This is not a rant against Wheaton College, but against college in general. Recently, I sat down to figure out what classes I still need to take in order to graduate. The basic gist is that after this semester and my summer internship for Poli Sci, I really only need to take 12 more credits. That’s the minimum requirement to be a full-time student, and it’s only one semester’s worth of classes. I’ve been spending the past couple of weeks thinking about what I should do with my extra semester.
My first thought was to graduate a semester early. But, why? My parents are paying my tuition. (Yes, I am one of the fortunate few who have fiscally-responsible parents that can afford to put their kids through college) So it’s not about me saving any money. I talked to my parents about this idea, and they’re not concerned about saving the money either. Really, there is no reason for this option, unless I just wanted to get out into the real world a little early. Which…not so much.
My second thought was to use the extra semester to get a minor in Psychology. However, I’m already double-majoring in Spanish and Political Science with a Pre-Law certificate, and a minor, especially in something so totally unrelated, seems a little ridiculous. I’m thinking a laundry list of concentrations would not seem as accomplished as it would seem unfocused and absurd.
My final thought, and the most likely solution to my dilemma, is to spread the classes I need to take over the two semesters, then fill the gaps in with classes…wait for it…I WANT to take. What a revolutionary idea! Actually, I have no idea why I never thought of this before. I have some extra time, so now I can take classes that aren’t related to my major and aren’t gen ed requirements! Some examples are Theater Survey and Consumer Finance. Just thinking about these classes is making me excited for next year!
All this is probably because this semester…sort of sucks. I’m taking the two worst gen-eds because I’ve put them off until now. I’m also taking a class each for Spanish and Poli Sci/Pre-Law, and unfortunately neither are very exciting. It’s just sort of a lackluster semester. In fact, I’m not sure there’s been a class yet in college that I’ve really, really loved or enjoyed. Which is unfortunate.
I had a few in high school. For the most part they were classes in the subjects in which I am now majoring, i.e. Spanish and Government. I remember the days when I would look forward to Spanish class. It was just plain fun, and I was good at it. Now that I get to focus on topics that I mostly enjoy and excel at…the classes are boring? How does that make sense? Plus, there’s just so many freaking gen-eds to get out of the way, some of them totally worthless. Could I tell you anything I learned from my Freshman year Theology of Culture class? No, I could not.
When I graduate, I’ll receive a piece of paper. Which is great, and a degree will obviously be helpful in the future. But if you asked me to look back on my college experience and point to the moments I got the most out of, I would point to HoneyRock and Chile. Neither of these experiences took place on the Wheaton campus. For the rest of my time at Wheaton, I don’t know. I guess I’m still trying to figure out what I’m getting out of all of this. And trying to justify the $120,000 my parents will have paid for this education. $120,000? Really? Sigh. Hopefully senior year will provide a better outlook for this whole college experience, and not just a piece of paper.
