Winter term

Dancing Physicist isn't as sure about transferring as I thought he was, and I'm not sure what I'm doing for next term either. I have a nonnegotiable core of ten credits - chemistry, lab, and calculus - but the remaining 4-8 credits are up for debate.

I'll be continuing in calculus and honors chemistry. I'm hoping to take the advanced lab next term, but either way it's a two-credit lab with lecture at three on Monday, so until I actually get to registration I'm not worrying about that.

For the remaining credits, then - one thing to consider is I want to take a writing class this year. I don't have to take it winter term, but that's what I was planning for a long time. The geography class I thought was scheduled for next term actually isn't even offered this year, so that's off the table. The other thing I was thinking about was a freshman seminar - there are a couple of cool-looking ones. There are also many courses marked in my guidebook that I thought would be interesting. They include a selection from anthropology, psychology, environmental studies, and probably some others but the book is really long and I didn't want to look through all of it.

Today though, I learned about another opportunity which would replace all of that with a 6-credit bundle. I am taking women's studies currently in a class of about 100 from a professor, with GTFs leading 25-person discussions. In the next two terms, I learned, the GTFs will each teach a class of about 25 and students who've already taken the class will facilitate even smaller discussions. I could apply and if chosen, I would get 4 credits for attending the class and facilitating the discussion, plus 2 credits for an attached class on pedagogy.

It seems like WGS facilitation would be interesting, challenging, and a unique experience. The problem is it precludes me from taking writing or any electives. I wanted to explore a lot of topics and broaden my mind this year - taking women's studies in the first place was a step in that direction, but continuing to focus there would be contrary to my purpose.

Now that I've thought about it a bit, probably the best course is to take electives this term but keep considering the WGS option for spring term. Still, my thought on it is far from finished.