical palate is much broader now for it.
Don't take boring/pointless classes ever. People that learn for the sake of filling up their schedule are one dimensional and lack a joy of life that's essential to maintaining passion for what you do. Also, you might never get the opportunity to find out what you don't like, which might also mean you won't develop a kind of confidence needed to assert yourself. To me, that sounds similar to the challenge you're describing in your post.
Your life is more than your career path. Take something that you're interested in, don't waste your education on anything YOU don't see contributing to your overall goals in life.
I don't know if this will help you, but this is how I selected and structured my college courses. Let's say that I haven't signed up for anything for this fall semester, so I go through the courses for my major and figure out which ones I'm supposed to be taking that semester. I look up when each section is scheduled and look for any kind of "closeness" in scheduling. Like, a lot of times two of my required classes will be just a couple periods apart, or they'll be offered at similar times on alternating days. I choose those sections for those classes, and they become my anchor points.
At the next stage, I look up other required courses: things I might need for a minor degree, or that might enhance my major, or that are simply graduation requirements for my degree. I look through the list of courses looking for classes where I either have the pre-reqs or there aren't any; that look interesting to take; and - most importantly! - fit between or around my anchor classes.
Let's say that I'm taking CS205 and CS301 MWF at 9am and 11am, respectively. I'm looking for classes that fill other needs that happen MWF at 8am, 10, or 1pm. I find Math203 that helps with my CS courses at 9am, and at 1pm there's an "Intro to Native American Cultures" that looks fascinating while also fulfilling a "non-English language or culture" general requirement, and sign up for those.
I'm now solidly booked from 8am to noon on MWF, but need one more class. So I go flipping through the list of classes looking for anything at all that looks interesting that's offered at 1pm MWF, and that I have the pre-reqs for (or doesn't need pre-reqs). I find a class in "Stress and Distress Relief: Strategies for Coping with Life" that sounds useful and is offered MWF at 1pm, so I grab that.
So, let's take look at the benefits of that schedule for a moment. First off, all my classes are in a single block. That means if I "have to" get up for even one of them, I can talk myself into getting up and going to every single one of them. I'm also not wasting time repeatedly commuting to class, it's just one trip in and out each day. And, except for lunch, I also don't have dead time between classes, where I'm just kinda hanging out because it's too much to go back to the dorms or whatever (or where, if I go back to the dorms, it's just too much to get back to class). I'm commited to being on campus from 8am to 2pm, and nothing disturbs that.
But having my classes in massive blocks like that also means that all my free time is in huge blocks as well. I have four entire days, and three afternoons and evenings, every week where there's nothing scheduled. I can get a job that slots into all that free time, or do work/study or an internship, I can study or do research or hang with my friends or game or whatever. The point is that I'm not always watching the clock, trying to make sure I make my next class, I can just do whatever I want with these massive blocks of free time. It's really amazing how much 'free' time you get simply by putting all your classes into massive blocks.
I should note that you don't have to do the MWF 8-2 thing; it can be any schedule that puts things into blocks and frees up the rest of your time. One year I scheduled everything from 8am-11am Monday through Friday; another year, all my classes happened to be evening classes. It's whatever you can make work with your anchor classes and your interests.
And a final note on jobs: obviously, internships or work/study are useful if you can get them. If you can't get one, however, look for "we just need a body" jobs - jobs where you're expected to work, but you're mostly there to be there in case someone needs something. I had several of these throughout college: I was the evening receptionist in a nursing home, I was the night security guard for a storage warehouse; I did night audit for a small hotel.
The thing with all these jobs was that they needed someone to be physically present and able to handle whatever happened to occur during your shift, and they had some small amount of other oddball duties that somehow or other fell to you to do, but the work didn't consume your entire shift. The warehouse job just needed me to walk around the site once an hour; the receptionist job was answering the phone, directing visitors, and locking the doors when visiting hours were over. Night auditor had occasionally busy bits (especially setting up the breakfast buffet), but a lot of it was quiet and peaceful.
None of the jobs paid particularly well, but they didn't actually need to. What they were doing was paying me to do my homework. They all had a fair amount of free time where the bosses didn't care if I sat there and did math problems or read textbooks or listened to lectures, not as long as I answered the phone and did my rounds on time and set up for breakfast. For thirty hours every week, I had a dedicated time and place where I did nothing but readings and math problems and took notes and reviewed stuff. I wasn't "losing free time" when I studied, I was gaining money. And since classes and work combined only took up 45 hours a week, and I didn't have to use "free time" to study, I had all this other free time to hang with my friends, play games, go hiking and camping most weekends - and I had the spare money to be able to do so.
Good luck with college, and congratulations on your scholarship!
Ask forums for your school about the best of these classes. I took an excellent History of Jazz course and got to see Esperanza Spalding as she got big, fueled an interest in astronomy, learned about multiple technologal anthropology/art and pop culture courses, Japanese lit, etc... When I heard what courses people suggested that lined up with my interests, it made studying for other stuff a lot easier.
Good for you for checking all the right boxes and keeping a tight grip on your education. It might help to think of college as existing for more than one purpose. Sure, it's a way to get the education you need to get a good job. But it's also about exploring. I'd advise you to take advantage of these classes and just take something interesting to you. Could be a hobby like drawing or writing, or you could try a random field like forestry or physical education.
After you graduate and get a job, you'll probably find that you have less time to explore new topics, so try to take advantage of this while you can (especially if it's on someone else's dime!).
I have thought about that. One of the things I would be interested in learning more about is photography. Learn some basics about composition, and gain some experience with gauging exposure. I have looked some into my college's photography courses. There is one under the art department, but it has loads of prerequisites. There is another one under the journalism department, but it does not have the kind of stuff I am looking to learn.
Maybe there's a photography club at your school? These days you can learn enough about it from online resources, and if there's a club in-person, then that really helps on the other side of it.
So there are 2 options:
Take a mildly interesting and useful class, even though it probably won’t be as useful or interesting as a CS course
Take an easy class which will be a waste of time, but not much time
My advice and what I did, is to try and find an interesting class first and if you can, take it. For example, I took a class on music theory to satisfy requirements, and it turned out to be very good and I even used some of it later, even though my field is pure CS. The professor was very chill and I’m glad I ended up taking it, even if there was another class with less work.
If you can’t find a class which is even mildly interesting, then of course go with the easiest class. Judging by your description and people’s suggestions I assume the first aid class isn’t much work.If it is, I suggest 2 1-credit classes, because the 1-credit classes can be extremely lenient in their assignments and grading, so even 2 of them may be less work than 1 full class. But you know what classes are less work better than me.
Even if you decide to choose an interesting class, look or ask online (in your college’s subreddit, group chat, and ratemyprof) for info about the classes, but only factor them in if they’re especially good or bad. Because unfortunately, a really bad teacher can make even an extremely interesting class terrible, but if the teacher is only mildly bad and the class is very interesting, it can still be fun. Also, pay more attention to the details then the reviews themselves, look for verifiable information and downweigh blanket statements and opinions. Many students who get caught cheating or just don’t do work write super negative reviews about even the best professors, and some professors create burner accounts and write positive reviews about themselves (!).
Lastly, don’t worry too much about it. A bit of extra work or boredom isn’t going to derail your college career or really do anything more than make you slightly less happy / more unhappy the semester.
Try looking up classes by instructors you enjoyed? See what they have to offer? I had no need to take a class on religion, but I enjoyed that teacher's class on Greek mythology that I took as a filler elective my first semester.
You can also look for easy classes to take, see if there are any intro courses you haven't taken in other departments. You might actually find a class similar to one of the ones you've already taken or are taking. My school had a Media Arts and Sciences program that's separate from the computer science program, and my first semester in that major I ended up taking two "intro to HTML/CSS/web design" classes. One was in person for MAS, other was online for computer science. I didn't realize they basically covered the same topic when I registered for them. Was convenient since I basically got extra practice.
The thing about CS is that it does nothing on its own. You are computing... And you get really good at... Computing... But computing "what", exactly.
Least successful CS majors (after the diploma): focus on just "computing".
The most successful CS majors leverage their mastery of computing and "just enough" domain knowledge from another field to apply it.
Geography, soil science, accounting, pre-law.. there are vast applications for people that know "just enough" of both. If you want some rote advice: get a minor in a field of science or "data-intensive" field that interests you. Also make sure you take a couple electronics courses. I really regret not doing that, as I've had to spend years teaching myself what I probably could have picked up in a semester or two in school (although it was fun).
What other course options do you have? I found my Spanish classes to be a welcome respite from my major (chemical engineering) classes. They gave me great political and cultural insight I didn’t get otherwise.
Beyond that, some sort of engineering or computer ethics course seems like a good option.
One of the genres of electives I really enjoyed at university was film courses. Now, my school had a good film (criticism) program -- and the specific "college" I was part of (it's a weird University of Toronto system) was the film college -- so I'm not sure how widespread that is for other universities, but they're fun courses.
You get to watch movies then read about them and write about them, it exposes you to movies you normally wouldn't see or hear about, and you get to meet other people who are interested in movies on an artistic level. There were different film courses offered by different departments, so the main film department had a whole bunch, but there were ones focused on Argentinian cinema by another department, some on Irish cinema by another, etc. Usually had no prerequisites for taking them, and they were easy, but not braindead bird courses either, a good diversion from my main program while not being boring or adding too much stress to my life.