Happy registration season!
Personally, I get the most serious about composing the perfect class schedule when spring quarter rolls around. The promise of warmer days, longer evenings, and moments swimming and tanning at the Cut is enough to make me want to throw academic priorities aside, and I’ve found myself saying that I’d enroll in whatever it takes to have my days done by noon.Â
This never holds true, though. As soon as the time schedule is released for an upcoming quarter, I spend hours scrolling and falling in love with courses that don’t help towards my degree progress but just seem so interesting. It can feel like a whirlwind balancing the desire to learn new things with the desire to be outside when the weather finally brightens up.
The real way to optimize a spring quarter schedule is to combine these factors, making class something to look forward to instead of just something dragging you away from the fresh air. If your registration period is kind to you, maybe you even get good section times and can have the best of both worlds!
With all that said, here’s my guide to the best classes being offered this upcoming spring quarter.
ENVIR 280 – Natural History of the Puget Sound Region
This class is the epitome of a perfect spring quarter offering. Stay with me: it is an 8:30 am start. But what if I told you that it has to be this way because you’ll spend half of the lectures in the field, listening to early morning bird calls? It also features four weekend field trips, where you get to hike and explore the native flora of the Pacific Northwest. If you want to learn more about the ecosystem you’re living in and learn what it means to have intimate relationships with natural space, this is for you! I’m also biased: taking this last spring is the reason I’m now an environmental studies major.
MUSIC 162 – American Popular Song
Taking an asynchronous online course is a great way to maximize your vitamin D during spring — you can do all the work at nighttime! Plus, this music class will make you super knowledgeable about what you’re playing next time you’re on aux. It tracks the history of pop music all the way to the present day, and for quizzes and exams, you get to listen to songs! Something else that’s good to know? According to DawgPath, 50% of people who take this class finish with a 4.0.
LING 269 – Swearing and Taboo Language
In my mind, this is the most inherently academic of the classes listed here; it combines linguistics with a range of social sciences like psychology, history, and sociology, and meets in a lecture hall three times a week. However, the subject breaks out of that boring place and makes it a bucket-list class. I’ve heard the professor opens the first lecture by listing off every swear word she knows.
GWSS 453 – Lesbian Lives and Culture
I will preface this with a warning that this class does have a prerequisite of either GWSS 200 or GWSS 206. If you happen to have either of those, though, this is the most niche course title I’ve found for the upcoming quarter, and as far as I can tell, 2026 will be the first time it’s offered. Professor Adeyemi is absolutely fantastic, and I think she’ll shine in the smaller, seminar setting. While I don’t know what this course will cover, the title is extremely intriguing to me and will hopefully also create a sense of community. I will be taking this, and I am beyond excited!
DANCE 238 – Swing Dance
I’m a huge proponent of classes that allow you to actually do something rather than just learn it, and swing dance is a perfect example of that! You’ll earn two Arts & Humanities credits to jitterbug with a partner twice a week and come out of it with a skill that you can pull out at any party. I’ve heard that a great community also forms from this class, and the professor also instructs at Reverie Ballroom in Capitol Hill, where you can attend open dance nights and beginner lessons.Â
Honorable mention: HSTEU 210 – Paris
I do not know anything about this class other than that it is just called Paris and it is purportedly about Paris. I really appreciate the intrigue of this. If anyone has room in their schedule and wants to do some investigative work, consider this your opportunity. Investigate Paris! If you do, please let me know what you find.Â
I hope these suggestions inspire you to try something different this spring quarter! I also encourage everyone to waste some time (I mean, explore your academic options) on MyPlan and find courses that intrigue and excite them for the rest of the year. May the registration odds be ever in your favor.