College Coursework

[Whill]

So I graduated from college over 25 years ago and I had never ordered a transcript of my college coursework. It crossed my mind to do so every now and then, but I never got around to it until this week. What a blast from the past. I made a list of courses by categories and thought I would put it online.

I'm still not even sure why I went to college in the first place. Due to my excellent ASVAB score the Army relentlessly attempted to recruit me, but it just wasn't for me. When the high school counselor asked what I planned, I remember saying I want to go to college but I'm not sure for what. The counselor asked if I had any criteria for college, and I said it must be cheap because I would be taking out student loans to go to college. One of them on the list she made was the school where a cousin was attending, and it was also where my favorite teacher (high school chemistry) had graduated from, so I chose my college based on that. It was about 2.5 hours from home. My school is a combination of community college and university — The first two years are cheap and then when you have enough credits to qualify as a junior, you switch from community college to university and the tuition more than triples. I think I had the idea to transfer somewhere else when that happened, but I never did.

I went to college undecided, and I didn't even declare a major until the end of my first year there. During my third Calculus course, one day the professor asked me to stay after class and he asked me what my major was. I told him I was still undecided. He told me that I was the only one in that class getting an A and everyone else was a math major. He saw a future college professor in me so I declared a major in math. By the time I graduated I realized that I had amassed so much debt in student loans that I had to get out into the work force and start paying it down instead of borrowing a lot more money for four years of graduate school. As it turns out, a bachelor in mathematics is almost worthless without an education certificate or higher education. The professor was a math genius and a decent teacher but a sh!tty counselor.

This is not meant to convey a current base of knowledge I possess. I have forgotten most of what I learned in college, and there are even a couple classes on this list that I have no memory of even taking. Unfortunately, cramming my short term memory was a thing I depended on sometimes for classes I didn't care about. And alcohol ruins memory. And although I ended up with good GPAs, I had to retake a couple classes I had flunked or withdrawn (I took Computer Programming I three tries to finally get a B!) Also, except for paid student tutoring, I have not used my college education professionally. (The math I sometimes do for my job is middle/high school algebra). I do still have some of my college textbooks and even notes and assignments for some of these classes. This list represents my unfulfilled potential more than anything else. And although I highly value academic education, I acknowledge that there are skilled trainings and other experiences many of you have accomplished that I simply could not do. I also have a lot more knowledge than what this would even suggests, from my profession and studies of personal interest (I read a lot more non-fiction than fiction).

If it seems like a lot of a classes for a mere bachelor degree, it is, for multiple reasons. Back then, the university was on quarters, not semesters (I've read there was a big push for all colleges to convert for semesters since then - It makes transferring credits easier). And I attended most summers. And I took more Math and English classes than required for those programs, so some of the classes technically qualified as electives. (Like the first three math classes below. I'm not sure why I took extra English classes because some of those were Cs and brought my GPA down.) I ended up with more credits than needed to graduate.

This is list is mostly for my own reference, but please feel free to chime in with your college classwork or ask any questions that come to mind.



School: University of Rio Grande
Graduation Date: 1994
Degree: Bachelor of Science
Major: MATHEMATICS
Minors: English/Philosophy and Religion
Overall GPA: B+
Math GPA: A

UNIVERSITY CLASSES

Mathematics

MATHEMATICS FOR EDUCATORS I
MATHEMATICS FOR EDUCATORS II
TRIGONOMETRY
CALCULUS I
CALCULUS II
CALCULUS III
MULTIVARIABLE CALCULUS
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS I
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS II
PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS
LINEAR ALGEBRA
ABSTRACT ALGEBRA I
ABSTRACT ALGEBRA II
NUMBER THEORY
HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS

Philosophy and Religion

INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
ETHICS
HONORS PHILOSOPHY: POPULAR CULTURE AND MASS MEDIA
LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING
SYMBOLIC LOGIC
Directed Studies: PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS
Directed Studies: PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

English

COMPOSITION I
COMPOSITION II
CREATIVE WRITING
INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE
WORLD LITERATURE I
COMPARATIVE NOVEL
MYTH & ROMANCE
AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1861
BRITISH LITERATURE TO 1798
SHAKESPEARE I
ADVANCED BRITISH LITERATURE: CHAUCER
Directed Studies: ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING
ENGLISH GRAMMAR

Communication / Language

FUNDAMENTALS OF SPEECH COMMUNICATION
LISTENING
SPANISH I

History

WESTERN CIVILIZATION I
WESTERN CIVILIZATION III
AMERICAN HISTORY III

Social Science / Psychology

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL SCIENCE
PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY
HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY
ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Natural Science

FUNDAMENTALS OF BIOLOGY
BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
DESCRIPTIVE ASTRONOMY
PRINCIPLES OF PHYSICS

Computer Science

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS
COMPUTER PROGRAMMING I

Miscellaneous

PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN (ART)
BEGINNING ACTING

Health and Physical Education

HUMAN WELLNESS AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION
BADMINTON
ARCHERY
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