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Life > Academics

A Few Of My Favorite Courses At U.Va.

Elizabeth Parsons
The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UVA chapter.

With course enrollment on the horizon, consider enrolling in one of my favorite courses that I have taken so far at U.Va. — each one of these will challenge you in a unique way.

  1. WGS 2100: Introduction to Gender and Sexuality Studies

This introductory course to Women, Gender, and Sexuality studies is amazing because it covers so much ground in just one semester. There is a week that aligns with the interests of everyone — with topics ranging from sports to the media to disability. Taking this course during my first-year inspired me to take more WGS classes and really deepened my understanding of intersectional feminism.

  1. ANTH 1010: Introduction to Anthropology

Introduction to Anthropology really fascinated me because of the way it challenged me to think about our world differently. I would recommend this course to anybody because it is interdisciplinary — there are endless connections between this course and other courses. I still encounter references to anthropologists that I studied in this course in my other classes.

  1. ENCW 2600: Fiction Writing

Fiction Writing was one of my favorite courses because of how small the courses are. So many courses at the University are giant lectures, so building a community with less than 20 classmates was a really nice change of pace. The workshop-style of the course is certainly vulnerable — your classmates will read and discuss the stories you submit — but I felt so inspired by this course. I think any student could benefit from the creative process encouraged through this introductory fiction writing course.

  1. ENGL 4560: Seminar in Modern and Contemporary Literature

As an English major, I have spent many semesters studying older works — which is undoubtedly valuable and necessary. Nevertheless, taking a seminar this semester where we are reading novels published very recently has been thrilling. We just finished reading the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction — The Overstory by Richard Powers. Without revealing too much, this novel will at the very least change the way you think about trees.

Elizabeth Parsons is a staff writer at the University of Virginia’s HerCampus chapter. She joined the team during the 2022-2023 academic year. Elizabeth is from Virginia Beach, VA, where she has lived for her whole life. As a third-year student with a passion for reading and writing, she is studying both English and French. She is also the Senior Associate of The Cavalier Daily’s Life Desk, which focuses on content specific to student life at UVA — including features of student events and organizations, food-related articles, student columns, and top 10 lists. Beyond HerCampus, Elizabeth loves sipping oat milk lattes, strolling through bookstores, reading the latest issue of The New Yorker, playing Wordle, swimming, going to the beach, and watching reality TV— especially Below Deck Down Under. She is always looking for book recommendations, and she loves talking about her latest reads. After spending last summer in London, she is eager to return — and plans to move to London eventually. She is looking forward to another year with HerCampus and to sharing a mix of all her passions with readers. From the best lip gloss to her tips for studying abroad, Elizabeth is excited to share about all the things that matter to her.