The Crucible
The conundrum of spring semester course selection looms before me, and I feel backed into a corner. For one thing, because Austin College is a liberal arts college, there are certain prerequisite courses from various disciplines that must be taken in addition to those to allow one to "feel around" for a major. Because I am also in a pre-professional program, that further spells out which courses I may take. Pre-med prerequisites include 2 years of Biology, 1 year General Chemistry, 1 year Organic Chemistry, 1 year General Physics, .5 year Calculus, and 1 year English. However, what ultimately rules this decision is my registration time: 11:55. GAH. I know I shall have to take Biology 116 and Chemistry 112; both of those are offered either from 8-8:50 and 9-9:50 MWF, so those two courses are locked as far as my schedule is concerned. Each carries a lab, a fact that further complicates matters. My supposition is that the afternoon lab classes will fill up first based upon reactions of many individuals to morning classes this semester. Biology and Chemistry labs are offered TWTH in the mornings and afternoons; from my line of reasoning thus far, I'll probably end up with morning time slots. I don't like that for several reasons. Primarily, I want to sample widely the college's hors d'oeuvres so as to determine in what I'd like to specialize. My C/I professor suggested a balance of vocational and mental aspirations, and I'd say he's right. For one thing, I'd like to keep up with Spanish. I placed into the Advanced Spanish Course, 236, for which two times are available: MW 11-12:30 and TTH 9:30-10:50; I'm banking on the former at present if indeed I'm right and I'm stuck with a morning lab course. Psychology is something else in which I'k like to invest time at some point, but the only time for which I can sign up is MWF 10-10:50. There is also an Ultimate Frisbee class
next semester that will count for my .25 Lifetime Sports credit; however, it is TTH 10-10:50, which again conflicts with potential labs. There is a Calculus class that meets from 3-4:20 MWF, so I would say I could safely pursure that. There is also an English--Interpreting Literature--from 1:30-2:50 MW that could be stimulating. My C/I professor also recommended a philosophy course as a possibility, as he believes the subject and I would be on the same wavelength, and again I would concur with him. There is an Intro to Philosophy class 11-12:30 MW, which conflicts with Spanish, and a Chinese Philosophy from 9:30-10:50 TTH, which would conflict with aforementioned lab and Ultimate Frisbee. Also, a business course somewhere would definitely be to my advantage, but the prospect of fitting one into my already convoluted mix of purposed subjects looks rather bleak. It all comes down to my registration time, the agent that, most likely, will auger my doom next semester. How utterly frustrating this all is. I have found I miss having 6-7 mandatory subjects to study, hence probably my desire to branch out into disparate studies.