hmpf: Cole and Ramse from the show not actually called "Splinter" (Default)
hmpf ([personal profile] hmpf) wrote2007-05-03 01:41 am
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Oh, university...

you're making it hard to keep up my enthusiasm for you.

*sigh*

There are fifteen seminars being offered this semester in American studies.

Five of them take place on Tuesday between four and six p.m.

These also happen to be the only ones that are 1.) interesting, 2.) fit into my plans of what I want to do in my last couple of terms of uni (and possibly in my thesis), 3.) didn't require signing up months in advance, and 4.) that I haven't already taken earlier.

So, I can only take *one* interesting seminar this term. Which means I need to fill the rest of my required classes with a) stuff that bores me to death (19th century stuff; the rise of unitarianism; art criticism; objectivism in American poetry) or b) stuff I've already done.

This is not only annoying because I'll be forced to waste time I could have spent learning something interesting learning about stuff I'm not interested in instead; it's also highly inconvenient because I'm still not sure what I'm going to write my thesis about, and was hoping that some seminar would give me an idea. Seminars on objectivism in poetry are unlikely to do that, as I'm interested neither in objectivism nor in poetry. Nor am I willing to write my thesis about the 19th century, one of my least favourite periods in history, and art criticism isn't something I can see myself getting interested in, either. American religions, on the other hand *are* kind of interesting, but that particular seminar is the third in a series, and I didn't take the first two, so I'd be missing the foundations.

They probably put all the interesting seminars on the same day and time because they guessed that those would be the most popular, and they wanted to force students to take only one of the interesting/popular ones and then take some of the boring/redundant/ridiculously-specialised-in-areas-few-people-care-about ones, too.

Gotta love German universities.

[identity profile] steelvictory.livejournal.com 2007-05-03 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
Gotta love German universities.

Ha! You assume American universities don't do the Exact. Same. Thing.

Good luck and let us know what you decide to take!

Academic stupidity is universal then?

[identity profile] hmpf.livejournal.com 2007-05-03 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)
*sigh* How disappointing.

[identity profile] ommadon.livejournal.com 2007-05-03 08:40 am (UTC)(link)
Sorry, clearly missing something here... Why is 4-6 on Tuesday bad?

[identity profile] ommadon.livejournal.com 2007-05-03 08:41 am (UTC)(link)
Oh sorry, you mean the same Tuesday. Got ya. Hang on a minute.... that's retarded!

Yes, it really is retarded.

[identity profile] hmpf.livejournal.com 2007-05-03 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Or rather, there's probably method to the madness, as it keeps the interesting seminars from being overcrowded and forces the students to take unpopular seminars that otherwise would end up almost empty.

But I only have this term and the next to find a topic for my thesis, and to lay the foundations for said thesis. If I don't find a seminar that helps me to lay some of those foundations, I'll be completely on my own. And I'm not sure I feel quite capable of really starting from scratch with my thesis...

[identity profile] beccatoria.livejournal.com 2007-05-03 10:46 am (UTC)(link)
(19th century stuff; the rise of unitarianism; art criticism; objectivism in American poetry)

I'm a unitarian! Did we once rise? Wow. I bet it took a really long time to get us all to agree to that.

Quotes unitarian badge purchased for her mother: "Unitarians are bad at congregational singing because they're always looking ahead to see if they agree with the rest of the lyrics." ;)

But, um, slightly more on topic, that sucks. I'm assuming distance learning or extra-curricular tutoring aren't other options? Yeah. That's dumb. Hang in there. You're almost done with uni!

The thing is, I'm only almost done if...

[identity profile] hmpf.livejournal.com 2007-05-03 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
I manage to find enough stuff to do this term. The way it's beginning to look I may well have to stay another semester, just to fill my required quota of seminars.

*annoyed*

Of course, that will also cost me a load of money. (700 euros *sigh*.)