I honestly feel like I’m picking new classes every 5 minutes. Especially at a school on the quarter system, the weeks fly by so fast and I constantly find myself back on GOLD trying to decide what general education requirement I’m going to enroll in for the next quarter. And with the amount of available options, confusing major sheets, and overlapping requirements, choosing classes can feel like an incredibly daunting task.
And on top of picking classes that fit into my requirements, major, and schedule, there’s the added pressure of choosing a class with a good grade distribution (and a professor that doesn’t have a 1 star rating). I genuinely think I spend more time on UCSBPlat and Rate My Professor than GOLD itself, often ignoring the actual content of the classes I am picking as long as it gets me an ‘A’ at the end of the quarter.
And as much as we all want those ‘A’s, especially in seemingly “unimportant” GE classes, I’ve been trying to remind myself that college is one of the only times where we have so much information and so many opportunities at our disposal. Taking classes that you’ll learn from, engage in, and stay interested in afterwards can be so impactful on your overall college experience and what you’ll take away from it.
I would like to think that I have taken a really wide range of interesting and engaging GE’s in my first 2 years of UCSB. As I finish the last of them this Spring, I wanted to share the classes that stuck out to me and taught me valuable lessons both inside and outside of the classroom.
Engl 92SS: Science Fiction Short Stories
Area E & Area G
Engl 92SS holds such a special place in my heart, and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. I enrolled in this class not knowing anything about it, other than the fact that it used to be an upper division English course, and it was one of the most insightful and interesting classes I have ever taken. It is taught by Professor Melody Jue, who, if her 5 star ratings don’t already tell you, is an outstanding lecturer and overall professor. She is so passionate about what she teaches that you can’t help but feel that same passion and energy as a student.
Aside from the professor, the class itself is so well organized, easy to follow, and an amazing chance to learn more about science fiction, a topic that is not discussed in many higher education settings. I personally would have never guessed that science fiction short stories would be so entertaining and interesting, but this class made me want to read all the required texts in their entirety. Sometimes taking a class about something that you are not familiar with is the best way to learn more about it and see if it piques your interest, and this class definitely did that for me!
Earth 10: Antarctica
Area C & Quantitative Relationships
At some point in college, you are bound to end up in a class that you definitely did not intend on taking. For me, this class was Earth 10: Antarctica. It was during my first ever quarter at UCSB, and I often caught myself wondering what the point of taking such seemingly random classes even was.
But, I was quickly proven wrong.
Taking Antarctica with Professor Wrobel opened my eyes to a new way of thinking about earth science, evolution, and the different natural processes that occur throughout the world. Combined with a weekly lab section, this class allowed me to connect ideas we learned in lecture to hands-on activities, which deepened my understanding of the material and made the subject even more engaging.
Writ 105S: Writing About Sustainability
Area A2
Its no secret that I love to write, and I couldn’t wait to hit upper-division standing so that I could enroll in one of UCSB’s many upper-div writing classes. The A2 requirement can be intimidating, since most of the options are upper-division classes, but Writ 105S: Writing About Sustainability made my transition to higher level courses super approachable and seamless.
The beauty of this class is that the structure allows you to connect any topic of your choosing to sustainability, so you are never stuck writing papers about something that does not interest you. From writing about the intersection between my own major and sustainability, to getting to write an entire editorial article about any topic relating to sustainability, this class leaves so much room for your own personality and interests to shine through, which made it incredibly enjoyable and worthwhile.
ENV S 130B: Global Tourism and Environmental Justice
Area D & New World Cultures
If I had to recommend one class to anyone at UCSB, it would be ENV S 130B. Tourism is such a common practice that has many real, devastating environmental implications, and this course does an amazing job at covering the different ways that tourist activity impacts different places across the world.
Taking classes like this one, that explore how our own actions impact the greater environment, is an amazing way of getting educated about how to manage our ecological footprints and be more mindful about how small efforts have larger consequences.
Especially at UCSB, learning about how indigenous populations across the globe are impacted by extractive and exploitative tourist practices gave me a greater appreciation for the local communities in Santa Barbara that have also been impacted by the exploitation of their culture and land for so many years.
There are so many things to take away from classes like this, and I think it is incredibly important for students to go out of their comfort zone and take courses that intrigue them, because you never know what you will end up learning about yourself, your interests or the world as a whole.