Schoolin' and Such

Well, back in January, I blogged that I had started my classes. I am happy to report that I am now going into my finals for each class. WooHoo! This semester has actually went by rather quick. I have just one final assigment/exam for each of my classes. And then...no break for me, beginning the week of May 10th, I will be starting summer school! Summer school will be 1 part catch up and one part get ahead.

I previously blogged that I was taking 3 classes & a lab (which is basically a 4th class) this semester. Unfortunately, I decided to withdraw from one of my classes. I was taking Comparative Religion and while the class itself had so much potential, and in the time that I was taking it, I discovered so many interesting tidbits, in the end, the class lacked the instructor input that I felt was needed in order to be successful. Each week we simply read a chapter and then posted our thoughts on a discussion board. We were graded on our posts, but our professor was very unclear about how he would grade the posts. We would only get one grade for all the posting for the entire semester and he provided practically no feedback on our comments. Additionally the few assignments were very vague. My biggest fear after being in the class for a month and a half was that when finals rolled around, I would have a final on unknown material. There just didn't seem to be a good compass for the class. So I withdrew, while I could still do so without it impacting my GPA. I will be replacing this class with a Women's Studies class in the fall.

My biology lab actually turned out to be very fun! Because the class was online, we had to purchase lab kits. We got to perform experiments at home! Some of it was challenging, because this was a new kit that they had not used previously, so adjustments in instruction had to be made, but I liked the class overall. And I now know how to extract DNA with everyday household ingredients!

Unless something goes terribly wrong, I should have an A in all 3 of the classes from this spring!

So, as for my summer classes. When I decided to drop my religion class, I knew that I needed to take at least one class during the summer to keep my fall schedule manageable. The first class I will be taking is public speaking. I DO NOT WANT TO TAKE THIS CLASS. Why? Well, the first reason being that while it is sometimes offered online, and I was holding out to see if it would be in the fall... they didn't... so I actually have to go to school (which means if I start working before the class ends, scheduling) and second, because I don't think I'll get the same benefit from the class. It's a requirement for the program I'm transferring into, and while I completely get why it's important for students... Having worked in professional settings, in management capacities, public speaking is something I've grown quite used to... but at least I was able to pick it up as an evening class for the summer... Just 3 evenings a week, for about 6 weeks... and my roomie also needs the class for his degree... so we're taking it together!

I'm also electing to take an additional economics class this summer. It's being offered by the same professor I have this semester. Since I'm familiar with his teaching style, I feel comfortable taking the class in an accelerated format (AND IT'S ONLINE). It will be picking up right around the time that my first summer class ends. This also means that I will only have to carry 7 hours (3 classes) in the fall to meet all my requirements for my transfer!