Thursday, October 28, 2004

I'm trying to find a class or two to fill my schedule next semester. I only need one three-credit-hour-course to graduate, but I can take eleven credit hours for the same price.
I'm planning on taking German I (3ch), and at least one other course, but nearly all courses are three credit hours, so I may end up with just nine hours.
There are a couple courses I'd be somewhat interested in taking, and a bunch I just find interesting:

ENGL 3470 - Modern Fantasy (3ch) (writing intensive)

Course description: History, development, types, and nature of fantasy during past century.
Not at a bad time for me (1100h MWF), and I meet the requirements. Sounds like a nice idea, but looks overly focused on the history of modern fantasy (which if probably fascinating, but I don't care that much).

ENGL 3480 - Science Fiction (3ch) (writing intensive)

Course description: Development of genre from turn of century.
My brother once took this, and it didn't sound extremely interesting, but could be good. Sadly, however, it's early on Tuesday and Thursday. My other two courses are MW and MWF.

CSCI 6905 - Topics in Computer Science (3ch)

This is taught by a professor I like (he's tough, but in a good way). I'm not sure what course it is, as the topic varies, but he once taught it as a cryptography course, and I suspect this is the same. It's also Tuesday and Thursday, but later in the afternoon. The main problem, however, is that it's a graduate course. I'm not a great programmer or mathematician, so I'm not sure how well I could do, even if I manage to get permission to take it.

ECON 2133 - Principles of Macroeconomics (3ch)

I really liked microeconomics, so maybe macro would be groovy too. But it probably depends largely on the professor, and I don't know any of these guys.

FREN 1001 - French Level I (3ch)

Why not take /two/ languages, right? Two problems: I have no idea how hard language courses are, and this one would be at 0900h MWF. My brother wouldn't appreciate being forced to leave at 0815h three days a week.

MLSC 1004 - Basic Soldier Skills (2ch)

Course description: Emphasis on early development of leadership and soldier skills. Training is introductory in scope and includes leadership, written communications, first aid, and general military subjects. Leadership labs include drills,physical conditioning, and specialized topics that cannot be adequately covered in classrooms.
Clearly, I'm getting desperate, but it is a two-hour course, which is just what I need.
Luckily, it requires a lab (0ch) that overlaps with my one required course. So I can't take this.

THEA 1000 - Intro to Theatre (3ch)

Course description: Audience's appreciation of art of playwright, actor, director, and designer. Emphasis on development of western drama and theatrical arts in general.
For non-theatre arts majors.
A theatre course could be nice, but this is the only one a non-major has any hope of getting into from what I've heard. Really, this looks like a lame course. Forget I even brought it up.

Four credit-hour courses are more common than one- and two-credit-hour courses, so it may be best to do something like that, but all I can think of is physics, either general or possibly physics of sound.

DRED 2000 - Introduction to Driver and Traffic Safety Education

Course description: Current concepts in driver and traffic safety education.
Course prerequisites: Valid driver's license.
So you aren't allowed to take it until after you have a licence? I now understand why nobody in the area drives well.

MATH 1050 - Explorations in Mathematics (3ch)

Course description: Broad overview of mathematics and its relevance to life. Selected topics include at least four of the following: algebraic concepts, geometry, set theory and logic, number theory, discrete mathematics, statistics, consumer mathematics/finance, and historyof mathematics.
Sounds like fluffymath. Could be nice to do more math without having to work hard, but what's the point?

PHIL 3580 - Intermediate Logic (3ch)

Another Tuesday-Thursday. *shrug* Also, I'm already two classes past what I need for a philosophy double-major. I'm sick of it. Do I need more? (Though symbolic logic is quite distinct from normal philosophy.)

PHIL 1180 - Intro to Critical Reasoning (3ch)

So long as I'm looking into philosophy, why not this? It's at a good time, and covers informal fallacies and such. Still, the best philosophy courses are the tough ones, and this is stuff I've known since middle school. I know it will be at a really simple level, because the majors at the philosophy club recently (the current president and vice president, in fact) can't formulate a simple argument without involving one or two basic fallacies .It's scary. I'd like to learn something for a change, rather than sit around silently bemoaning the idiocy of my peers.

Maybe I could finally get a co-op job (as I've been meaning to do for a year or two) and get course credit (and money) for that. But that would require figuring out how to write a decent resume that says 'no work experience'. Botheration.

(I did a quick spelling-check on this. I had misspelt one word, but even worse, there were (and still are) several missing spaces in the course descriptions. Oi!)

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