2008 Woodie Awards
Confessions of a college student
Kelleen Nolan
Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: Opinion
As you know, it is the time of year again when we choose our doom…I mean, classes, for next year. This will be my fifth experience of choosing my college classes, and I have tried many different combinations of classes. Allow me to give some useful advice from my (and other's) experience.
First and foremost, do NOT try and put all your classes into two days. I tried this-I confess I thought I was a genius. 16 credits of classes on Tuesday and Thursday only? This is fantastic! A four-day weekend, plus a day of break between them! But trust me, not fun. I do not get a lunch-period. 10 minutes between classes does not allot much time for food. Also, if your homework isn't done before you go to classes for the day, it will not get done. No exceptions. You may think you can get things done in your other classes, but you can't.
But that four-day weekend-you can get things done then, right? Maybe. But if you have a job and you foolishly tell them you have a four-day weekend (as I did) Friday and Monday will be filled in with a longer workday. Possibly eight-hour workdays, after which you will be in no mood or condition to work on anything, except a monstrous hangover. Simply put, a two-day school week does not give you more free-time. It will just create alcohol dependency and a higher stress rate.
Secondly, don't take too many of the same kind of class. For example, do not take more than 10 hours of lab. You may be thinking, "Who would be stupid enough to take 10 hours of lab?" or you may be saying, "I can handle it." I tell you, that 11th hour will kill you. And for all the Lib-arts majors, it's just as bad. Too much creativity being pulled out of you daily is terribly draining. I took three different types of English class in one semester, and it was enough to make my head spin. I also took five (count 'em five) writing emphasis classes this semester, which was also a huge mistake. Spread them out.
Third, do not get all your Gen-Eds. out of the way right away. It may be tempting-after all, Gen-Edss are not why you came here, right? Those pesky little "forced-activities" can be your saving grace. In the midst of being overloaded the subject you plan to do for the REST OF YOUR LIFE are little blips of the outside world. Just like your childhood, you'll miss them when they're gone.
The rest of my advice is pretty obvious: find out about the professors beforehand, (you don't want to get one who doesn't teach the way you need them to), make sure you DO get your prerequisites out of the way for the higher levels you want to take, and make sure to take some classes you actually want to take. After all, college is supposed to be fun.
First and foremost, do NOT try and put all your classes into two days. I tried this-I confess I thought I was a genius. 16 credits of classes on Tuesday and Thursday only? This is fantastic! A four-day weekend, plus a day of break between them! But trust me, not fun. I do not get a lunch-period. 10 minutes between classes does not allot much time for food. Also, if your homework isn't done before you go to classes for the day, it will not get done. No exceptions. You may think you can get things done in your other classes, but you can't.
But that four-day weekend-you can get things done then, right? Maybe. But if you have a job and you foolishly tell them you have a four-day weekend (as I did) Friday and Monday will be filled in with a longer workday. Possibly eight-hour workdays, after which you will be in no mood or condition to work on anything, except a monstrous hangover. Simply put, a two-day school week does not give you more free-time. It will just create alcohol dependency and a higher stress rate.
Secondly, don't take too many of the same kind of class. For example, do not take more than 10 hours of lab. You may be thinking, "Who would be stupid enough to take 10 hours of lab?" or you may be saying, "I can handle it." I tell you, that 11th hour will kill you. And for all the Lib-arts majors, it's just as bad. Too much creativity being pulled out of you daily is terribly draining. I took three different types of English class in one semester, and it was enough to make my head spin. I also took five (count 'em five) writing emphasis classes this semester, which was also a huge mistake. Spread them out.
Third, do not get all your Gen-Eds. out of the way right away. It may be tempting-after all, Gen-Edss are not why you came here, right? Those pesky little "forced-activities" can be your saving grace. In the midst of being overloaded the subject you plan to do for the REST OF YOUR LIFE are little blips of the outside world. Just like your childhood, you'll miss them when they're gone.
The rest of my advice is pretty obvious: find out about the professors beforehand, (you don't want to get one who doesn't teach the way you need them to), make sure you DO get your prerequisites out of the way for the higher levels you want to take, and make sure to take some classes you actually want to take. After all, college is supposed to be fun.
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