I have had priority registration since my freshman year because Campus Tourguides have a special privilege of getting to sign up for classes early to ensure our availability during tour times. The thing is, when I can take any possible class and none of them are full, I have a really hard time narrowing it down to what I want to take and end up always signing up for 1 or 2 classes that I don’t really need or want and then I have to scramble at the beginning of the new quarter to find replacements.
With winter quarter, I ended up disliking 2 of my classes. I was lucky in one point because I had planned to do independent research with a professor, so one of the classes would be covered by that once I got the appropriate approval. Attending a Literature class the first day, I realized there was no way I would want to take the course (it was a Monday/Wednesday/Friday class where all my others were Tuesday/Thursday-4 day weekends, it’s not really a question of what I should do).
So there I was with Politics of European Integration (professor is incredibly dry but the subject is interesting), Intro to Contemporary Dance, and independent research. Looking at Sociology courses of which I needed 2 more to complete my degree, I found a special topics seminar called Sociology of Conservative College Students. Now I am very liberal in my political views so I thought this would be a great opportunity to expand my knowledge and pull some of my beliefs into question and either re-affirm them or make me reconsider. Thus far I’ve done nothing but re-affirm my perspectives, but I do feel much more equipped to understand what viewpoints that some of my peers may have.
My dance class is great-I feel like an antelope many mornings as we leap across the room or roll around on the floor. It’s a lot of fun and while many ask how it is that this can be a college class, I think awareness of ones body and the way movements can and are interpreted are valuable life skills. My research is Incredible. Really absolutely great. I am doing studies of the social dynamics of two innovative industries in San Diego, stem cell research and algae for biofuels. I am doing all of my own research and my advisor believes this is the first study of its kind for each of the industries. My case studies will be added to a report that my advisor was commissioned to do by the American Research Institute in Sydney, Australia that looks at the larger San Diego innovative community to highlight the key factors (social ties, government support, proximity of research institutions) that make innovative companies want to establish themselves in San Diego. We’ve had some interesting findings and I am very honored by the amount of respect and faith my advisor has in me for my research. He looks at me like the specialist and often emails me with questions and information he finds to ask my perspective. It feels pretty great to be asked by my advisor for my opinion.
Next quarter looks like it too will be interesting though again I am not sure that I’ll stay in all the classes that I’m signed up for. Right now they are…
Literature of Chaucer-the English poet. I’m interested but don’t know how I feel about staying in it.
Product Marketing and Management-I’ve heard great referrals for this class and the professor so it should be great!
Urban Sociology, the description being “introduces students to the major approaches in the sociological study of cities and to what a sociological analysis can add to our understanding of urban processes.”
Sociology of Knowledge described as “a general introduction to the development of the sociology of knowledge, and will explore questions concerning social determination of consciousness as well as theoretical ways to articulate a critique of ideology.”
It was really tough to choose my classes this quarter as there were tons of really interesting ones-I definitely found myself looking at the professors to ensure I was choosing ones who have a big reputation to go with the interesting course so that I’ll be hearing from specialists in the field. We’ll see if that way of choosing helps!
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