Throughout college we take
many courses, some that correspond to the major we are interested in, some that
are pre- requisites for grad schools or programs we want to get into after we
are done with our undergraduate studies, and some that are practically just for
a broader knowledge. Some of these courses are great for our future career, but
many of them have nothing to do with our future career and all they do is
increase our knowledge about side things. Since I just transferred to San
Francisco State University Fall 2011, most of the classes that I have taken
have been at City College of San Francisco; However, I have taken enough
courses here at SFSU that fit each category, therefore I will explain the
courses from SFSU.
There are so many courses
that I have taken that I do not feel correspond to my future career, but there
are also many that do correspond to my career. Since I am currently at San
Francisco State University, I will discuss courses I have taken there.
For Spring semester of
2012, I took a class called Introduction to Women and Gender Studies.
The Description of the course is " Introduction to origins, purpose,
subject matter, and methods of women and gender studies and the feminist
perspective on a range of social issues affecting women"(SFSU, class schedule website, WGS 200). I took
this class in order to fulfill my segment 3 courses, which are necessary in
order to graduate. This class expanded my knowledge on how women have been
viewed throughout centuries and how women have overcame many obstacles to get
where they are today. Even though this course was really interesting, it did
not have anything to do with the field of Optometry.
Another class I took was Calculus. This course is a pre-requisite for both my major and Optometry school. Even though this course is a major requirement, I do not see how it can relate to my field. It probably does in some ways, but since I am not in Optometry school yet, I am unaware of how it is directly related to the field.
Out of all the courses that I have taken for my career, the one that relates to Optometry the most is Physics. This course directly speaks about the eye, the field of vision, and also many other things that involve the functions of the eye. Physics takes a major part in the OAT, it is a pre-requisite for all Optometry schools, and it is also a required course for my major, Cell and Molecular Biology. Even though it is one of the key players for my career, Physics is a subject that I dislike. Hopefully I can get intrigued by it more, but for now the only part of physics that catches my attention is the area of the eye.
These are only a couple of courses that I have taken that have nothing to do with my career, fall under pre-requisites, and also are directly related to Optometry. I have taken so many other courses also that can fall under these categories. Many of them have been very interesting and I am glad I took them because it increases my knowledge on other aspects of life; However, it would be easier and faster to not have to take those courses because sometimes they are just a waste of time. However, I have come a long way and as much as I enjoyed some courses, I also hated some too, but once we are done with all those general education courses or segment 3 courses (from SFSU) we can be on the road to having courses that are directly related to our careers and that is exactly how I feel about my future courses.
I never really understood the requirements for someone transferring from a community college to a university. I always thought that you transfer after you have completed the general ed at the community college. I assumed that you enter the university and start working toward your declared major.It sucks if you have to go to a community and then come to a university and practically do the full 4 years there trying to meet the university requirements.
ReplyDeleteAnjelia, the requirements are basically just general education and completing 60 units. However, when I transferred here to SFSU I was told that SFSU requires there own set of general education courses called the segment 3 courses and even though I had already finished all my english courses I was required to take an english proficiency exam and failed which is the reason I am in this current english course. It really sucks to think that general education and english courses are all done and then have to do extra once I transferred, it was disappointing to know that I was not going to go straight into my my major courses. Here is a link that shows in detail the required courses to transfer to a CSU from CCSF.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ccsf.edu/NEW/content/dam/Organizational_Assets/Department/CCSF_Articulation/CSU/General_Ed_Worksheet/2012-13_csu_ge_worksheet_rev.pdf
Rebecca at least you realize you enjoy the relevant topics of your physics class. It is good that you have an optimistic perspective on the required general education courses you have completed. If we want our degree we have to do what the university tell us to so there no point in complaining.... except for feeling satisfied.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that General Educations seem useless and unrelated to the major we are doing, yet I feel that the main purpose is to expand our knowledge, so that we have a bit of knowledge of everything. Even though personally I dislike my GE classes, yet I also can see the point of learning all those classes which is to make you more understand about a topic or hobby that you might be interested in. Especially in Segment III, since we are free to choose our “section,” it might be a good chance for us to study something outside our major. Let’s just think about it as a “breakout class,” so that after you are tired reading all the stuffs about eyes, you will have some break time where you will learn other new things.
ReplyDelete