<p>I'm a sophomore going to a highly selective and large university. I'm officially a theatre major, though I've entertained majoring in English or creative writing as well. I've taken most of the prerequisites in all three of these majors, and have enjoyed most of my classes, though I've felt all of them were pretty easy. </p>
<p>In my ideal world, I'd make a career in one of these fields. Obviously not an easy thing to do, but I'm totally committed to this choice. So of course, I'm trying to make the most of my time now (living on my parents' money with only a part-time job) to learn as much as possible. I'd like to leave school as a competent creative writer, theatre director, and/or English scholar. </p>
<p>My problem, then: I feel totally topped out in my classes. I took a lot of college dual-enrollment classes in these subjects in high school (I was home schooled, and could learn as quickly as I wanted to) and I don't know more than I knew then. I get A's without much work (I find writing papers fairly easy). I'd like to challenge myself and be challenged, but I don't know how to do this myself. A lot of the humanities classes I take seem to be tailored to people outside of the majors, and professors keep them (even the 300 levels) at entrance level to prevent science majors from getting scared away. </p>
<p>I've tried talking to my major adviser about this, but he hasn't suggested anything useful--he either won't answer my questions or just suggests I do independent projects, which honestly is how I feel like I'm learning anything at all already. I really want a mentor, though I've been a bit shy about approaching professors. </p>
<p>So...I know this is long but suggestions? Thanks in advance. : )</p>
<p>I would consider something a little more intensive than English (although the subject is as ‘intense’ as you want to make it, though I have found the standard is set a little lower than you can go in the humanities).
Pick up a classics or philosophy minor. Now those are two disciplines which will challenge a humanities-centric student! Especially if your classics program has a language (Greek or Latin) requirement. Try to get published in either minor (or, you could even major!).</p>
<p>It sounds like you’re having a tough time adjusting to the group pace of learning. Have you considered talking to individual professors and saying something to the effect of “I am really enjoying your class and I’m finding that I want to go into more depth on [topic] than some of my classmates. Would you be willing to work with me this semester on an extra project, or perhaps schedule an independent study with me next term?” I’m betting there’s at least one prof who would appreciate your interest.</p>
<p>Also, if advising at your school works the way it does at mine, the main function of the advisor is to make sure you tick off all the boxes so you can graduate on time, not to make you happy. :)</p>
<p>Can you take graduate level courses? Have you considered grad school?</p>
<p>For undergrad, sounds as though you will have to endure the core requirement classes, for better or worse. You might find graduate school more challenging/rewarding, although at that level you still have plenty of hoops to jump through.</p>
<p>Alternatively, try approaching some current profs. It may be that developing the ability to approach profs and suggest independent projects is the real skill you need to be developing (abd I know it can be wuite hard!!). Can you ask the advisor for advice in how to do this? Can you start asking other students involved in independent projects how they got started? </p>
<p>I think that Trilliums hit the nail on the head. If you are seeking a mentor, then you need to reach out to those faculty members who are doing work/teaching classes that line up closely with your own interests. Depending on how advising works at your institution, you may end up switching advisors, but you don’t have to do this if you like other aspects of your relationship with your current advisor. (I have plenty of advisees who are in disciplines far removed from my own.)</p>
<p>In terms of your classes, is your frustration generated by the perceived lack of sophisticated of others in the seminar; by the perceived lack of challenge from the instructor him/herself; or by something else? Are graduate classes an option for you at this point? (Keep in mind that this is a very different question from “Are you thinking about graduate school?”)</p>
<p>My son took many classes with masters and doctoral students in his junior and senior year. </p>
<p>He was able to do this because he had developed relationships with professors and advisors. I suggest you ask to take a graduate level seminar with a professor who is aware of your skills and talents.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>critical theory (read it and weep, then read it again). </p></li>
<li><p>graduate classes.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>i am doing both of the above, though, and i still feel like dropping the major cos it’s just too easy. the only competition is That Girl who thinks she knows everything but doesn’t. it is clearing all the phd crap out of my head though, because i understand that this is the level of discourse i will be having as an academic, and it’s just not appealing.</p>
<p>I guess I will add this caveat about graduate classes: in my department (a fairly typical one) there were seminars centered primarily around exposing students to new content (usually from some sort of canon, however one construes that idea) and secondarily around exposing students to the scholarly literature and controversies surrounding that material. Others were centered primarily around exposing students to a particular area of the current scholarly literature and getting students to place themselves somewhere in that literature. I imagine that most undergraduates would not find the latter type of class as interesting, even if they were considering Ph.D. work at some point in the future. If you are thinking about taking a graduate-level class, be sure to look at a syllabus/talk to the professor.</p>
<p>If you go to a university with graduate programs, can you talk to professors who teach graduate-level courses and ask to take those? Assuming that you have the prerequite classes and/or knowledge, this should be doable. I agree that you should talk to the professor first, though.</p>
<p>Another option is to design an independent study with a professor who has interests like yours. This is probably easier to do in English or creative writing (the goal could be to produce a portfolio of creative work or a specific literary criticism paper) but could be done in theater too.</p>
<p>I also agree that you could take your writing skills into other fields that may be more challenging, like classics, philosophy, political science, or history. You don’t have to major, just take a class.</p>