Tag Archives: liberal arts

It’s never too late to try new things

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Some people go to college knowing what they want to major in, what career field they want to get into and they stick with it all the way through. There’s a pretty low number of those people though. Ironically I’m kinda one of them.

But the best part of college and a liberal arts college is the opportunity to try so many different disciplines and interdisciplinary programs that build connections upon all aspects of our learning and world as we know it. As a senior I thought, yeah I’ve stuck with biology since high school and I still really enjoy my upper-level biology electives immensely this is for me! But at the same time I had to take an upper level division course outside my major and falling upon the intro core electives I took there were a variety of options for me and I thought hey this politics & government class looks good let’s take that one!

Now I bet some of you are groaning like “taking a P&G class for fun? are you crazy?” and “that’s so different than biology, it’ll be a whole different challenge” and my response to both would be yes it is and I didn’t fully realize it at the time thankful because I absolutely LOVE it right now! The format of social sciences is discussion based instead of lecture based with a courseload of readings for critical analysis based on IR theories, strategic games and understanding of the various topics.

As an outgoing talkative person I guess it’s no surprise this is right up my alley except as an upper division course many of the other students are P&G majors specifically IR or comparative politics. Rather than intimidating me it encourages me to be more thorough and thoughtful in my contributions and taking time to fully complete the readings (I love my highlighter, maybe the readings are a little too colorful). I love the supportive atmosphere, despite believing in different theories and arguments all opinions are valued and equally challenged without personal malice but for the sake of learning and education-the very best part of college.

I’d tell you more about how I love it but I’m still getting used to my workload, remember my other post “How to Do Homework” well I better get back to my 100+ readings for this class!

Small Liberal Arts Colleges

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Recently on Facebook I stumbled upon this article: Struggles Everyone At A Liberal Arts Colleges Knows on Buzzfeed that basically summed up every thought I’ve ever had at Puget Sound. The statements made in the post which were submitted by the buzzfeed community of people who go to schools like Puget Sound. I could name an incident or moment in time where I’ve had the exact thoughts of the things mentioned at Puget Sound.

And while the title of the articles does indicate the points are struggles, I would say they are also the benefits of going to a liberal arts college. Colleges aren’t just for individuals who want to be a doctor or lawyer, they are for people with a passion for learning, wanting to gain more knowledge about our world and decide how we can impact it. At a liberal arts college we can pull together interdisciplinary learning to be confident in doing unique for ourselves and valuing the arts. yes, I’ve taken some really interestingly named classes such as Medical Discourse and the Body and Constitutional Controversies. Both were my seminar, freshmen English classes that combined redefining writing research papers and how to participate in college-level discussions. And I can’t wait to take a Connections course here, I’m hoping for Health and Medicine but there are so many fascinating options of study that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy if I didn’t come here.

And the one thing I am so happy to be a part of is the community, that we can hold discussions in class about the readings we actually did, that I know the names of my classmates to interact with that, I know the names of the people who make my chai lattes at Opp (thanks Em!), silently laughing in the Library because I accidentally fell down. These experiences in our Puget Sound, liberal arts, community, wouldn’t be possible if I went to a big state school, or a one-track college to just get my science degree. These can be  the struggles if you don’t like someone or you see people that saw you make a complete fool of yourself last night, but those are the small things that when I’m gray and old I won’t remember, I’ll only remember the good times.