Classes you wished you could have taken before graduating from college?

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Magus

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Hey guys,

I am planning on graduating in December, and was curious as I register for classes what types of classes people would have taken (if they could re-do college) for their last semester? I feel like I've taken a wide variety of classes (philosophy, comp. lit, social science, etc) but I'm just not sure what else I should take. I don't particularly care about 'preparation for medical school' since I've taken plenty of academic classes, but rather am interested in classes that fulfill any of the following:

* Teach leadership/management skills
* Teach something memorable/applicable to life
* Are known, in general, to be fun/easy

Thanks in advance for any and all help!
 
Magus said:
Hey guys,

I am planning on graduating in December, and was curious as I register for classes what types of classes people would have taken (if they could re-do college) for their last semester? I feel like I've taken a wide variety of classes (philosophy, comp. lit, social science, etc) but I'm just not sure what else I should take. I don't particularly care about 'preparation for medical school' since I've taken plenty of academic classes, but rather am interested in classes that fulfill any of the following:

* Teach leadership/management skills
* Teach something memorable/applicable to life
* Are known, in general, to be fun/easy

Thanks in advance for any and all help!
Click to expand...

Definitely not relevant to your actual situation, but I wanted to take Embryology SOOO bad. They didn't teach it last year. I begged and begged for it, but there wasn't enough demand school wide to justify the class 👎
 
They may not fall under the easy/fun category for most people, but the upper level art history classes and music classes at my school are all very interesting and very educational.

If I wasn't cooped up in sci hall all the time I would probably take a lot more of these courses, as I love playing/listening to music and I've recently developed a passion for classical/modern Italian art.
 
I'm graduating in a month and a half.. these are the classes I wish I had taken:

Computer Programming. It was AWESOME when I took it in HS (AP level). I absolutely love it, I wanna take more classes with it, but I would never want it for a job.

I've also always wanted to take classes in Ethics, so that may be something you could look into.

I've taken Creative Writing and also Astro (NON-science major astro) and both of those were exceptional.

As with all classes make sure you get a good prof. The subject matter usually can't overcome a boring/untalented professor, IMO.
 
Ballroom dancing. Impossible to get in though.
 
more history courses or not taking a class with a hard professor to instead take a class with an easier professor even though it had a lab.
 
All the pre-med classes. I only managed to get gen chem and a little physics in before graduating.
 
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish I would have taken more math (uppder-div). I took quantum chemistry (basically quantum mechanics) in my post-bac program and really enjoyed all of the math. I'm a bit of a nerd, but I had fun spending hours working on a single problem.
 
Seriously? You guys seem so boring. Upper level math, quantum chemistry, embryology, those don't sound fun at all (obviously it is all relative, but still).

I came into college with a good bit of AP credit. Go with philosophy classes, medical ethics or ethics overall. They are really interesting, discussion based classes, that you will have a good time in.

Or try and take business classes, that can be very helpful in the future (I think, whether or not you decide to open up a private practice).

I managed to major in Biochemistry, while minoring in both philosophy and business administration. The only thing I wish I had changed was maybe do a history major rather than biochemistry.
 
oooo

okay here we go

spanish until i could speak and understand, same for french

computer sci classes - to master matlab, java, c++, etc

discrete math, and upper level math/simulation type stuff

different levels of econ - learn about markets and options

majored in engineering

architecture

I like history but I'm not sure whether majoring in it would be fun. Liberal arts classes are usually really prof/TA dependent. Do you think so? Science is pretty much science.
 
I had really wanted to take Neuro or CardioPhys but had a full courseload right up until graduation (dual major).

I really enjoyed my art classes (minor) as well as Medicinal Chem. 👍
 
more philosophy. its just flat-out interesting and would have been a nice way to make my mind think in a less-technical manner. i took one class as a freshman but then none after that.

wine-tasting. essentially university-sanctioned drinking in the middle of the day (technically, drinking the wine is discouraged, but people do it anyway). i tried in get the class this semester, but it fills up like two minutes after registration opens. edit: also, i could definitely stand to be a little more cultured.

bowling. i like bowling, but i can never talk people into going so i figured this way i would get to go once a week regardless of other people. i tried signing up for this one this semester also, but i couldn't get it.

history/anthropology. my roommate is a history major (we discuss this type of stuff alot) and i will watch just about anything on the history channel. more particularly, i would want to study ancient civilizations. oh well, there are electives in med school, right?🙄
 
I would essentially agree with all the people who seem to be recommending random "enriching" classes. If your going to medical school stay away from any physiology style class, blech, it will be coming out your ears in no time.

Art history was really good especially if, like me, you have all the artistic talent of a ******ed chimpanzee but enjoy art nonetheless, also is usually interesting in terms of what was going on in the world concurrent with various artistic movements
I also took another English class just cause I knew there was no other time in my life that I would read something like "Paradise Lost" with any sort of desire to actually understand what was going on.

Similarly I wouldn't of minded a Poli-Sci or History class covering some general topic or time period I found interesting.
 
Defintely wld suggest taking an ethics (medical or otherwise) class, and some sort of business/Financial planning kinda class. Wld help in the long run...
 
Intro to Religion...I've always thought it would be cool to learn about all the religions of the world. I find it really interesting. The best decision I made was to forego Organic one semester to take Intro to Programming (Java). Lots of fun programming a pong game 😀
 
A lot of it depends on the professors - at my school there is a religion professor that everyone absolutely LOVES regardless of what he teaches. So go find out who the favorite profs are and just take their classes.

Other than that I would take a history or music or art history or dance class. I'm actually in a Roman Art class right now for my minor and it's easily my favorite.
 
Well, I love to learn things about gov't and law.

Thus, I wish I had more scheduling time to take "The American Presidency."

I heard it had raving reviews.
 
eschaton88 said:
A lot of it depends on the professors - at my school there is a religion professor that everyone absolutely LOVES regardless of what he teaches. So go find out who the favorite profs are and just take their classes.

Other than that I would take a history or music or art history or dance class. I'm actually in a Roman Art class right now for my minor and it's easily my favorite.
Click to expand...

exactly what i was going to say, art and dances classes have kept me sane throughout undergrad and i wish i could have taken more of them.
 
Psychology of sex and the sociology of Murder.


😀

Except I am actually taking those right now so no regret here....🙄
 
Medical Terminology
 
if you have the math background, ordinary differential equations is a LOT of fun. if you're more on the humanities side, art history is great as well. also i've been trying to take creative writing for the longest time but can never fit it into my schedule!
 
journalism is so ridic nowadays, i wish i could have taken more of those courses. interesting stuff

my school didn't really have a CO-OP program (i think those are mostly for quarter programs?), but i wish i took some random intern ****

actually i wish i was on the "Real World'
 
I'd recommend any personal finance classes, perhaps a beginning accounting class (gives a good intro to business stuff), or world religions.
 
I'm am scheduled to take Seven Deadly Sins but I might have to drop it do to being too busy 🙁

I also wanted to take Toxins and Poisons
 
Film studies would have been a fun class to take.

I agree that ballroom dancing was way too hard to get into. There were only 10 spots for women and 10 for men.

Computer programming is relatively easy for me, but I know a lot of people that struggle in it. If you can approach it as a language rather than a math class, I think you'd be fine.
 
My school didn't offer Immunology, but I wish I had taken it somewhere else/over the summer. It would have made my grad school life a LOT easier, plus it's just cool.

I also wish I'd taken more Religious Studies classes. I probably would have double-majored if I'd figured out how interesting they were before my junior year.

And econ.
 
The class I wish I had NOT taken was Physical Chemistry. Group learning + lab partner who actually NAPPED during lab = no fun and absolutely no gain in knowledge, whatsoever.
 
Wow, all awesome suggestions...I have definitely taken ethics classes (and I've enjoyed them) but haven't done Art History yet. Perhaps that might be something to look into...

Keep them coming, thanks!
 
I was literally ROFLing reading this list - come on guys, whats with all the extra science?

Some others:

History of Espionage

Europe 1900-1950

Mythology

Industrial Organization (Econ)

Some Religious Studies classes - I hear they are awesome.

I wish I had changed my bio minor to a art history minor...

EDIT: I'm in art history now, and it's by far my favorite class this semester. I HIGHLY recommend it, even if you want to take it Pass/Fail because it's a lot of memorization (even compared to science classes!)
 
Dr Gerrard said:
Seriously? You guys seem so boring. Upper level math, quantum chemistry, embryology, those don't sound fun at all (obviously it is all relative, but still).

I came into college with a good bit of AP credit. Go with philosophy classes, medical ethics or ethics overall. They are really interesting, discussion based classes, that you will have a good time in.

Or try and take business classes, that can be very helpful in the future (I think, whether or not you decide to open up a private practice).

I managed to major in Biochemistry, while minoring in both philosophy and business administration. The only thing I wish I had changed was maybe do a history major rather than biochemistry.
Click to expand...

Quantum chemistry was fun! 🙂

Also, I was just mentioning what courses I wish I had taken. I was a humanities major, and took mostly "fun/exciting" courses like playwriting, religious studies, spirituality, art history, philosophy, literature, guitar, gardening, scene painting and design, space sciences, art, art, and more art, etc. etc.

Personally, I think if you want to be a clinician, you might be best served by majoring in or at least taking as many humanities courses as possible. I would say they might not be as helpful if you want to go into research, since it seems like a biochem major might be of more use, but the PI I worked for at UCSF who's pretty much at the top of her field was an English literature major. (Maybe it helps for writing grants? Add a little Shakespeare perhaps?) My guess is she's in the minority though.

But I do think we can relate better to your patients if we have a broad education. We learn the biochem, genetics, etc, that are medically relevent, in medical school, so I think it helps to learn the things in undergrad that we won't learn in medical school.

Like quantum chemistry 🙂
 
My major was Medical Humanities so I got to take a bunch of classes I'm glad I took. I loved Bioethics, Philosophy and Medicine, Christian Ethics, Moral Philosophy, Christian Sprituality and Healthcare, Literary and Philosophical Perspectives on Medicine...
Awesome, I went to Baylor so that explains the Christian heavy perspective, but I also took World Religions.
 
Magus said:
Wow, all awesome suggestions...I have definitely taken ethics classes (and I've enjoyed them) but haven't done Art History yet. Perhaps that might be something to look into...

Keep them coming, thanks!
Click to expand...

Take medieval art--cathedrals, manuscripts, Latin, and medieval monsters are great! But beware the Blemmyes :scared:
 
tom1504 said:
if you have the math background, ordinary differential equations is a LOT of fun. if you're more on the humanities side, art history is great as well. also i've been trying to take creative writing for the longest time but can never fit it into my schedule!
Click to expand...

wow. i can honestly say i have never heard anyone say this before.
 
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