College Classes: What Are the Best Electives to Take?

Trying to decide what electives to take in college can be difficult. And whenever you try to ask someone their opinion, the usual response is to take what you like. That advice may work for some classes, but not for all of them. If you haven’t already taken, for instance, a sociology class, how are you going to know if you like it? Here is my list of classes that I recommend without hesitation.

1) Creative Writing

After you have completed the necessary English prerequisites, creative writing is an excellent elective. The class will help you to put your imagination on paper, which may be a useful skill. It will also help to develop your writing skills, which will definitely be useful in other classes.

If you don’t feel comfortable in your ability to write poetry (which is required in most creative writing classes), some colleges have courses that are devoted entirely to short story fiction. This is the only class in my list that I’d recommend to take online. The best classes are those that cause an engaging class discussion, which isn’t really the case with creative writing.

2) Mythology

It depends on the college as to the department this falls under. At one school I attended, it was in the English department. Mythology may have some prerequisites such as college composition. I really enjoyed this class. However, that may be because I already had an interest in mythology. The teacher introduced us to some excellent films, such as “Erik the Viking.”

3) Anthropology

I took anthropology because my major was sociology and it was a sociology elective. Despite that, it was another of my favorite classes. We learned about the customs and beliefs of other societies.

4) Existentialism

Admittedly, this class is a bit hard. But I really enjoyed it. If you want a class that challenges you to think, this is the one. The teacher I had introduced the class to an excellent existentialist film called, “I Heart Huckabees.” It was hilarious.

5) Marketing

If you aren’t a business major, a marketing class will certainly diversify your transcript. It’s interesting to learn about how companies promote their products. After taking this class, you may discover that business is your passion.

6) A class about a foreign country

I always wanted to take one of those courses about Japan that I saw on the course list, but I never managed to fit it in my schedule. However, I did take a class called Introduction to Contemporary Asia. And we also discussed Australia. It was so interesting to learn about some of those countries. You never know what field you’ll find yourself working in after college (many college graduates don’t work in their field of study) and being more aware of other countries may be useful.

7) Classes required by other colleges

Lastly, I highly recommend taking some classes that are required at most schools but that your college didn’t require. For example, I’ve known people online who have said that their college didn’t require a foreign language. My first thought was that maybe it was common for the area where they went to college. But mostly, I wondered if the school was easy in other regards as well. That’s not the bad impression that you want to risk making on a hiring manager.