Somehow, it’s already registration season. Trust me when I say that it’s mind-blowing that I’m registering for my senior fall semester. Life doesn’t feel real.
If you need class recommendations for anything under the sun — from humanities requirements, to an easy social science class, to a fun class to balance out some horrid STEM classes — I have a bunch of ideas below!
Please keep in mind that syllabi and availability frequently change, so don’t come for me if things look different in a few years!
Humanities Recs
I won’t go into detail about all of these, but I enjoyed PHIL 183 (Critical Reasoning) with Anna Edmunds, English 223 (Creative Writing) with Joseph Harms (this counts for creative expression credit!), and ENGLISH 125 (First Year Writing) with Meg Garver.
Critical Reasoning was a bit more challenging than I anticipated, but it changed the way I think about the world and people, so I highly suggest it. If you take it with Edmunds, go to her office hours! She’s super helpful, and there’s always a bunch of people there. I sat on the floor every time since I came late, so go early if you don’t want to awkwardly squish on the floor with some rando.
Two professors I absolutely adored are Joseph Harms and Meg Garver. They were so helpful, kind, and overall great professors, so I highly recommend any writing classes with them!
Specifically, two classes deserve a little more attention because I never shut up about them.
PHIL 340: Minds & Machines
What a class. I only have good things to say. First off, the professor is absolutely fantastic. Professor Eric Swanson is not only a great lecturer and professor, but he’s also a genuinely kind and hilarious person in general. He loves what he teaches, and it absolutely shows through his near-constant smile as he’s teaching and listening to students.
The material of the class is also really interesting because it combines philosophy, computer science/AI, and cognitive science, so if you find those three fields exciting, this is definitely the class for you. The assignments consisted of one book and watching films. The films were really engaging and sparked a lot of ideas I hadn’t considered before in the philosophy of AI. While there were often in-class pop quizzes in both lecture and section, they drop half of them, so the grading is pretty lenient.
Overall, if you’re looking for a humanities course, this is definitely a strong contender!
PHIL 361: Ethics
I’ve already written an article about this course about a year ago, so I won’t go into as much detail as I did before, but this class was absolutely amazing and most definitely changed the way I think and act today on various ethical issues. It’s safe to say that after that class, I can’t look at my Chipotle chicken burrito the same again.
I took the course with Professor Dan Lowe, who, similarly to Professor Swanson, absolutely loves what he is teaching and is a really kind person. He was really good at keeping all of the information we would ever need on his presentations, so if we ever needed to miss class for any reason, there were notes available for us. He also told us that he would rather have us listen to him and participate in class than take notes, which is the reason why his presentations are so detailed.
The exams were pretty difficult, but the papers they had us write in addition to taking exams were really interesting. This is a bit of a heavier class, so I would not take it during your hardest semester, especially because the readings can be dense and hard to digest.
I tell everyone I know that taking an ethics course is so helpful in many ways, so if you have time, I wholeheartedly recommend taking Professor Lowe’s course!
Natural Sciences Recs
I’ve taken many random natural science courses to fulfill my requirement since I’m not a big natural science person. I went the unconventional route and took one course alongside a bunch of mini courses, which some may not prefer, but I appreciated getting different information and having shorter courses that end halfway through the semester.
I won’t go into detail about the mini courses, but overall they were chill with great profs and interesting (except ASTRO 107 (The Dark Universe) was a bit more work since it was completely asynchronous). I took EARTH 114 (Global Warming) with James Gleason and EARTH 105 (Our Active Earth: Plate Tectonics and Geohazards) with Yihe Huang.
One full-semester class that I suggest taking is ASTRO 101, particularly if you hate math; I most definitely hate math, so if I survived it, you can too.
ASTRO 101: Introductory Astronomy: The Solar System & the Search for a New Earth
I enjoyed learned about the solar system in this class, and it really put into perspective for me how small we are. The grading in the class was pretty lenient because we were able to drop many assignments of each assignment type, and if you ended up doing additional work, those extra points count as a buffer that could make up for a poor exam grade or another grade that didn’t go well. I did more than required in each section and got more than 100% in the class, while doing not so great on the exams since math isn’t my thing.
There were also reading and homework assignments each week, but over time you develop a good system for them. I don’t have a professor recommendation to make since they split the semester between two professors: one before fall break and the other after the break. Both professors were good, though there were some things one did better than the other, so they kind of balanced each other out.
Overall, if you want an intro class in natural sciences, this is a pretty good class to take.
Social Science Recs
Because of my major, cognitive science, I’ve taken quite a few social science courses with a lot of psychology woven into them. I took PSYCH 449 (Decision Processes) with Andras Molnar, ANTHRCUL 101 (Intro to Anthropology) with Thomas Chivens, and COGSCI 200 (Intro to Cognitive Science) with Mara Bollard.
A side note about ANTHRCUL 101: Thomas Chivens is one of the kindest professors I’ve ever had. He wasn’t out to trick us or anything (I swear to god, my EECS 183 exams had all of the above for every multiple choice, and all of the above wasn’t an option), and his exams and assignments were incredibly straightforward. This class also knocks out the race and ethnicity requirement, so it’s basically a two-for-one deal.
Here are some classes I want to talk about more:
Intro Political Science Courses
I’ve taken a bunch of intro political science courses like POLSCI 111 (American Politics) with Ken Kollman, POLSCI 140 (Comparative Politics) with Allen Hicken, and POLSCI 325 (Systematic Thinking; Intro to Public Policy). I liked all three of them and found them immensely interesting because they always connected course content with current events in the world. I suggest taking at least one political science course because it’s all useful knowledge!
PSYCH 389: Psychology & Law
This is my favorite class I’ve ever taken at Michigan! It’s challenging because the multiple-choice questions on the exams are written in a way that prevents people from guessing, but I learned so much about the legal system and the way people are psychologically affected by it. It truly changed my perspective on the criminal justice system. It also prompted me to consider law as a potential career path after graduation because the course content was so engaging and exciting to learn about. The professor, David Dunning, is absolutely hilarious and such a great lecturer. It was overall an amazing course I would recommend to everyone, but take it during a lighter semester because there’s a ton of reading!
Just for the record, I learned how to beat a lie detector in that class — I hope my FBI agent isn’t reading this.
Random Fun Courses
I randomly decided to take a meditation class (JAZZ 450), which was asynchronous. While I enjoyed the class, if you can take it in person, you should, because it holds you more accountable to meditating each day.
I am also taking GUITAR 110 right now with Bret Hoag, and it’s so much fun. The class is laid back, everyone is nice, and it’s just the right amount of chaotic that we both laugh and learn a lot. If you have room in your schedule for two credits and have a guitar laying around, go for it!
+ + +
These are some classes I enjoyed during my time here at Michigan as a second-semester junior. There were definitely some classes I didn’t enjoy (*coughs* rational choice theory *coughs*), so if you’re a Michigan student with some questions, feel free to search my name in Gmail and send me an email! I love answering questions and helping out because I remember what it was like being lost and confused when registering for classes. I would especially like to answer any cogsci or business minor-related questions, so feel free to contact me about those as well!