Scheduling For My Final Semester

Last Friday, the newspaper was in my mailbox. Yes, the newspaper. The registration newspaper. My final one.  

The Friday before a course registration period begins, Susquehanna students all receive a list of the course offerings printed on newspaper. This information is online, but it’s handy to have in paper form—something I think Susquehanna students agree on, judging by how often I’ve seen students consulting it or circling things in it. Registering for my final set of Susquehanna courses is a big reminder of how short of a time I have left as an undergraduate. 

When students register for courses, they can consult something called a “degree audit” that shows all the required courses that students have left to take, including courses for majors, minors, and the university’s Central Curriculum. In past semesters, I always had a list of requirements to consider. Now I only had a few items! That's a great thing because it means I will graduate on time. However, it still feels very strange. 

The requirements I have left are an Oral Intensive course for the Central Curriculum (which I plan on fulfilling with a Modern Philosophy class), an English course called Forms of Writing that I need for my Creative Writing major, and the senior honors program requirements, which include a senior honors seminar and some type of research. The research requirement will be filled by the Capstone, or culminating project, I’ll be taking on in the Religious Studies department.  

All of these courses will amount to 14 credits. A standard credit load here is 16 credits, though people may take as little as 12 while remaining a full-time student. Many students exceed that 16. Right now, for instance, I'm taking 18 credits. Next semester I may have time to add an additional course, though it wouldn't be required. That course would probably be New Testament with one of my favorite religion professors. A part of me, though, thinks it might be better to stick with my 14 credits and dedicate more time to my independent study, especially since I will definitely be taking classes dealing with the New Testament if I end up going to seminary. One of my options might be auditing the class, which would mean sitting in and participating but not getting credit for the course and not having to do the homework.

Looking forward to next semester, I’m most excited about my independent study—though I’m a bit intimidated as well. I’ve decided to do a 4-credit independent study which means it’ll be quite a hefty paper. I believe my advisor told me I should expect to write around 40 pages. This makes me wish I'd completed more of my research over the summer like I had planned. Perhaps I’ll be able to get some more preliminary reading done when I’m home over Winter Break. For my project, I will be studying dating advice and approaches to pre-marital romantic relationships in American evangelical Christianity. I’m especially interested in focusing on the concept of “emotional purity” and the boundaries places on emotional intimacy within these relationships.  I’ve already looked at When God Writes Your Love Story by Leslie and Eric Ludy and Boy Meets Girl: Say Hello to Courtship by Joshua Harris, some of the popular titles in Christian nonfiction addressing these topics. This independent study should be great preparation for the work I hope to eventually be doing in graduate school. 

I met with the advisor for my Religious Studies major yesterday, and this afternoon I will meet with my Creative Writing advisor. Afterwards, I'll be able to register online. Unlike some other colleges, registration isn’t a first-come, first-serve, dog-eat-dog ordeal. Rather, the Registrar’s Office figures out who gets into what classes by class year, requirements that people need fulfilled, etc. I won’t know right away, then, about what courses I get—though, as a senior who needs almost everything I’m taking to graduate, I'm assuming I won't have any difficulties.

Right now, I'm just hoping this isn't my last course registration period ever and that a few months from now I'll be doing this from graduate school--a beginner again.

Officially A Double Major

After a lot of reflection, I’ve officially decided on and declared a Religion major.  Before I registered for next semester’s classes, I filled out the paper work for a second major. I am now a Creative Writing-Religion double major with an Honors program minor. I went back and forth with this decision many times, but I’m very pleased with it.

My coursework in religion classes so far, Applied Biblical Ethics and Hebrew Bible, has been interesting, and I had a strong desire to take more courses than only a Religion minor requires. I’m also very interested in how this major may play into future career paths. Maybe I could end up working for a religious magazine or theological journal or doing communications work for faith-based non-profits, churches, denominations, etc.  I’m also interested in librarianship, so maybe one day I could end up working for a theological library or archives for a denomination. The interplay of my spiritual life and my creative writing is also something of interest.

My Sophomore Essay has further affirmed this decision. Just on Monday, I turned in the second draft of my essay to my advisor. The draft is about 20 pages, and I’ve enjoyed working on it immensely. My topic, representation of doubt in young adult novels, has allowed me to branch into ideas of youth ministry, theological concepts like “theology of the cross,” and brief examples of doubt in the Bible. These religious components have interested me just as much as the literary component—which I also really enjoy! The essay itself is very much a meld of my dominant interests.

Next semester, if I get into the courses I registered for, my schedule will be evenly split between these two disciplines. For Creative Writing, I hope to take Intro to Poetry and Aesthetics and Interpretation. Intro to Poetry will be my last introductory class for Creative Writing. I’m excited for the change of pace I’ll get from escaping prose for a semester. I am also curious as to how I’ll enjoy the class because lately my interest in poetry has been rising. My two religion classes will probably be Intro to Asian Religions and Luther: Life and Thought. I’m looking forward to how different those topics will be, especially since I don’t feel particularly well-informed on either.

I’ll have to be diligent to fulfill all the requirements for both majors, but I think in the end it will be worth it, if it means studying two things that really interest me.

This Week's Highlights

It's finally Friday! Actually, this week has gone rather quickly. I'm excited about that and ready for the weekend, which is going to include a hang-out session with my lovely Big from APO, a Halloween party at TRAX, and maybe, possibly snow. 

Here are some highlights of this week:

• Monday I had a service project with Alpha Phi Omega at a community center where I got to play with kids. I hadn't been in the best mood all day, but I really enjoyed myself when I was there. I am signed up to go back soon.
• Tuesday I had my short story workshopped in Intermediate Fiction, which is always fairly interesting--and, you know, nervewracking.
• I did another service project Tuesday as well. Alpha Phi Omega is organizing a clothing drive as its big project for this semester, and I was helping distribute flyers. It was a lot of fun, and I'm going to do more flyer distribution on Sunday. Also--the houses we were delivering flyers to were absolutely gorgeous! They were so fancy, I really wonder how expensive they were.  
• Wednesday, in Thought & the Natural Sciences, we went on a field trip. Our class trekked up the side of a hill--I'd call it a mountain--on the side of a highway to look at rocks from the Duvonian era. I'll admit, I didn't know too much about the rocks but it was kind of fun breaking them apart. Also, I was very glad that I had decided to wear rain boots. Some girls were wearing flats and skirts, and they looked absolutely miserable.
• Thursday one of SU's visiting writers, James Galvin, spoke to my Intermediate Fiction class. Galvin identifies as a poet but his prose book, The Meadow, is well-known. It's always interesting to see the person behind a book you've been reading. The formation of The Meadow was especially intriguing. Galvin was writing about the real people and lifestyle he knew to capture it for his then 4-year-old daughter, who would not really ever get to know those people, that way of life, or the land as it had been for Galvin growing up. I've heard this kind of idea before--writing for a very particular person--and it's still one I'd like to really try.
• In Hebrew Bible on Thursday, I got my group and topic for the final project. I am very excited that my group will be presenting on the sages. Sages are basically wisemen, responsible for books in the Bible like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. 
• InterVaristy's large group meeting--this week, about friendship--made my Thursday night awesome, as always!
• I've decided on my topic for my final, 12 page grammar paper. I'll be looking at the grammatical differences between the King James Version of the Bible and newer versions using more modern language, such as the New International Version, and I'll be arguing about which is more effective rhetorically. It was very hard to choose between this idea and analyzing the grammar in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese, which I love!
• I wrote a short-short last night. I have some little tweaks to do before I send it out. I'm not actually sure how good it is, but I had fun writing it.
• Registration is approaching for next semester. Actually, classes and times come out today. I am still majorly flip-flopping on whether or not I want to double major in Creative Writing and Religion. I would really like to make the decision before next semester, though.  

It's been a busy week. Hopefully another highlight of my weekend will be lots of sleep.

Scheduling for Sophomore Year!

Here at SU, we're already gearing up for fall 2011.  Students' mailboxes were recently filled with papers of all the classes offered not only next semester, but spring as well; this way students can plan their entire 2011-2012 academic year.  I've already endeavored to make a tentative schedule. 

Before I register for my classes, I need to get my minor declared, Religion, so I can have a better chance of getting into the religion courses I want.  Declaring a minor basically consists of getting a form and having your advisor and the head of the minor's department sign a piece of paper.

Deciding on courses can be somewhat tricky.  There are a lot of balls up in the air, so to speak. Requirements for one's major.  Requirements for a minor.  Requirements for the Central Curriculum, or what other schools might term general ed. classes.  This is why the degree audit is particularly helpful.  A degree audit basically tells you what requirements you have fulfilled (or are currently working towards fulfilling) and what you still have left to do; it also lists the courses that apply to each requirement.  Many courses knock out multiple requirements so there's a certain amount of strategy involved in planning a schedule that is, in some regards, efficient as well as interesting for yourself. 

For the fall, I plan on taking a course for my Honors program, probably Thought & the Natural Sciences, which explores the history and philosophy of science. This would also take care of my science class.  Each SU student needs to take one science with a lab component; admittedly, this fills with me some dread.  Also for the Honors program, I need to do a Sophomore Essay, which could happen in the fall or spring depending on the availability of faculty sponsors.  I've already talked about my idea--representation of faith in young adult literature and whether it adequately addresses the spiritual needs of teens--and now I just need to find a faculty member who is interested in my idea and has a helpful expertise, as well as the time to work with me. Dr. Winans, who conducts the Sophomore Essay class, has already been great with suggesting some names to me.

In the fall, I also want to take English Writing & Grammar and Intermediate Fiction.  Both of these go towards my Creative Writing major.  I'm especially psyched to get back to fiction. My other course would be The Hebrew Bible, which contributes to more than one Central Curriculum requirement, my Honors minor, and my Religion  minor.  That's getting a lot out of one class so I suppose you could say that's a strategic choice, but I also am very much interested in the subject matter.

It's very strange to me that I already have Spring 2012 planned out as well--though very, very tentatively.  Right now, that schedule would consist of Aesthetics & Interpretation, a course required for Creative Writing majors that I've heard is quite difficult, Introduction to Poetry, Intro to Asian Religions, and...okay, well one other class that is totally slipping my mind right now.   

It feels good to have these ideas of what next year will be like.  I'm sure it'll feel even better once my fall schedule is actually settled!

Catching Up: The Hodgepodge Post

Excuse this post for being a hodgepodge of things, but I wanted to catch this blog up on what’s been happening lately for me at SU.

One of the major things for me and the rest of my freshmen friends right now is registration (which happens to end today).  This was our first time picking our own classes at college and then navigating the registration process online.  I’ll admit to being pretty excited, especially about seeing which classes would be offered next semester.  The classes came out online and in a newspaper supplement students received in their mailboxes. My degree audit in tow (a degree audit shows you what requirements you still have left for your degree, including requirements for your major and Central Curriculum requirements), I began picking out classes.  After some contemplation about how many courses I should take, whether I wanted to take any courses for the Editing & Publishing minor I’m thinking of declaring, how I felt about night classes, etc., I came up with the following courses: Introduction to Creative Nonfiction, Applied Biblical Ethics, Principles of Sociology, and Thought & Civilization.  Two would be on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the other two on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  

Whether I’ll get into those classes will not be discovered until a later date, however.

I also didn’t get to share what my first Halloween at Susquehanna was like.  I had meant to be Wendy, to match a friend dressed as Peter Pan, but I had procrastinated getting a costume.  My friend Lindsey and I walked into town on the Saturday of Halloween weekend, hoping I could buy and piece together something from a thrift store.  Alas, we had slept in too late and the store was closed.  In the end, I simply went as a hippie, wearing a tye-dye T-shirt my parents had bought for me, my somewhat tattered, bell bottom-y jeans, and a scarf from Lindsey as a headband.  That Saturday we went to the TRAX Halloween party and had a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, actual Halloween, which fell on a Sunday, was spent doing schoolwork.  

This past weekend I went on the InterVarsity Fall Conference, which was at Refreshing Mountain Camp near Lancaster.  InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is one of the religious life organizations on campus that I’m really happy to have gotten involved in early during my college career.  Though I love SU, getting off campus for a short period is always great.  I got to spend time with two friends on my floor in Hass and got to know other people from IV a bit better.  Of course, I also got to experience plenty of prayer and worship.

When we got back on Sunday, I hosted an overnight student who’s interested in Creative Writing and Journalism.  I tried to give her the inside scoop on Susquehanna life.  I’m hoping she had a good experience here and that I conveyed all SU has to offer.

As far as academics go, I recently had a workshop in Intro to Fiction that went really well.  I just had my conference with Dr. Bailey today to discuss my story (which is probably going to be one of the longest stories of the bunch for the second time; my inner novelist just isn’t allowing anything under 10 pages).   Soon enough, my dorm room will be turning into Rewrite Central.   In my Thought class, which I take for the Honors Program, I’ll be leading my class in discussion on a section of The Persepolis next Monday, a fascinating memoir told in graphic novel form.  Of course, I’ve also endured exams since last writing, but that’s not nearly as exciting.

All in all, things at Susquehanna are going well, chugging down that track to Thanksgiving break.