<p>I thought my days of taking a physical education class were over in middle school, but the nightmare of years ago is returning to haunt me again due to some trivial degree plan requirement...</p>
<p>I had a horrific experience in P.E. in the seventh grade involving conflicts with my instructor, being awful at the sports we had to play, ultimately feeling out of place. I was the scrawny 'nerd' stereotype that you often see depicted on television and in movies.</p>
<p>I don't play sports. I have no interest in sports. I do have plans to join a gym and work on some personal fitness goals, but that's the extent of my physical education interests.</p>
<p>To some extent, I'm still that scrawny computer science major 'nerd' and I'm not at all comfortable with the idea of being in a P.E. class with jocks, machos, and others who would intimidate me.</p>
<p>I'm scared to death about what to expect starting next Monday when school begins.</p>
<p>I took PE online(I know, defeats the purpose) in my college, and didn't have to do gym hours or anything. Easy as hell, look into that if your school offers it.</p>
<p>We have all sorts of PE classes that are not sports. For example, there's a class that lets us work out on our favorite cardio machine. Or PE classes like "Wellness" that just meet in a classroom.</p>
<p>Do they offer different type of PE courses or is it generic? At my old college, they allowed students to take ice skating, rockclimbing, ice climbing, indoor rock-climbing, snowboarding, skiing, hiking, etc. as a PE course, so I gladly signed up even though PE wasn't mandatory.</p>
<p>I agree with the above posters who said that you should check into the different types of PE classes your school offers. Do NOT just take a basic/generic PE class if you don't have to! My school (a smallish state school) offers cardio (you just run on a treadmill or ride a stationary bike by yourself, at your own pace, and you can listen to music or whatever), rock climbing, yoga, pilates, scuba diving, skiing, snowboarding, dance (modern, social/ballroom, etc), mind and body wellness, and more.</p>
<p>Gym is the best class ever. Getting credit to play basketball, hockey, volleyball, etc. That's just great fun.</p>
<p>You have to realize that most athletes have played on a teams before. They understand that there are different skill levels. As long as you put out a good effort, most athletes, beyond arrogant jerks will respect that. They realize some people suck at sports.</p>
<p>The thing is...you're not going to be in a college PE class with "jocks and machos" as you so well put it...they, being jocks and machos, already finished all their PE stuff, cause they can. You will be stuck with the druggies who somehow got into college but found out that going to PE actually had a purpose.</p>
<p>I've been reading over the course descriptions and it appears that the class is setup as a split health/pe course, as in being 50% lecture & textbook, and 50% actual physical activities.</p>
<p>I don't mind physical activities like basic exercises, stretches, running, and even weightlifting, but I DO NOT want to play any sports.</p>
<p>I despise playing gym balls sports so in high school I always persuaded the instructor to let me work out with weights while everyone else played. I would volunteer walking laps instead of playing.</p>
<p>In college however, there are even classes like bowling (which I took last semester) which can count. Also look into more off-the-wall classes-- I love zumba for example!</p>