College Courses You Wish You Had Taken

[DukieInKansas]

eta - oops, I forgot the quote - this is in response to Lavabe

I graduated in 1982 and we had to have 2 PE classes - one during Fresh/Soph years and one during Jr/Sr years. I overachieved and took 3 - Ballroom dancing, Tension Control (we met in the mat room and one day the entire class fell asleep), and endurance swimming (we had killer games of water polo after our hour swim days - swim as far as you can in 1 hour and then try to drown each other in the deep end for 20 minutes or so.)

[CathyCA]

Physics and some sort of creative writing course, maybe acting too, heck any theater course.

Sorry for you folks who regretted statistics. Was my dad your professor?

Your dad wasn't my stats professor. You were one of the people who told me that I wouldn't have any problem with stats when I was making my course decisions. Obviously, you thought that I had greater capabilities than I possessed. I went to every class, did all the homework, attended office hours, and still couldn't understand the material. This guy didn't know how to convey the subject matter to his students. I was never so happy in my life to PASS a class. I got a D+ in Statistics. ExLax, who was (and still is) a brilliant engineer got a C under the same teacher.

My stats teacher was a sloppy grad student who owned only 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts and 2 hats. Our stats class engaged in a parlor game of sorts before each class: guess which combination of clothing the teacher is going to wear today. The grad student was brilliant, but he couldn't teach worth a flip.

On a related note, I used to get so mad at Duke (and Wake Forest, too!) when they'd let good TEACHERS go, but let mediocre or poor teachers stay because of the politics involved within the various departments.

[Lavabe]

eta - oops, I forgot the quote - this is in response to Lavabe

I graduated in 1982 and we had to have 2 PE classes - one during Fresh/Soph years and one during Jr/Sr years. I overachieved and took 3 - Ballroom dancing, Tension Control (we met in the mat room and one day the entire class fell asleep), and endurance swimming (we had killer games of water polo after our hour swim days - swim as far as you can in 1 hour and then try to drown each other in the deep end for 20 minutes or so.)

Ergo, either the general requirements changed for my class, or ...

OH DEAR LORD...

I HAVE TO GIVE BACK MY DIPLOMA!!!

... or maybe my memory is finally failing. I just don't recall taking a PE class at Duke.

[CathyCA]

eta - oops, I forgot the quote - this is in response to Lavabe

I graduated in 1982 and we had to have 2 PE classes - one during Fresh/Soph years and one during Jr/Sr years. I overachieved and took 3 - Ballroom dancing, Tension Control (we met in the mat room and one day the entire class fell asleep), and endurance swimming (we had killer games of water polo after our hour swim days - swim as far as you can in 1 hour and then try to drown each other in the deep end for 20 minutes or so.)

Ergo, either the general requirements changed for my class, or ...

OH DEAR LORD...

I HAVE TO GIVE BACK MY DIPLOMA!!!

... or maybe my memory is finally failing. I just don't recall taking a PE class at Duke.

I was in the class right behind yours, Lavabe, and we didn't have a PE requirement. I took an aerobic dance class, but that was for fun.

[DukieInKansas]

eta - oops, I forgot the quote - this is in response to Lavabe

I graduated in 1982 and we had to have 2 PE classes - one during Fresh/Soph years and one during Jr/Sr years. I overachieved and took 3 - Ballroom dancing, Tension Control (we met in the mat room and one day the entire class fell asleep), and endurance swimming (we had killer games of water polo after our hour swim days - swim as far as you can in 1 hour and then try to drown each other in the deep end for 20 minutes or so.)

Ergo, either the general requirements changed for my class, or ...

OH DEAR LORD...

I HAVE TO GIVE BACK MY DIPLOMA!!!

... or maybe my memory is finally failing. I just don't recall taking a PE class at Duke.

- it will be our secret. At least the classes were pass/fail.

[bjornolf]

Physics and some sort of creative writing course, maybe acting too, heck any theater course.

Sorry for you folks who regretted statistics. Was my dad your professor?

Your dad wasn't my stats professor. You were one of the people who told me that I wouldn't have any problem with stats when I was making my course decisions. Obviously, you thought that I had greater capabilities than I possessed. I went to every class, did all the homework, attended office hours, and still couldn't understand the material. This guy didn't know how to convey the subject matter to his students. I was never so happy in my life to PASS a class. I got a D+ in Statistics. ExLax, who was (and still is) a brilliant engineer got a C under the same teacher.

My stats teacher was a sloppy grad student who owned only 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts and 2 hats. Our stats class engaged in a parlor game of sorts before each class: guess which combination of clothing the teacher is going to wear today. The grad student was brilliant, but he couldn't teach worth a flip.

On a related note, I used to get so mad at Duke (and Wake Forest, too!) when they'd let good TEACHERS go, but let mediocre or poor teachers stay because of the politics involved within the various departments.

You should have done an extra credit project on a statistical analysis of his clothing. ;) Probably could have made some money betting with your classmates too.

[wilson]

I loved the classes I took outside my major - I wish I had taken more science. Do they still have the PE requirements?

No more requirements, but still a robust set of PE offerings. That reminds me of two more of my favorite classes at Duke, which I also took in my last semester...half a credit each, fly fishing and horseback riding.

Man, that was a great semester.

[colchar]

I wish I had taken some anthro courses. Not social but physical anthro courses.

[Lavabe]

I wish I had taken some anthro courses. Not social but physical anthro courses.

Awww geee.

[Bostondevil]

Your dad wasn't my stats professor. You were one of the people who told me that I wouldn't have any problem with stats when I was making my course decisions.

Oops! Sorry about that but I have to agree with you that it must have been the teacher. I still think you can handle a statistics class, a good one anyway!

[colchar]

I wish I had taken some anthro courses. Not social but physical anthro courses.

Awww geee.

I've always thought it would be cool to have taken anthro - at least some courses. Kind of like the history that I did major in but with some more scientific stuff thrown in. I'm not sure I could handle cultural anthro though. I hate cultural historians with a passion and think cultural anthorpologists would drive me just as nuts.

[Lavabe]

I wish I had taken some anthro courses. Not social but physical anthro courses.

Awww geee.

I've always thought it would be cool to have taken anthro - at least some courses. Kind of like the history that I did major in but with some more scientific stuff thrown in. I'm not sure I could handle cultural anthro though. I hate cultural historians with a passion and think cultural anthorpologists would drive me just as nuts.

Are you at or near Western Ontario? I have friends/colleagues there with whom you could have some fun discussion (and maybe a brew or two).

I'd be careful about painting the culturals with such a broad brush, especially given the complaint about cultural historians. I work with a cultural ecology/political ecology type, and it has completely revolutionized how I do my field work. I know the type of folks you're talking about, but cultural anthro is SUCH a diverse field. I should also point out that archaeology is also WAY cool.

Of course, I might be just a bit biased towards physical anthro.

[colchar]

Are you at or near Western Ontario? I have friends/colleagues there with whom you could have some fun discussion (and maybe a brew or two).

Yep. Western is about an hour west of where I am. Actually, a friend who was over last night has a sister who works as a researcher in one of their science labs (something to do with MS research) and I'll be seeing that sister at a BBQ this Sunday. I have a ton of friends and acquaintances who attended, or are attending, Western.

ETA: I am actually at McMaster. I did my undergrad at the University of Waterloo, my Master's at Wilfrid Laurier University, and the PhD at Mac.

I'd be careful about painting the culturals with such a broad brush, especially given the complaint about cultural historians.

My attitude is most likely colored by my interactions with cultural historians who are a special breed and who, for the most part, drive me nuts (I'm talking here of those cultural historians who study Britain and/or the British empire as those are the ones with whom I have had the most interaction).

[ArkieDukie]

A statistics class would be very helpful in my current job. In fact, I'm thinking about taking a statistics class in all my free time.

I was lucky; I got to take all sorts of fun classes as an undergrad - many of them were for distribution requirements. My two faves were Recent American History and Shakespeare. My one big regret is that I didn't get to take any upper level French classes due to scheduling conflicts. My undergrad institution was on trimesters, and all of the upper level French classes were in the afternoon. I had labs in the afternoon. I wasn't a huge fan of Calc III, but Differential Equations was a cool and useful class. (The prof who taught the class named all of his empty sets Reagan!)

[wilson]

During my Duke era, we were all required to take two science courses. I opted for two non-major courses, Forensics (ballistics, arson investigation, accident reconstruction, etc.) and the Biology of Dinosaurs. Both of them were an awful lot of fun.

My math class, however, sucked butt. I took the intro Computer Science class with a terrible professor and hated every second of it. I was a member of the first class at Duke (at least the first one for some time) that didn't have the option of dropping one of the section requirement.

[colchar]

I took the intro Computer Science class with a terrible professor and hated every second of it.

I also took a shitty comp sci course as an undergrad (an intro to computers type class) and it really fucked me. When I graduated I missed the Dean's List by 0.3% and, had I not taken that computer class, I would've made it onto the list. Luckily, grad schools only cared about the average in our majors and mine was more than enough to get me in. But I'm still pissed that I took that comp sci course as it woulda been nice to have the Dean's List notation on my parchment.

[wilson]

I took the intro Computer Science class with a terrible professor and hated every second of it.

I also took a shitty comp sci course as an undergrad (an intro to computers type class) and it really fucked me. When I graduated I missed the Dean's List by 0.3% and, had I not taken that computer class, I would've made it onto the list. Luckily, grad schools only cared about the average in our majors and mine was more than enough to get me in. But I'm still pissed that I took that comp sci course as it woulda been nice to have the Dean's List notation on my parchment.

Yeah, I missed graduating cum laude by not much at all.
I'm still pissed that I drank those last 600 or so beers.

[DukieInKansas]

I took the intro Computer Science class with a terrible professor and hated every second of it.

I also took a shitty comp sci course as an undergrad (an intro to computers type class) and it really fucked me. When I graduated I missed the Dean's List by 0.3% and, had I not taken that computer class, I would've made it onto the list. Luckily, grad schools only cared about the average in our majors and mine was more than enough to get me in. But I'm still pissed that I took that comp sci course as it woulda been nice to have the Dean's List notation on my parchment.

Yeah, I missed graduating cum laude by not much at all.
I'm still pissed that I drank those last 600 or so beers.

I've heard that beer can cause you to piss.

[Lavabe]

I took the intro Computer Science class with a terrible professor and hated every second of it.

I also took a shitty comp sci course as an undergrad (an intro to computers type class) and it really fucked me. When I graduated I missed the Dean's List by 0.3% and, had I not taken that computer class, I would've made it onto the list. Luckily, grad schools only cared about the average in our majors and mine was more than enough to get me in. But I'm still pissed that I took that comp sci course as it woulda been nice to have the Dean's List notation on my parchment.

I had the ultimate insult GPA ... 2.999.

Significant digits matter to most folks; registrars are not most folks.

[Lavabe]

I was a member of the first class at Duke (at least the first one for some time) that didn't have the option of dropping one of the section requirement.

We didn't have that option when I graduated in 1983.

I wish we had the mulligan option for one course... a do-over. I failed intro to physics for physics majors in my opening semester at Duke.