10 Awesome Courses At UCI You Didn’t Know Existed

When I was considering majors for college, I did not take everyone’s wise advice and research many different fields of study. I suppose I was really lucky when going through this process, because I automatically knew what my goal was. I knew what I wanted to be: a writer. And that is all good and fun, but it’s simply not the norm for the majority of young adults. The reality for most people starting college is anxiety – lots and lots of it! So let this article destress you from your worries about the future! Sit back, laugh at these hilarious courses at UCI (that are actually available), and then enroll in one of them. These courses are sure to make you forget you are even in class.

1. Spaceflight Mechanics (4 Units)

We all grew up dreaming about space, and a few of us even wanted to become astronauts! Well apparently there are courses at UCI that can actually prepare you for just that. Spaceflight Mechanics is a course available for aerospace engineering majors in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering. At this school of 3,125 students, focus is in the operation and design of all things flight related. And in this course in particular, we are talking about flying to places like the moon and Mars. No one can say that’s not cool, so embrace your inner nerd!

2. Global Issues In Anthropological Perspective (4 Units)

Welcome to the world of social sciences, where barriers are broken, change is the goal, and humanity is heavily examined. This is the home of courses at UCI for anteater anthropology majors; and by anthropology, I am not referring to the store! Before the store ever came along, people were studying present human societies and cultures in comparison to the the past. This course in particular focuses on global society conflicts including ethnicity, identity, immigration, and citizenship. Six thousand, five hundred ninety students at UCI already find topics like these to be intellectually stimulating – maybe you will too!

3. German Cinema (4 Units)

You may think at this point that I am joking, but this is one of the real courses at UCI for German studies majors. In this major, humanities students study the three main aspects of culture from a humanistic perspective: film, language, and literature. This course focuses on the film aspect of German culture. So yes, if you think taking this course revolves around watching movies all day in class, you are exactly right! Show up to class, watch movies, and then analyze them from a theoretical, comparative, and historical perspective. It sounds pretty fantastic to me, just remember you must be an upper division student to be eligible for this course.

4. Computer Game Development (4 Units)

If you’re a World of Warcraft queen, a Call of Duty assassin, or a Mario Cart maniac, this is the course for you. It’s the perfect marriage between technological knowledge and innovative creativity! The Computer Game Development course is available for informatics majors of the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences. Being a student at this school is a highly coveted opportunity for all you secret gamers, because UC Irvine is actually the only university in the UC system with an independent computing school!

5. Study Of Traditional Japanese Poetry and Drama (4 Units)

This too is a real course, and it is available for Japanese language and literature majors at Irvine’s School of Humanities. Aside from this course’s natural intrigue, it’s study material is newly selected each year by highly knowledgeable and passionate professors of East Asian study. With new poems to analyze and fresh manuscripts to divulge, nothing about this course becomes repetitive to teach or boring to learn! This is the opportunity to explore a complex culture in all its diversity, but from a literary perspective. We’d be surprised to find how much can be learned from poetry and drama.

6. Orchestral Conducting (4 Units)

Have you dreamt about being the maestro at Philharmonie de Paris? Do you swoon at the first note to Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro?” If the answer to these questions is yes – and honestly it should be for all of us – then UC Irvine has the fix to your musical ambition! The Claire Trevor School of the Arts is heaven on Earth for students looking to satisfy their academic as well as creative soul. Here, music theatre majors explore the dimensions of art in society, and through this Orchestral Conducting course, they learn how to turn learned information into true art. This course is for music graduate students only, as it involves intense as well as private instruction. I can almost hear your future masterpiece now!

7. Human Memory (4 Units)

Irvine’s Department of Cognitive Science offers courses at UCI that deal with the complexity of the abstract; and by that I mean, the mind. Psychology and social behavior majors are able to take a course entirely dedicated to human memory and the underlying structure of human cognition. The course touches upon short-term verses long-term theory, visual as well as auditory memory, and everything in between. Just think, you could even potentially apply this course to our world struggle with Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. You could be simultaneously taking an interesting course while laying the ground work for real change in the medical field.

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8. Interrogation, Confession, And The Law (4 Units)

So are you going to be bad cop and I am going to be good cop, or vice versa? Just kidding, because if you were to take this course, you would not need anyone to help you in that interrogation room! UC Irvine’s School of Social Ecology is the perfect home to all you Criminal Minds fanatics, all you NCIS binge watchers, and even The Blacklist junkies. The consequences of a false confession can be detrimental and far reaching in our society, but this social psychology course fully prepares it’s criminology, law, and society majors for the daunting complexity of crime.

9. Money, Sex, And Power (4 Units)

Twenty years ago, this would not have been an available course of study – heck even ten years ago! But this is the modern world I suppose, and gender and sexuality studies majors are on the rise. This course is exactly what it says in the name; there are no surprises. Here we are dealing with money, sex, and power, and how they all intertwine with one another in the twenty first century. And if the courses intriguing topic isn’t enough to automatically entice you, just remember you would be studying at Irvine’s School of Humanities, which has numerous accolades including two Pulitzer prizes!

10. Critical Theory Of Television (4 Units)

What do audiences want to see? What makes them change the channel and what forces them to keep watching? These are the questions being asked by film and media studies majors, and these are the questions they find answers to. This is where marketing strategies are born and where the words “aesthetically pleasing” become the key to successful reception! For so long I have wondered why I could never stop watching Matthew McConaughey car commercials or why I needed to stay up and watch the preview for next week’s Bachelorette episode, but this is where those methods are studied and perfected. Why not join the Mad Men?

Check out these courses at UCI and get creative with what you’re learning! You might just discover something you’re really interested in.

Know any other awesome courses at UCI? Comment below!

Featured image source: instagram.com/tyfrenchphoto