Classes I Wish I’d Taken In College

I did a post last week on the coolest classes I’d ever taken. This week, I’m back with a post on the classes I wish I’d taken! (But first…I’m famous! Thanks again, Jen! <3)

To preface, I majored in Exercise Biology (which has since been eaten by another major; I suspect it’s because we had so many awesome [but extremely expensive] toys to play with) and Music Performance (Piano).

My main focus/interest in terms of career goals, both then and now, was to go into Family Medicine and perhaps sub-specialize in Sports Medicine. (I am nothing if not consistent. >_>)

I very much loved and adored both my majors. <3 EXB housed 2/3 of my favorite science professors of all time, and I still really miss them and their classes. At the risk of sounding like a total creeper, I almosttt managed to take every single course they taught at the school because my registration time was so early, I never really had to worry about not getting into a class I wanted. (It is incredibly rare to find such gifted professors, so I wasn’t about to pass up any opportunities to learn from them!)

My real issue was with overlapping courses and the general lack of time to take them all. ;_;

This is me with my favorite professor of all time! :D He’s the person I was talking about in this post.

(My graduation dates were on two different days because I was split between two colleges. Since I’d promised to graduate with my music class long long ago, I crashed the Biological Sciences one by masquerading as part of the commencements ensemble. Hence, the all-black attire.)

Nutrition For Physically Active Persons: The role of nutrition and exercise in modifying metabolism, body composition, performance and health of humans.

• I am of the variety of human being that likes to read course catalogs for fun (…). This course was what first caught my eye and initially made me interested in switching one of my majors over to EXB, but it never ended up being offered after I switched because (I think) the professor went on sabbatical. :'( I’m trying to see if I can finagle an elective in Nutrition at the moment.

Clinical Exercise Physiology: Physical activity as a therapeutic modality in normal and diseased populations (cardiovascular, pulmonary, diabetic). Effects of exercise and inactivity in terms of normal physiology, pathophysiology, and therapeutic benefit. Exercise fitness and disease assessment methods.

• From what I heard, I would’ve learned everything I’d ever need to know about EKGs in this course (would’ve been pretty darn helpful for the CV course in med school…). But…this conflicted with Orchestration, which I needed to take as part of my requirements for my music major, so I took Environmental Effects on Human Performance instead (best class ever!). My life is pretty much a conglomeration of split priorities.

 

Physiology of Maximal Human Performance: Molecular mechanisms underlying adaptation to training. Learn how to exercise to maximize their own performance as well as learning how the frequency, intensity and timing of exercise and nutrition affect the molecular signals that underlie performance.

• As weird as this may sound (mostly just because I’m in medical school), I’ve never been a science-y person. (I’m still not, as a matter of fact.) It’s never been a subject that’s come easily for me, and I tended to excel in the artsy fartsy world. My favorite subjects in high school were English, Journalism and Treble Ensemble.
• In undergrad, however, my favorites became Anatomy and pretty much all my EXB and music classes. Really, this just goes to show that you have to find the right thing for yourself. I love a very specific type of science, and although I hatehatehate research, if it’d been EXB, I wouldn’t have minded at all. That being said, this class would’ve been right up my alley.

Physical Activity and the Disabled: The study of the diverse and complex nature of individuals with disabilities and how they adapt to their disabilities in daily living. Integration of individuals with disabilities into the community, schools, and physical activity and recreational programs.

• For my master’s, I researched medical schools/FM residency programs across the country to see if they provided their students with any sort of training with patients with developmental (or other) disabilities. The short answer is a very resounding “no” (although there are a couple programs scattered out there that do a pretty stellar job with that). I feel like this course would’ve been super helpful for me since I want to go into primary care! :(

Prevention and Care of Sports Injuries: Prevention, care, and rehabilitation of injuries incurred by athletes. Laboratory on anatomy, emergency care, physical therapy methods, and taping techniques.

• This goes hand in hand with my interest in Sports Medicine. During my informal postbac “program,” I almost managed to pick up an Associate’s in Athletic Training (2 classes away! :'( ). I would’ve loved to have the chance to take this one!

 

Advanced Procedures in Evaluation and Management of Athletic Injuries: Advanced study of the evaluation and management of athletic injuries, including mechanism of injury, biomechanics and pathophysiology. Current topics in athletic training.

• Same deal as the above! I got somewhat scarred by my biomechanics class (I like to think my poor performance was due to the fact that I hadn’t taken the prerequisite or the recommended co-requisite), but…Sports Med!

Private Voice Lessons

• I actually hadn’t planned on double-majoring, but then I found out that instrument lessons were free(!) if you were a music major, so I decided…why the hell not? :D (That was actually the original catalyst to the start of my academic suicide.) But here’s the thing! If you picked up a second instrument, it was only $100/quarter, which roughly equates to $10/private lesson. I’ve always wanted to learn to sing/take legitimate voice lessons, but could I fit this into my schedule? Nooooo. :'(

 

Rock Climbing

• Just the fact that this was offered as a class was pretty awesome. I never ended up being able to fit it into my schedule because it always conflicted with some kind of science or music course!

 

Tractor Driving

• I kid you not; we had a tractor driving class (where you’d get to go a super-speedy 4 miles per hour!). This would’ve been kinda hilarious to take, if only for the stories that’d follow.

Education for Sustainable Living

• I didn’t even know this existed until recently, but being a science camp counselor made its mark on me!  I’d love to learn more about other things I could do to leave less of a footprint in this world! *-* I really liked being able to walk/bike everywhere instead of driving (hence, why Davis was ideal for me, aside from the whole not having a license or a car thing). Living in a place with no sidewalks has made this somewhat difficult. It’s my hope that the place I end up to “settle down” or whatever will be somewhere that doesn’t require a car to get everywhere. :] Preferably also not a city though.
  

 

What are some classes you wish you could’ve taken?