The Daily Pennsylvanian :: Ali Jackson | A pre-registration cheat sheet

Look at yourself. Sitting there, calmly reading a newspaper, not a care in the world.

Well, news flash: your future is calling, and it hangs up on April 1. Ladies and gentleman, hold onto your hats: pre-registration starts today.

If you're like me, you probably haven't given this a second thought after deleting an e-mail from that advisor you've never met. Next semester seems distant and besides, you have three (two? one?!) years to meet those pesky requirements.

But who are you kidding, we all know you're going to take the same old things everyone does. Suppose you want to mix it up - take something interesting, enlightening and off the beaten path. Well, my friends (and by 'friends,' I of course mean people I've never met), have I got the solution for you.

I spent the last week talking to students and professors from all majors and departments and have compiled a list of lesser-known classes that fulfill general requirements. Consider it your pre-registration cheat sheet . enjoy.

Sector I: Society

Psychology 170: "Social Psychology." Let's face it - you took Psych 001 with the rest of your freshman class, so you're eligible for this class. If learning how to attract a spouse (or that cute girl sitting next to you), why no one talks in an elevator or what exactly compelled you to crowd surf when your friends told you to sounds interesting, then Psych 170 would suit you perfectly.

Sector II: History and Tradition

Linguistics 115: "Writing Systems." Not your typical history class, it examines how language has evolved from ancient times to today. Now, before you fall asleep, hear me out. Associate professor Gene Buckley, who will teach this class in the fall, said, "It's a different perspective on history, not talking about rulers or political turmoil."

In other words, forget about memorizing names and dates. Instead, you can study ancient Egyptian and modern Japanese. But don't worry - "It's really fun," Buckley said.

Sector III: Arts and Letters

Urban Studies 244: "Metropolis: Culture of the City." Ever want to relate Seinfeld to life? Associate professor Catriona MacLeod said, "We look at the seen-it-all attitude of the Seinfeld characters and how it relates to the way people in cities see life." Film screenings and class readings tie together to look at the growth in cities in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Music 021: "Introduction to the History of Music." Don't let the title of this class scare you - Music 021 is more about analyzing music and learning how to recognize stylistic elements than memorization. College sophomore David Joseph said, "It's a must-take for anyone. . It gives you a solid idea of what to look for when you're listening to music." And best of all, "You can really impress people with your knowledge later on," he exclaimed.

Sector IV: Formal Reasoning and Analysis

Sociology 120: "Social Statistics." While many people (including myself) run screaming from anything involving the word 'statistics,' this class could be incredibly useful for any major. College junior Chris Falcone said he still uses the material from this class in all his coursework. Of the professor, Camille Charles, he said, "She was interesting and communicated the material well." And for all you exam-phobes, get this: There are no tests!

Sector V: The Living World

Like I said, you already took Psychology 001. And if you haven't, what are you waiting for? Just make sure to go to class (not just read) or you'll be surprised on the exam.

Best Wharton course

OPIM 291: "Negotiations." One phone conversation with Legal Studies and Business Ethics professor Kenneth Shropshire and I was convinced that I must take this class. "It's one of the most fun classes to teach," he said. "You have the chance to get to know students."

This class allows you to interact with your classmates in exercises that build your negotiation skills for the real world. "I try to get them in the frame of the mind that anyone can be good at this," Shropshire says. "It's a class where you get out what you put in."

Maybe if I got an entire newspaper to myself I could rave about all of the great classes I came across during my research. For now, I'll leave you with some honorable mentions: Anthropology 102; English 091; Theater Arts 100; Philosophy, Politics, & Economics 110; Music 070; Comparative Literature 240; Philosophy 225; and Legal Studies 207.

Still not satisfied? Try actually reading the course catalog - you'd be surprised what random things you'll find hidden in there. Who knows, maybe you'll even find your dignity from that time you took Rocks for Jocks.

Ali Jackson is a Wharton and College sophomore from Cardiff, Calif. Her e-mail address is jackson@dailypennsylvanian.com. A Little Person-Ali-ty appears on Mondays.

Comments (6)

Just because some undergrads are an unfocused mess who wouldn't blink an eye at the concept of wasting their valuable time and money taking nonsense like "social psychology" and "metropolis" doesn't mean we all are. It continues to be an insult that every single one of us should take time out of our schedule and jump through idiotic hoops to meet some moronic ideal of "well-roundedness" just because some left-wing academic in the Women's Studies department thinks we need to "celebrate diversity" or some stupid thing like that. The General Requirement is sixteen courses. If you have a silly and arcane College major like math (God, who would even consider majoring in math, it doesn't even have anything to do with left-wing politics), you spend a full 50% of your time taking other fiddle and crap. Does that make sense?

[QUOTE id="44e1d7bd-4c1f-4193-a414-3a4649fe92ef"]Just because some undergrads are an unfocused mess who wouldn't blink an eye at the concept of wasting their valuable time and money taking nonsense like "social psychology" and "metropolis" doesn't mean we all are. It continues to be an insult that every single one of us should take time out of our schedule and jump through idiotic hoops to meet some moronic ideal of "well-roundedness" just because some left-wing academic in the Women's Studies department thinks we need to "celebrate diversity" or some stupid thing like that. The General Requirement is sixteen courses. If you have a silly and arcane College major like math (God, who would even consider majoring in math, it doesn't even have anything to do with left-wing politics), you spend a full 50% of your time taking other fiddle and crap. Does that make sense?[/QUOTE] I agree. A university of today should spent less time trying to make us into model (ie. cookie-cutter) citizens and let us use our opportunity for scholarship and learning to become the kind of citizens we want to be. Many people who are opposed to the cultural diversity requirement that was being floated about last year (I don't know if it was implemented or not for the new freshmen) are labeled as generic white people who don't care about other cultures when this isn't necessarily the case at all. I study a foreign language (Spanish) and yet this doesn't mean that I feel that all immigration laws are bad (which is a strange natural presumption many spanish students have & imagine all other spanish students share their politics) or that people should be forced to take classes dealing with other cultures. I do so because I care. If others don't, I'm not going to make them, just as I wish they wouldn't make me study calculus. Some people just can't separate the value of becoming a learned person through one's own liberty and volition from the the primitive urge to domineer over others, molding & shaping their values to match one's own. This is because they put their politics (which should be the result of their learning, not the prerequisite) first and try to organize all of their education around it. That's not an education at all. It's a confirmation of preconceived notions.

You are both missing the author's point. Note that in the column she never once mentions whether or not Penn SHOULD have general requirements; rather, she accepts as fact (which it is, and besides, plenty of stories have been written on this subhect) and moves on. She is actually advocating the same thing you are -- students shouldn't be forced to take things that they don't like in the interest of "well-roundedness", as you put it. To that end, she is trying to help students find classes they'll enjoy while still conforming to the rules that Penn has set out for us.

[QUOTE id="2cba6cb4-7d69-464b-a899-fb7e8edb1aff"]You are both missing the author's point. Note that in the column she never once mentions whether or not Penn SHOULD have general requirements; rather, she accepts as fact (which it is, and besides, plenty of stories have been written on this subhect) and moves on. She is actually advocating the same thing you are -- students shouldn't be forced to take things that they don't like in the interest of "well-roundedness", as you put it. To that end, she is trying to help students find classes they'll enjoy while still conforming to the rules that Penn has set out for us.[/QUOTE] I personally got the point (that she is starting from the presumption that there already are core requirements) but chose instead to comment on a deeper issue at stake here, not attack the columnist herself or her views.

Nice article- really refreshing.

You are tarnishing the reputation of the paper. Quit now before the damage is permanent and the DP turns into a shit rag like the crimson

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