College courses you found useful?

[mkrohn]

I'm leaning towards doing extra philosophy for my electives. Anybody have some personal favorites that they're glad they took? I'm getting down to a point where I need to start putting in some of the electives. I'm planning on going a bit further with math than I have to just in case I either go to a much bigger school than what is on my current plan and well Math is something you forget fast if you don't just keep going with it.

 

[NutBucket]

I actually liked Anthropology. Philosophy was so-so for me. Also, take some sort of speech class. Being able to give effective presentations is a vital business skill.

 

[purbeast0]

outside of my major, not many. i took poetry for my literature one because i hate reading books and my longest reading assignment in that course was like 3 pages.

if i had to pick a useful elective, probably economics because you learn basic principles. geology was kinda neat too. my business class taught me how much money you can make in a roth ira if you start it early, and i started one not quite as early as i had hoped, but i probably wouldn't have started one at all had i not taken the course.

 

[Imp]

Anthro anthro anthro -- loved it. Sociology was too technical or something. There's some overlap between anthropology and sociology, but I hated socio.

Psychology is probably a good bet too.

 

[clamum]

Outside of major I'm assuming. I liked my Film Theory class quite a bit, gave me a bit of a different take sometimes on movies. Other than that nothing comes to mind.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Econ 101; economics has all the hot chicks. Understanding the basic principles that drive our economy is probably a good thing too. But, seriously, it's college. Electives are for getting tail.

 

[Meractik]

finance.

 

[drbrock]

Golf 101 and Wine Tasting.

I know it sounds stupid but with a lot of jobs on the business side of things these basics really help.

 

[LevelSea]

Observational astronomy, geology, and political science were some of my favorites.

 

[NutBucket]

Forgot about astronomy. That was a lot of fun actually.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Some electives that I took while earning a comp sci degree:

Expository writing (2 semesters) - more useful than technical writing even for those with a tech major

Formal logic (Philosophy dept) - a good elective for math, computer and engineering students. I also took a "Philosophy of science" class that was interesting.

Operations Research (business school) - interesting look at topics like dynamic programming, optimization, applied math in a more concrete setting than in math classes.

Aside from that, pick electives that you're at least mildly interested in. I took non-Western music, English literature, art of the Renaissance, and others just to learn a bit more about the subject in a structured setting.

 

[mkrohn]

already had golf

macroeconomics and microeconomics are both on my required list. Psych already knocked out too

 

[Legios]

Speech Class, public speaking is a huge fear for a lot of people.

 

[DaveSimmons]

macroeconomics and microeconomics are both on my required list. Psych already knocked out too

I had to take micro -- very easy but incredibly boring to me, and the instructor messed up on some of the math parts (derivatives).

Speech Class, public speaking is a huge fear for a lot of people.

That's a good suggestion.

 

[mkrohn]

Speech Class, public speaking is a huge fear for a lot of people.

its on my required list and of course done.... that's something required pretty much everywhere I've looked these days.

I can't believe how many people are afraid of speeches/presentations. I'm one of those guys that just walks up with no notes and just talks

 

[xBiffx]

Energetic materials.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Most useful? Business Math. Start to my MBA.

Most interesting? Women and Islam.

 

[rh71]

MIS class teaching SQL

 

[Gooberlx2]

Speech was useful.

Anthropology, Geology, and Nazis and Germany were super interesting. They may not have been practically useful going forward, but I loved 'em, killed 'em, and raised my GPA.

 

[vi edit]

I had a class called "Chem and Society" that was pretty cool. It was sort of like a chemistry class for non-nerds. It looked at normal every day products - soap, tylenol, gasoline, ect and did a high level review of what chemicals made up those products and how they interact with other chemicals. It stopped one step short of being an Anarchist cookbook kinda class, but that's the general concept of it. Lots of little tips and things about how different classes of drugs interact with the body, how methanol is bad for the body, how soap works, ect.

Useful stuff.

 

[theevilsharpie]

It's not exactly outside of my major, but An Introduction to the Legal Environment of Business was a lot more interesting and useful than I expected it to be.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Diet and Exercise
Speech (basically public speaking)

 

[Imp]

Theoretical phys-ed.

 

[CottonRabbit]

Statistics. Given how empirical everything is, politics, business, medicine etc, statistics should be mandatory for everyone.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Statistics. Given how empirical everything is, politics, business, medicine etc, statistics should be mandatory for everyone.

Ugh I took it twice. Hate that class.