I’m creating my schedule for next quarter and need some suggestions for some fun/easy classes that still go towards GE reqs. I’m a freshman, so I probably can’t take anything upper division.
Are you looking for science GEs or humanities GEs? I suggest looking in the online catalog at the classes offered in departments that interest you and picking a number like 10, 5, 1. Check to make sure it isn’t a proper class, like GEL50 or ATM60. Either way, here’s some stuff from my experience.
-MUS10 is fun if you have a music background. I was in band for 8 years and found this class fun and easy, but my non-musical friend found it very difficult (w/ prof Hess)
-FST10 is a super easy A, though not the most interesting class in the world
-AHI1A, it (and I assume most other lower-div art history classes) is just a solid memorize-things class, if you’re good at that. Got 100% on the midterm after studying for like 2 days.
-ATM5 is an easy science GE
-GEL25 and other lower-div geology classes tend to be fun if you’re looking for science GEs… or just wanna learn about geology :3
I don’t recommend…
-GEL1, has a long term paper >.> too much writing not enough science imo
-NAS1 with Prof Crum, long lectures and tests on random things, kind of crazy old guy (NAS10 was okay)
On top of those:
ANT 2: Cultural Anthropology. To me this class wasn’t particularly interesting (the take-home point is basically that all cultures are different and we need to be aware of that), but it counts for a lot of GEs. As such, it’s a flexible choice. It was also laughably easy as long as you showed up to class and paid attention.
AST 10S: I forget the exact title, but it’s basically a surface-level introduction to planets and stars. I’ve heard 10G is more geared for STEM students, but I took 10S as a financial aid filler during a summer session so I don’t know from experience. Basically, show up to class, pay attention, watch some cool videos, look at some cool samples the professor sometimes brings in, pass the easy quizzes and midterms, and you’re golden.
LIN 1, if you just need something that counts towards either AH or SS. It doesn’t count towards any core literacies though, or it didn’t the last time I checked. This is introduction to linguistics. Interesting and also laughably easy if you stay half awake during class.
Anything from the RST 1 series: RST 1 itself is an overview of world religions. RST 1A, 1B…1H (I think) also provide overviews of certain world religions, but they focus on a particular subject relating to them rather than looking at the religions as a whole. I took RST 1F freshman year as a GE, and RST 1 senior year as a random fun filler class. 1F with Elmore was officially “religion today” but was basically a brief overview of Islam, Buddhism, and Sikhism. 1 with Wendy Terry was great and covered all sorts of religions and how they compare to each other in their beliefs, practices, and origins. As a bonus, these tend to apply to a lot of GEs!
ANS 42, usually only offered in winter, is companion animal biology. It’s a fun and interesting class where you can walk out with a lot of random knowledge of your cat’s skeletal structure that you end up thinking intently about the next time you’re home. Not that I would know or anything. You also learn a lot of random facts about less-common pets, in addition to cats and dogs of course. I did a paper on chinchillas, for example. There are two exams and two papers, but you have a choice in doing either three of those or all of them.
Thank you both! In response to Morwinvan, I’m looking for more AH or SS classes, as I’m currently taking either chem and bio or chem and calculus. Are there any other easy classes you can think in those breadths?
As a fellow science major, here are the exact classes I took to fill all my GEs:
AH: MUS10, NAS10, AAS12 = 12 units
SS: FST10, NAS1, + major requirements in policy, ECN, CMN = 20+ units
SE: easily filled with lower-div bio/chem = 20++ units
My writing experience/oral filled with NAS1/MUS10/AAS12, NAS10 filled domestic diversity, FST10 filled world cultures. Bio/chem/math easily fill visual/quantitative/scientific literacy. Keep in mind that, depending on your major of course, some of your major-required classes (like CMN?) may fill out GE credits.
In general, “cultural” classes like NAS or AAS fill out a wide variety of requirements (the AAS12 I took was interesting in material/history, but had an essay and a big group project and I hate group projects). Personally, I’m not very interested in those types of classes (lots of writing too), but if you can find ones that interest you those are good picks. Though I haven’t actually taken classes in these departments, maybe check out SAS (Science in Society) or RST (Religious Studies) – some of them have interesting descriptions.
I double majored in computer science and linguistics, so I had very few actual GE courses. That said, this is what I took for my AH/SS and literacy requirements (as listed in the last degree check before I graduated). I’ll note which ones were actually electives, though I think I’ve covered them all above:
AH: GER 1, 2, 3, LIN 103A, RST 1F (GE)
SS: ANT 2 (GE), LIN 1, ANT 110
WE: ANS 42 (GE), ANT 110, RST 1F
VL: ECS 40
ACGH & DD: ANT 2, RST 1 (GE)
WC: GER 1
QL: ECS 30
SL: MAT 21B
So pretty much the ones I noted in my earlier post as filling a lot of requirements.
Personally what I would recommend is looking at your upcoming major requirements, at the very least the lower division ones. Check what GEs they fulfill and keep track of it. Add in any minors or whatever other classes you’re thinking of and do the same thing. From there, check what you’ll need for sure (i.e. not covered by current major and any other anticipated classes) and search for courses that fulfill those requirements. You can add in more GE classes later as needed, but a good rule of thumb is to try to cover the ones you’re fairly certain you won’t cover with your major, before you worry about other ones. Of course, you could also just take several classes that each count towards several requirements so your class choices are flexible, regardless of whether you change your mind on majors/minors or not.