Embracing The GE Requirements

by Lanie Brice ‘24

We have all complained about the GE system at USC. Whether it’s having to read tons of books as a STEM student or remembering how to do math as a musician, GEs often put us in uncomfortable spots, take up a lot of time, and feel entirely unrelated to both our current work and our future careers. There’s no denying that there are many flaws in USC’s general education system from just how many of these credits you have to take and the money you pour into them, the lack of options with pages worth of WebReg dedicated to classes only open to certain majors, and the amount of work and expertise that can be expected in a field you have no background with. Trust me, I’ve done my fair share of complaining. But as a senior this year, I’m learning to embrace the GEs and make the best of the situation.

Wait It Out For The Good Classes/Professors

This isn’t possible for every sub-type of GE or even every set of schedule needs. Sometimes, you’ll just have to grit your teeth and get through a less than desirable class with an unreasonable professor just to have it over with. But in certain areas like GE B and GE C, there are a much broader array of classes, topics, and disciplines. While it can be tempting to take any open class to get your required classes out of the way early, I think there’s also a lot to be said for saving at least a few of your GEs until you’re an upperclassman with seniority to get into the most interesting classes with the highest rated professors. 

English, social sciences, and general humanities classes were always my favorite in high school, so while I did a GE B and GE C class in my first year at USC, I waited to do the other two required classes until I could get into sections that felt interesting and related to topics I wanted to learn about. Since I was a transfer student, I knew that checking GE boxes was going to be the closest I’d get to elective classes beyond my major, so I took my time and waited to finish those requirements until I could find open GE classes that also sounded fun. 

Open Your Mind to Embracing New Topics

With the cost of college being astronomically high these days, it’s only natural that the focus of education has shifted to maximizing your hireability and earning potential after college. And from that point of view, any class that doesn’t relate directly to your field of study feels like a total waste of time. Why am I learning about Mayan civilizations when I could be at a networking event? 

Regardless of whether the current job focused perspective is the right one to bring to college, we all have to complete these GEs to graduate, and they’ll be a lot more fulfilling if you can open your mind and embrace learning about new and different things instead of being resentful the entire time. Try approaching these classes and somewhat random or niche topics with a sense of wonder and curiosity and enjoy the break from discussing a handful of similar topics within your major. Often, it’s actually these classes and the random facts I learned in them that pop into my head during everyday life. I still go back to my sophomore year linguistics GE to explain everyday occurrences or wonder what my climate change professor would say about a hurricane in LA. Maybe these classes won’t directly contribute to your career goals, but if you stay open to them, they might make you a more interesting person. Sometimes it’s really rewarding to get to learn for learning’s sake.

Find Connections To What You Do Care About Where You Can 

This semester, I’m taking an anthropology class, and my professor is very into getting us to connect our expertise, interests, and majors to what we’re learning in class, especially through topics for our final paper. She even talked about how her time studying anthropology as a graduate student while working her investment banking job made her perform better at the bank. There’s tenants of even the most disparate disciplines that can be tied together to bring out a new perspective or method of doing things. Look for places where your interests can intersect with the requirements as a way to make these classes feel more worthwhile.

Explore New Communities at USC

Another benefit of the GEs is that you get to meet parts of the USC community and be exposed to opportunities you’d never hear about otherwise. It’s a chance to make more friends and expand your circle past the people you see every semester in your major classes. Through the anthropology class I’m taking this semester, I found out about STARC, which is USC’s archeology club that’s open to all students. I’m not an anthropology major or minor, but it’s presented a cool opportunity to get to know other USC students that I never would’ve met otherwise and hear about fun events like museum tours and movies. 

While it’s totally valid to keep complaining about all the GEs we have to take, these are the ways I’ve tried to make the best out of the classes I’m required to attend. Going into these rooms fostering a sense of curiosity and an open mind has really allowed me to go from resenting these requirements to actually having them be some of my favorite classes. If anything, I hope this is a good reminder that it’s okay to let yourself just enjoy learning just for the sake of learning sometimes. That’s what university was originally all about. 

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