Advising week has crept up upon us again, and we find ourselves asking what classes we will take in fall.
Should I take that oil painting class that has always piqued my interest – yet never seemed practical due to the nagging weight of core classes and major requirements? Or should I remain focused on my interests, carving out another minor to impress employers on my resume?
Students should take that oil painting class. The benefits of committing to a class outside of a chosen major or minor are far-reaching. Although any class requires ten solid weeks of commitment, signing up for a class on a whim or insistent interest provides for both a more well-rounded person and a well-rounded education.
Enrolling in the odd philosophy class as a business major may not seem the most obvious asset to the business world, however, it reveals the potential to offer countless unforeseen merits.
May it be the “Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art” or the “Theory of Knowledge,” ten weeks immersed in the thought process of philosophers will give a student of another discipline a renewed perspective on their own area of study. It could also be the class that a student looks back on and remembers as the turning point in their college career.
A recent graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder offered a few kernels of advice to me as a college undergraduate. Her counsel was to simply take a class that I wouldn’t normally sign up for. She proceeded to reminisce about that random philosophy class that she had taken with that brilliant professor that had completely shaken her pre-existing perspective.
It turns out that most subjects, if analyzed from enough angles, are interrelated in some way. Therefore, by enrolling in a topic that may be the furthest on the spectrum for a major in International Studies, it is likely to be discovered that a there are related themes or they at least create a deepened understanding of a normal area of study. If being an undergraduate student at DU isn’t the time to explore new ideas and interests, there never will be a perfect time.
The quarter system allows DU to offer the wonderful luxury of an encouraged interdisciplinary education in conjunction with the opportunity to specialize in more than one area of study.
Graduating with the minimum number of requirements offers the incentive of early graduation and saved tuition dollars, but spending money on discovering a passion is arguably priceless.
