Junior year time to make career, graduate school plans
Students say research on
future careers and
education is valuable
By Edward Yuen
Oregon Daily Emerald
Being a junior means some
thing to many students — they’re
halfway done.
However, for some University
students, being a junior means the
time for them to make different
decisions: graduation, career
goals and maybe going to gradu
ate school.
Besides focusing on academics,
juniors should make plans for the
future.
Phebe Shing, an accounting
major, said she decided to gradu
ate earlier because of a change in
policy. Shing said if she does not
graduate before the end of Decem
ber, she has to take another 45
credits to be elgible to take the
Certified Public Accountant ex
amination.
However, Shing is not nervous
about look
ing for a job
because
passing the
CPA exami
nation is
her first pri
ority at this
time.
“I started
taking 21
credits per term since last
spring.” Shing said, “but it’s OK
for me.”
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Catherine Chan, a psychology
major, recommended that juniors
should start doing research on
graduate schools or start doing re
search on future careers.
“Juniors should start planning
for senior courses and future ca
reers,” she said.
Javier Hernandez, a double ma
jor in international studies and
environmental studies, said it is
important to take the classes that
fulfill the requirements for both of
his majors. He recommended stu
dents see their advisors about the
classes they should take for their
majors.
For some students, being a ju
nior may also be the time to have
new experiences.
Brian Steif, a sociology and
women’s studies major, trans
ferred from a junior college to the
University in his junior year.
Steif said his favorite experi
ence was being exposed to some
original thinkers, such as Kate
Bomstein and bell hooks.
He said these speakers’ studies
on sexism, racism and gender is
sues “added many more layers to
educational experience” for him.
Besides spending more time
studying, Hernandez said stu
dents should get involved with
the student union. Getting in
volved in the community allows
Hernandez to have a better view
of the University and its policies.
But not everyone feels nervous
about being a junior.
“It’s kind of funny because for a
whole year I think I was a sopho
more, but I found out last term I
am a junior,” said Sally Forry, a
biology major. “People need to re
lax, try not to get too stressed or
too concerned about the major.”
Studying challenging
during Summer Session
The term offers flexible
scheduling and smaller
classes for students
By Victor Runyan
Oregon Daily Emerald
Summer is almost here, and for
some students it will be time to
hit the books — again.
Many students at the Universi
ty choose to take classes during
the summer. For some, it is a time
to complete a class they did not
take during the standard school
year. For others, it is a chance to
refresh their professional skills.
Summer students will face a
choice between enjoying the
summer weather and spending
much of the day in a class. Stu
dents who choose to go to school
during the summer
will experience
classes that are
quite different in
length, which can
take getting used to
for some students.
Randall Tipton, a
senior majoring in
fine arts, will be go
ing to school this
summer and said
attending Summer
Session can be diffi
cult and is often not preferred by
students.
“If I had a choice, I wouldn’t be
taking summer school,” he said.
“Quite a few people are in a simi
lar situation.”
He said going to summer class
es will help him graduate on
time. He said he is taking several
classes including one that is one
week long and meets eight hours
per day.
Summer term offers classes
that are often smaller, said Laurie
Grigg, a graduate teaching fellow
in geography, who will be teach
ing a class this summer. This is
her first year teaching a course,
and she said she looks forward to
the opportunity to gain experi
ence.
Grigg has been a teaching assis
tant in classes taught during the
summer and has found that stu
dents are often distracted by the
presence of nice weather outside.
“Students seemed a little less
focused,” Grigg said. “It’s a lot
more laid back.”
She said it can be harder to get
students motivated during sum
mer term because the students
are often taking classes that are
not essential to them and are
thrown off by the different sched
ules used for Summer Session.
But she said she feels that the
unusual schedules also offer op
portunities for innovative teach
ing. She said the variety of sched
ules offer flexibility to students
and staff.
Throughout the summer, there
are classes starting every week
end, said Ron Trebon, director of
Summer Session. Students can
take a class over a weekend or
over the full 11 weeks of the term.
Some departments even offer
course sequences over the sum
mer that normally take an entire
year, such as foreign languages
and some sciences courses.
“It’s very user-friendly in terms
of scheduling,” he said. “It’s not
like the other three terms; there’s
a lot of variety [of class sched
_ules].”
^It’s very user-friendly
in term is scheduling. It’s
not like the other three
terms; there’s a lot of
variety. ”
Ron Trebon
Director of Summer Session
Trebon said
the almost
7,000 students
who attend
Summer Ses
sion have a
wide range of
motives for at
tending. He
said summer
sessions at uni
versities start
ed as an opportunity for teachers
to attend school and update their
skills. It has grown to the current
point where every department of
fers classes over the summer.
Students take classes in the
summer to graduate early or on
time, get into a popular class or
concentrate on a difficult class,
Trebon said. Others choose to try
out a class before deciding to at
tend the University. He said en
rollment is open to community
members without the prerequi
sites normally required of Uni
versity students.
Grigg said she feels the short
time span is good for certain
types of classes like foreign lan
guages because students are im
mersed in the language they are
studying. But the summer can be
potentially bad for other types of
classes like math, which involve
a large amount of homework and
need time for the skills learned to
soak in.
“It’s going to be hectic,” Tipton
said.
But he said that he prefers go
ing to school over his other op
tion — working through the sum
mer at a full-time job, which
would deprive him of the sun
more than his classes will.