<p>Music history/appreciation or art history. Especially if you are science/math/engineering/pre-med or business major.</p>
<p>I’m going to go a little off the beaten path and suggest asking your friends for recommendations as to good classes. I’d emphasize suggestions for good (irrespective of difficulty) classes. I ended up taking a class whose title was some amalgamation of the words society, human ecology, population and something else. Anyway, the class was with a professor who has been nominated for professor of the year awards and was incredibly interesting. The class was one of the few classes that really sparked my interest and made me look at the things differently, namely my food consumption and environmental impact. The way I think of choosing classes is that a good professor can make almost anything seem interesting/useful/thought-provoking, but a poor professor can make the most unique, useful information/concepts/theories boring. Basically, look for the right combo of good professor and interesting course description. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>I like the economics suggestions too. I wish I had taken an economics class in college.</p>
<p>Wow, great suggestions all. I wouldn’t have thought of many of these lines of reasoning (parent requirement!)</p>
<p>I asked this question because as a double major, I don’t have a lot of room for classes outside of my majors. What I love about many of the responses is that I can do them - or have done them - as part of my majors (frazzledtothecore’s suggestions, for instance). I guess I’ve taken a lot more “must take before graduating” classes than I thought.</p>
<p>ordinarylives: I’m a film major and I’d say I’m very visually literate, and I don’t understand modern art! I’m taking an art history class now, and though our syllabus more or less ends at Goya, I remember my prof waxing lyrical about Rothko, so I might as well pick her brains while I can. (The other major, if it makes any difference to future suggestions, is Spanish.)</p>
<p>Because of a combination of factors (different high school system/older than average student) I haven’t touched math for almost 6 years. Not that I didn’t like it, just that I finished all the math I needed 6 years ago and didn’t continue. I did the equivalent of Calc I (not proof based) but not stats, which is by far the biggest gap I feel in my education. I’m thinking of going into documentary film, which makes stats absolutely essential. The stats in the math department requires Calc II - I’ll look into taking it in the psych dept, which seems to have no pre-req.</p>
<p>I really want to take a philo course at NYU - I have room for exactly one philo class, and that’s it.</p>
<p>ETA: crs1909, in the “good professors make anything interesting” stakes - I had a prof who made advanced Spanish grammar interesting. Or maybe I’m just neurotic.</p>
<p>For a student with less math background, a logic course in the philosophy department may be an alternative to a math-with-proofs course.</p>
<p>Basic knowledge of probability and statistics is generally useful in many areas. Note that many behavioral economics/psychology studies commonly described in popular books on the subject use simple probability problems which most of the study subjects have difficulty understanding (so they commonly choose the irrational choice).</p>
<p>If one can’t take a statistics class, may I recommend a book, “How to Lie with Statistics.” :)</p>
<p>Going in a whole different direction-golf…lots of business is done on a golf course.</p>
<p>Personal Finance</p>
<p>Of course, if you cannot take it, there are plenty of books that can guide you through this topic. But taking a course provides a more structured approach.</p>
<p>A course about a culture other than your own–religion, history, literature.</p>
<p>If your school does not offer a course in personal finance, just pick up a copy of The Total Money Makeover (or Financial Peace) by Dave Ramsey. So much better to have this knowledge under your belt at a young age rather than learning it when you are 40!</p>
<p>ETA: For about $100 you can take a Financial Peace University course in a group setting.</p>
<p>Another vote for Personal Finance. I think it should be a requirement for every student.</p>
<p>For personal finance I would also suggest books by Clark Howard.</p>
<p>Ok, while I realize that personal finance is a good thing, I would hate for our kids to pay to take a class on that. We set our older kids up with our financial planner as soon as they got jobs to get them started on retirement accounts, etc. We are lucky that he is really good about talking about budgets, etc. with them and got them used to saving a lot of money right away. It’s sad that kids should “need” a class like this though too.</p>
<p>I know I can’t get away with this suggestion without eye rolling, but I figure if multiple people can get away with suggesting art history it’s worth a try. 
I took a class called “Law and Gender” my last semester of college that was life changing. It was a crosslisted course between the poli sci and womens studies departments, and it was a small group seminar course focused mainly on reading and discussing the case law which has built our society’s perception of gender-- which is important and not as abstract as it sounds as these perceptions are used in court every day and are very applicable to everybody. A GOOD gender studies class can be EXTREMELY enlightening and change the way you view yourself and the world around you… the operative word there being “good.” I think gender is one of the most underconsidered facets of our identity-- for most of us, anyway.</p>
<p>A personal finance course, if offered, would also certainly be interesting but I wouldn’t think that would be absolutely essential. The basics of personal finance are things that are easy to learn yourself if you care enough to learn them.</p>
<p>I agree with the above, and would not want to spend money for my child to take a personal finance course at a private university. (Do they really offer this everywhere?)</p>
<p>For a college senior, I would suggest using that registration priority (and possibly the completion of prerequisites) to take elective classes that are taught by an outstanding professor, or that would be difficult to duplicate at a local community college or directional state university, because of the subject matter or the caliber of professor teaching the class.</p>
<p>Barring unusual circumstances, I would try not to take a class that covers material that can be learned on one’s own (this will probably vary by student - some are entertained by sitting down for an afternoon or several to go through a math or physics text), or that is pretty much the same wherever it is taught (and is taught every semester at most local schools), unless it is required for a major or for distribution requirements, or would make the graduate immediately attractive to potential employers.</p>
<p>I would agree with others that a stats course could be very useful. I liked the challenge of proof-based calc and am not sure why it is no longer offered as a first calc class, but I suppose there is more use for stats in everyday life. However, if it conflicts with another course that is not commonly taught outside of NYU and a minority of other schools, and is not needed as a pre-req, I don’t see why it couldn’t be postponed until after graduation.</p>
<p>Take some fun classes that integrate materials across fields of study but also have some academic rigor…</p>
<p>[Java</a> Moves to Head of the Class - Los Angeles Times](<a href=“http://articles.latimes.com/2005/mar/20/news/adna-coffee20]Java”>Java Moves to Head of the Class)</p>
<p>[CENTRE</a> COLLEGE: Basketball as Religion](<a href=“http://www.centre.edu/photo_essay/2011/bar/index.html]CENTRE”>http://www.centre.edu/photo_essay/2011/bar/index.html)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.centre.edu/news/2010/basketball_religion.html[/url]”>http://www.centre.edu/news/2010/basketball_religion.html</a></p>
<p>If your child has yet to contribute to a Roth IRA, s/he should take Personal Finance.</p>
<p>Art History and Astronomy. The former is valued at museum visits over a lifetime and a good conversation starter at cocktail parties. The latter leads to a familiarity with the scientific method, something worth knowing about in a tech-based age.</p>
<p>^I was an Art History major, comforted that the major often called ‘impractical’ has so much consensus as an unmissable one-time class. A good challenge there is learning to write analytically about what you see, tapping into both sides of the brain constantly. Perhaps the same could be said for Music Theory or History of Music.</p>
<p>^^I had a grandfather in his 80’s who took an Elderhostel, switching from Poetry into Astronomy. A TV reporter asked him why. He said “the prettier girls take Astronomy.” He was too old to hiss at.</p>
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<p>Well, look at it this way. Your child has spent all that money learning how to make money. One class in learning how to spend wisely is a small sacrifice. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen adults, with good incomes, making some poor choices.</p>