Everyone is excited for his or her senior year. Hell, I’m still excited. I can’t believe registration from my second semester of senior year was last week! Now that I’m finally done with my major requirements, I can take whatever I want just for funsies. Right? Looking at classes to take for next semester was a real struggle. There are so many things that I would be interested in learning about – political science, women’s studies, religion, education, sociology – and yet seniors aren’t allowed to take many of the in-troductory and 200 level classes. But how am I supposed to get into a 300 level education class when I haven’t taken any before now? That is just it, you can’t.There are definitely reasons for not encouraging seniors to take 100 and 200 level classes; it is supposedly going to be too easy for them and something that they should have taken as a first-year or sophomore. Yet back then, you are focused on completing requirements and distributions. I wish I could go back to my first-year self and tell her to take whatever she wants; there is plenty of time to get in all of my double major classes.

Yet this is something that Colgate encourages. Nowhere along the way did my advisers tell me to take what interested me, or go for a crazy class. Instead, I kept my nose to the grindstone, fulfilling require-ments and distributions that I needed to graduate. As did many seniors. But then what can I take next semester for fun? I am not sure what the answer is. Honestly, it is not that I don’t like my concentrations. I love them. And I have enjoyed almost all of my classes I’ve taken for them. But it would be nice to be able to take an introduction class if I wanted to without the hassle of fighting the administration or department every step of the way. Maybe Colgate, a liberal arts university that is supposed to encourage multi-faceted ways of education, can create some sort of option for seniors. Like senior 200s or intro-duction classes. Maybe not every department should have to do this, but there should be some way for seniors who have finished their requirements to get their fill of a liberal arts education with the support of the administration – some way for seniors to take something completely different without just getting the easy A. That is what liberal arts are about, right? Broadening our horizons and graduating with a well-rounded education.

Maybe future classes will get to fill out a survey on introduction or 200 level classes they would want to take as seniors, and it could be a seniors-only class. Or maybe, just maybe, the administration will realize the benefits of allowing seniors to take something they are truly interested in learning about. And maybe the seniors won’t just be looking for that easy A class. So to all you underclassmen who have just finished scrambling around looking at distribution and major requirements, take a minute and think about your four years here. Make sure not to save all of your free classes for the last semester, or you may miss some awesome opportunities.

Contact Rebecca Raudabaugh at [email protected].