In college what are general classes?

What classes did you take during your freshman year of college?

• As the semester is nearing a close, I think I've done alright in my classes, but I feel like I'm much less stimulated intellectually here than I was in high school. I'm thinking that it may be because of the classes I've taken. I took physics, calc 2, chinese, linguistics, and comp sci this semester. I'm a bio/physics double major, and I think that my favorite class was probably a mix between chinese and comp sci. I understood the concepts in my math and physics classes but I feel like they were just taught so..blandly. Anyway, I am curious what classes you took during your first year of college and what you thought about them and how they influenced your future choices. It doesn't matter what your major is. What classes helped you grow as a person the most while in college? I love english and philosophy also and I will be trying to find a way to fit those into my schedule next semester. Hopefully that will make my uni experience more interesting. Thanks!

• Answer:

  I was a PreLaw - Political Science major, with an Economics minor. first semester: PoliSci 150 (Intro to American Politics, the major's section); Rhet 108; Math 134 (Calculus for Social Sciences); and Span 101. Second Semester: Span 102; Math 244 (Calculus for Social Science II); PoliSci 280 (Intro to International Relations); Econ 101; PE 230 (Basketball Coaching, with 4 future NBA players in the back row). I found Rhet to be very valuable, as I came from a small school with solid grammar background but not much in the way of writing experience. The PE class taught me about the politics of teaching (because so many players were in the class, we got a TA instead of one of the assistant basketball coaches who traditionally taught the class - and the TA never played competitive basketball at any level - and it was apparent that the 7 basketball players and all the football players in the class were going to get A's, screwing up the curve massively). PoliSci 150 taught me, after several study sessions with other students in the section, that it was my major - because I actually understood what was going on, while many people seemed befuddled by it. The section for majors was way more difficult than the non-major section; it was the flunkout class for polisci majors, meant to scare people off. The class focused more on why things happened, rather than a recitation of what happened. Some people just did not get it. My biggest learning experience was probably first semester sophomore year - when I took Chem 107-109, the section usually reserved for the science and engineering majors - because I figured that if I tested into that class, it was the one I should take. And I promptly got buried. What I learned is that even though the class for majors was harder, and you in theory learned more, I probably would have learned more from "Chem for Artists or Social Scientists" than I would from sitting with the Engineers. Its one thing to learn basic, fundamental knowledge, rather than try and understand theoretical stuff. And you will never remember the theory stuff, but will remember the general concepts. So why stuff your head with minute details, rather than the basics? Like polisci, don't ask why, just memorize the fundamental facts...