What electives should I take...

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

Fixed, per the usual Conne proceedings.
Wrong idiot.

 

[keikun13]

PDP ER 480 - Coaching the Emergency Vehicle Operator (CEVO)
Prereq: Emergency Medical Technician or First Responder. This 8 hour course teaches ambulance operators to drive safely under severe time constraints. Course content includes cushion of safety, vehicle handling and design characteristics, handling blind spots, intersections and vehicle inspection. Students who pass course requirements earn a certificate in Coaching the Emergency Vehicle Operator. Class fee includes required text and materials.

Yes?

 

[likeitaloud]

Originally Posted by keikun13

Yes?

Hey at least that teaches something, I'm going to law school so my degree doesn't make a huge difference but I have no idea why anyone would take 90% of social sciences if they didn't aim for grad school. Once you are out what are you going to be a janitor who can quote Niechtze?

 

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by likeitaloud

Hey at least that teaches something, I'm going to law school so my degree doesn't make a huge difference but I have no idea why anyone would take 90% of social sciences if they didn't aim for grad school. Once you are out what are you going to be a janitor who can quote Niechtze?
Wow, you have such a good grasp on the viability of lib arts degrees.

 

[likeitaloud]

Originally Posted by Connemara

Wow, you have such a good grasp on the viability of lib arts degrees.

Well as long as you know what you are going to do..nothing wrong with liberal arts. But in reality too many people don't.

 

[AdmiralGrafSpee]

Originally Posted by likeitaloud

Hey at least that teaches something, I'm going to law school so my degree doesn't make a huge difference but I have no idea why anyone would take 90% of social sciences if they didn't aim for grad school. Once you are out what are you going to be a janitor who can quote Niechtze?

Once you are out, what are you going to be? A lawyer who can't quote Nietzsche?

For many people, life is not about making money. Its about living, doing something you enjoy. If one intends to live their life, then Nietzsche is far more valuable than law.

 

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by likeitaloud

Well as long as you know what you are going to do..nothing wrong with liberal arts. But in reality too many people don't.
Yeah, this is true. Another useless major seems to be psychology. I know two recent psychology grads who are going nowhere: one does data entry for MetLife and one answers phones at some customer support center. Woopee. Disclaimer: they went to a no-name school, which may have something to do with it.

 

[Bill Smith]

Take Asian history.

 

[likeitaloud]

Originally Posted by AdmiralGrafSpee

Once you are out, what are you going to be? A lawyer who can't quote Nietzsche? For many people, life is not about making money. Its about living, doing something you enjoy. If one intends to live their life, then Nietzsche is far more valuable than law.
Once I am out? Yes I will hopefully be either a lawyer or another professional with a respectable career and decent paycheck. If you haven't read the thread, I am learning four years of liberal arts before applying to law school, so I will have both: a career, and cultural education. Yes I agree money is not a deal breaker for a lot of people. It is very important to me (among other benefits of "top education") so I chose to spend seven years and $200,000 on my education. Maybe not the same for someone else, but you still need a plan. As little as you can care about money, it will literally control your life. Leaving something like that to chance is just silly. Why put yourself in a position of guessing what you want to be after spending lots of time and money? In my opinion studying something like philosophy was made prestigious throughout history and now universities use it to get students to study SOMETHING because there is a notion that going to college is something every self-respected individual should do. While liberal arts is very useful and interesting to study, in the past it was accompanied by a real profession, and it is something people choose to neglect. If you don't have the brain/willpower to get an education which will supply you with the cultural awareness and a viable way to make a living, are you not better off taking a 20 month course in nursing or carpentry so once you are out you actually have a career instead of a student loan and no clue how to pay it off?

 

[Connemara]

A degree in law does not equal a high-paying job, contrary to what law school admissions people (read: crooks) try to sell you.

 

[likeitaloud]

Originally Posted by Connemara

A degree in law does not equal a high-paying job, contrary to what law school admissions people (read: crooks) try to sell you.

It gives you the education for a high-paying job. The rest I can take care of myself.

 

[unjung]

I took a series of history of rock and roll courses (touching on black music in the South at the beginning of the 20th century through to Nirvana). They were very enjoyable but among the hardest courses I took. A huge amount of memorization - names, instruments, musical theory, significant events in the life of Buddy Holly...

Originally Posted by Connemara

Yeah, this is true. Another useless major seems to be psychology. I know two recent psychology grads who are going nowhere: one does data entry for MetLife and one answers phones at some customer support center. Woopee. Disclaimer: they went to a no-name school, which may have something to do with it.
Here in socialist Canada, there is less of a range in quality of our post-sec institutions. I went to a relatively insignificant school, and majored in psychology. I certainly agree that if any degree is useless, psych is close behind sociology, history, english and anthropology. But I think we all agree that where you end up has a lot more to do with your internal traits and what you spend your free time on in school, versus the courses you take. I like to think GPA matters because I did pretty well, but I doubt it does, except if you want to go to grad school.

Originally Posted by likeitaloud

It gives you the education for a high-paying job. The rest I can take care of myself.
It's a bit of a rough time to be getting into law, in my opinion. Still a massive cohort in Ontario, so much so that they're thinking of dropping the articling year, apparently. And with the recession, a lot of folks are going to go hide out in school for a few years. And a good friend of mine took four months to find a new corporate gig in Calgary after being laid off. Having said that, I am still going to apply this year.

 

[cheessus]

Originally Posted by unjung

It's a bit of a rough time to be getting into law, in my opinion. Still a massive cohort in Ontario, so much so that they're thinking of dropping the articling year, apparently. And with the recession, a lot of folks are going to go hide out in school for a few years. And a good friend of mine took four months to find a new corporate gig in Calgary after being laid off. Having said that, I am still going to apply this year.

Isn't the OP a first year in undergrad? If that is the case then he's got about 6-7 years to wait out this economic **** storm, which isn't so bad (3 years undergrad, 3 years of law school, and possibly one year of ******* around).

Obviously people in law school right now are pretty fucked, especially current 3Ls and 2Ls (which I am). Apparently I am in an area that is relatively unaffected, but it has been tough going nonetheless. But that's nothing compared to my friends in law schools on the East Coast...though I hear the DC/NoVA area is still going pretty strong.

 

[Milhouse]

Some of the electives I took that were incredibly useful as an undergrad were:

"World religions" - by studying and understanding various religious perspectives, I found I was able to at least have an idea of where someone's perspective may be coming from. Since just about any job requires interaction with people, this has been very valuable.

Foreign language of any sort, but one of the big 5 is probably the best value. At the time, I didn't necessarily think it was the best use of my time and money, but now, at this point in my life, I wish I would have studied even harder and taken more courses.

Literature or writing courses. Being effective at communicating is absolutely critical and non-negotiable. Find the toughest professors for these classes. Simplicity is important, you often have limited time to get a point across (how often on these forums do people skip a long winded post??). I would imagine in law, this becomes several times more important.

As a science major in undergrad, I didn't have a whole lot of free electives, and what I did have, I ended up using to get a minor in mathematics (which, admittedly, I started on one track, and ended up studying statistics instead, so I have quite a bit of math). I have to say I find statistics to be INCREDIBLY useful. Yes, I use calculus on occasion for some things, but those things are still stochastic in nature. Having the understanding of theoretical and applied stats has usually been the thing that seals the deal for me when interviewing for jobs.

Finally, I took some computer science courses, but did not minor in it. It was math really. Much of science relies heavily on software, so I decided it would be useful to understand how the information is actually processed. Coursework in data structures, algorithms, as well as numerical analysis has been really helpful. I don't write software much these days (I did a lot in my science days), BUT, understanding how to break complex mathematical problems down into individual parts that can be written in software is really valuable in shaping how to think about any sort of problem you encounter. In grad school, my professors were always pleased with my ability to use logic and reason, break problems down into parts, and then apply the scientific method to eliminate solutions.