Picking your class roster might be the most aggravating aspect of university life.
After weeks of tiptoeing around the minefields that are 8 a.m. lectures and dreadful instructors, you finally log in to enroll in the one course that will keep your graduation on track — only to see the available seats evaporate before your eyes.
In a frenzy, you register for three different philosophy courses just to fill up your timetable.
But let’s be honest.
College is an existential tumble all by itself, and you don’t need another lofty lecturer telling you we’re mere specs of dust careening through space on a rock while society rests on arbitrary notions of right and wrong, and something about shadows on a cave wall — and for heaven’s sake, what is the point of all this?!
Ahem.
What I’m getting at is if your tuition cash has to go somewhere, you might as well take a class you enjoy. And what’s more pleasurable than sneakers and caffeine? Probably nothing.
If you need to plug gaps in your schedule, hunt for classes that pique your curiosity — you’ll have a better time, and you might even pick up something useful along the way.
12 Odd College Courses That Have Actually Been Taught
To jumpstart your search, here are several (entirely real) courses from recent years to spark your exploration through the deeper corners of the course catalog.
1. Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse: Disasters, Catastrophes, and Human Behavior
This online offering from Michigan State University examines how people act during calamities and disasters.
Students work through scenarios to learn about planning and management that support group survival, and, more broadly, what a catastrophic event would mean for society.
(Bonus: it’s open to anyone interested — both students and non-students!)
2. The Art of Walking: The German Novella
Centre College provides this course about walking, for those of us who never quite mastered the art.
Not literally just walking. It’s really an investigation of German wandering traditions via literature and weekly hikes — so yes, some contemplation is involved.
3. Introduction to Beekeeping
Since learning how to aid our crucial and rapidly declining pollinator pals is important, you can even earn college credit doing it.
This class from Temple University covers the science and craft of beekeeping and explains bees’ essential role in ecosystems.
4. The Science of Harry Potter
This class at Frostburg State University was conceived by Professor Plitnik (who sounds like he could be a real Harry Potter persona) and explores the physics behind the magic in the adored book series.
5. Lemonade: Black Women, Beyonce & Popular Culture
The University of Texas at San Antonio runs a course that examines “the theoretical, historical, and literary frameworks of Black feminism, which feature prominently in Lemonade,” by studying Black feminist literature, theory, film and music — pretty much everything the album encapsulates.
6. Coffee 101
Exactly what it suggests: This course from Oberlin Experimental College focuses on “coffee and its history for the average Joe” (I see your espresso pun).
Oberlin Experimental College runs a program allowing community members and students to design and teach unconventional classes. Honorable mention: Beginning Dungeons and Dragons.
7. How to Stage a Revolution
Ohio State University appears to be grooming the next wave of rebels. Kidding (maybe), but it does offer a course that examines various revolutionary movements to understand why some succeed and others collapse.
8. The #selfie
One day, when civilization as we know it is gone, alien archaeologists from galaxies far away might sift through countless duck-face selfies and shirtless shots — and it will be just as baffling to them as it is to us.
But that’s not exactly the focus of this class, which was offered at Duke University. Instead, it explored the history of portraiture and contemporary ideas about everyday life.
Trust me, the content is far more compelling than the title suggests.
9. Tightwaddery, Or the Good Life on a Dollar a Day
“Money doesn’t buy happiness.”
Indeed, sage advice — and the premise behind this seminar from Alfred University, where students considered the notion that the link between happiness and money is “a myth promoted by capitalists to move their merchandise.”
Maybe true, but the class tackled the subject both theoretically (through discussions about students’ ties to money) and practically (by studying ways to live frugally). It’s like Savinly 101 for penny-wise living.
10. The Politics of Kanye West: Black Genius and Sonic Aesthetics
A full semester devoted to Kanye West. Just imagine.
Not everyone’s favorite subject, perhaps.
Still, the idea behind this course at Washington University in St. Louis is intriguing. The class analyzes Kanye’s effect on music, fashion, politics and visual media, and inspects how those domains shape our perspectives on fame, gender, sexuality and race. A fascinating lens on an eccentric figure.
11. Patternmaking For Dog Garments
The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York offers this course, which is exactly what it sounds like.
Students learn to convert simple sketches into patterns for canine clothing, and it’s actually trickier than you’d expect. Learners use a dog dress form to grasp the contours and proportions of various breeds, so there’s definitely a technical element.
And let’s be honest, this expertise could prove very useful one day.
12. Wasting Time on the Internet
The University of Pennsylvania once presented this course, which reframed “wasting time on the internet” as an aesthetic act, calling the World Wide Web the “greatest poem ever written.”
Nice try, Penn. This probably amounted to an entire semester of cat videos under the guise of scholarship.
If you’ve stuck with this article to the end, you’ve successfully squandered at least 10 minutes online, so well done!
Your Turn: What’s the oddest class you’ve ever enrolled in?
Alex Carter is a junior staff writer at Savinly. He once took a course where the final exam was an overnight camping trip — and he almost flunked.
If you enjoyed these quirky course ideas, you might also like to browse some weird listings facebook marketplace florida for more bizarre finds.
