Sophmore paper, course selection

February 25th, 2006
swat
Walking into the Fishbowl lounge, we see students bent over computers and forms. Freshmen and Juniors laugh, Sophomores growl, and the word "major" is heavy on the air. It has become February, a time when sophomores must reflect on their future and realize that they will not be forever Swarthmore students.

There are many approaches to this strange and disheartening news, ranging from obsession to apathy, and students are well distributed over the spectrum. As the Monday deadline approaches, however, the prospect of another year of sophomore-level housing pulls more and more students to the obsessive end. And there is an awful lot to obsess about.

Obsession, even temporary, does have its uses, and now I sit with a completed sophomore paper and forms filled out. I plan now to do an honors major in CS with preparations in natural language and visual information systems, and an honors minor and course major in Ling. Selecting courses is a really fun puzzle. Taking them is fun too, but sometimes less so.

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