Oberlin Blogs

My schedule: in flux

May 24, 2009

Zoe McLaughlin ’11

This week, I got an e-mail saying I was accepted into the fiction workshop offered by the creative writing department. After a celebratory dance, I settled down to contemplate my schedule for next semester. I'm currently signed up for four classes, only two of which are ones that I'm actually going to take. People tell me I shouldn't be too worried about this, because there's this fantastic week called Add-Drop where you go to as many classes as you want and figure out what you really want t take.

When I first registered for classes for next semester, I wasn't too pleased about this prospect. I had a really good registration time, so I figured I would get most of the classes I wanted. Ironically enough, I had such a good time because I had enough credits to be considered a junior. This was ironic because it meant I couldn't register for some classes because there were spots reserved for freshmen and sophomores. So I put myself on a waitlist for the literature class I want to take, and registered for classes that looked interesting.

Currently I'm registered for biochemistry, physics (just mechanics - nothing too scary yet), 300-level French, and archaeology. The biochemistry and physics I'm definitely going to take. I need them both for my major. French is one of those things that I'd like to take - I took it in high school - but, like Chinese, I'm not sure if I have the time. The archaeology I added at the last minute when I didn't get into the English class. I need to take a social science at some point to fulfill graduation requirements, and archaeology could be interesting.

At this point, though, I think both French and archaeology are going to go in favor of a literature class and the fiction workshop. We'll see what Add-Drop brings, though. I might go to the first few archaeology classes and end up loving it. This, as I tried to explain to my brother the other day, is what's great about going to a liberal arts college. There are opportunities to take classes that are very different from each other. And, with Add-Drop, if it turns out that a class isn't for you, you're not stuck with it.

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