CMU School of Drama


Monday, April 17, 2006

DPs Recommend Electives

Intro. to Business Management - a good basic course that introduces all of the aspects of business (accounting, marketing, information systems, managing employees, etc.). Not too much work. Simple hw assignments for almost every time the class meets, short quizzes almost every time the class meets, 4 exams which are sometimes open book.

I also took a tennis class last semester (a mini) which gave me 3 units, was really fun and we would almost always end the class early.
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Take:
Business Communications- Good advice on writing e-mails, resume's, higher/Fire letters, and some oral communications in the form of group and single presentations. I took it with Chad Hermann..he is GREAT and very funny. Everyone will love him
Oral Communications- great class. Helps to focus speeches and meetings. I had Chad, which was great. There are lots of teachers, but Chad is the best.
Causation and Social Policy- Great class taught by a great professor, Scheines (sp). Not a lot of math, but some. Teaches about the relevancy/legitimacy of polls and things. Great for understanding more about how those polls and studies affect Social and government policies.
Interpersonal Communication- good for figuring out more about your own personality. Great for people who want to learn more about networking and how to deal with interesting work-related circumstances.
Rape Agression Defense- great class for women. Really easy and you learn a lot of techniques on how to defend yourself.

DO NOT TAKE:
Organizational Behavior- seems like a good class, it was painful. Taylor took it too.
Conflict Dispute Resolution- without checking out the teacher. Mine was taught by a really annoying guy from Duquesene. You think it will be a good class, and it could be with a different teacher.

CONSIDER TAKING:
Principles of Econ- ONLY WITH KLEPPER! He's harder, but he teaches you things. The other teacher supposedly grades easier, but that's only if you already understand Econ. Klepper does lots of experiment funness.

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Principles Of Economics:

Basic, entry level economics course required as a pre-requisite for many additional economics and business courses. Level of work depends on the instructor.

Required as a pre-requisite for anyone considering the MAM or MEIM 3-1-1 program.
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Business Communications It's a class that teaches students how to act professional in a professional setting. (speech, body/verbal communication, attitude) -Teaches on how to motivate and work efficiently with people you are managing -Thoroughly reviews resumes and interviews -Not a lot of work

Organizational Behavior: -Good for PTm students bc you learn how to efficiently work in groups and understand reasons for peoples behavior -kinda time consuming, a lot of group meetings

Eurhythmics I (probably for stage managers) -It helps you understand beats, rhythms -Helps to read scores quickly and understand meters and etc.. -Very helpful for sms into musicals
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Hi Boevers....Ok, so I took this class this semester called Tutoring, Mentoring, and Role Modeling....It was such an easy/rewarding class...It was Tuesday mornings from 9-10:20, and you had to complete 24 hours of community service...however, the instructor found the places for you to work that fit into your schedule....definitely a good find. Her name is Judith Hallinen....don't remember the course number. Its a 6 unit course.
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I've really enjoyed the music extension program. I'm surprised more people don't know about it...

You have to pay for it, but you can get up to 9 credits for it, and take private instruments in any instrument you like, even voice lessons!

I recommend drum lessons because the teacher is fantastic and it's a great way to chill out form the craziness of this life, but whatever instrument makes someone happy is probably good.

Also, don't take Decision Processes in American Political Institutions unless you want to learn every angle of the statistics of voting. Because if you don't, it's really boring and a lot of work.

Other than that, most of my electives that I really liked no longer exist (like Introduction to Journalism because the teacher left) or the bad ones (Art and Culture...again, no teacher anymore).

So that's all I got.
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I have taken two great electives.

The one i am currently in is called "Tutoring, Mentoring & Role Modeling". It meets once a week (for an hour and a half), and teaches different types of mentoring as well as tutoring techniques. In addition to the one class period a week, we are expected to complete 24 hours of "service" over the course of the semester. This is grest because not only do you get to "get out of purnell", but you get to get off campus and go to local schools. The teacher does her best to place us in areas/age groups we are interested in, and will accomodate any schedule. Dominique, Jessika Aldrige and Christina See are also in it with me, so it can easily be done on our school of drama schedules.

Last semester I took a Eurythmics class (for non-majors). It was a lot of fun and a great way to let out energy while learning about music. There is very little work in this class, and it only meets twice a week (for an hour each).

Hope this helps...
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15-100 - Intro to programming was fun and there are 5 million sections of it, so its easy to get into. It is a fair bit of work though. I thought it was really interesting.

Contemp. American Fiction was great but I don't think they are offering it in the Fall...but I would recommend other classes with prof. Williams. I think he mostly teaches grad courses though.

I wouldn't take Abnormal Psych again. But it was easy and mildly interesting - its also a lecture course, so you can kinda go when you want.

None of these have any particular merit for PTM students really, but that's the only 2 cents I've got to give.
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Social Psychology.

good for management folks, and figuring out people and how they work. theres a good emphasis in the text book on how to correctly manage people by influencing them in the correct manners, etc.

fair warning, however, there is a heavy workload for this course.

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