Rebranding College Courses with Sexy Names

College Life
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<p>Got a problem with attracting students to courses in your department? Try renaming the class with an intriguing name. Who wouldn’t find their curiousity piqued by The Economics of Sin, for example?</p>

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<p>[Colleges</a> find juicy course titles swell enrollment - The Boston Globe](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2009/09/08/colleges_find_juicy_course_titles_swell_enrollment/]Colleges”>http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2009/09/08/colleges_find_juicy_course_titles_swell_enrollment/) by Peter Schworm.</p>

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<p>I don’t like this trend. Students should stop being lazy and checking syllabus and/or course description! For Dean’s sake: you’re in college choosing courses, not in the Movie Teather picking a movie to watch!</p>

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<p>I always check the descriptions of classes to see what the course is about but it’s the name that gets me to look at it in the first place.</p>

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<p>If that’s what it takes, then by all means, do it. As long as they’re not watering down the actual content of the course.</p>

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<p>I have taken classes like that. A class on religious dissension/witchcraft in the Atlantic World was called: HST 311: Witchcraft, Demons, and Divination. I had visions of Hogwarts and Harry Potter in my head. Obviously I was thwarted in that respect, but it still was my favorite class of college.</p>

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<p>I don’t have a problem with it. As long as it doesnt devolve into doublespeak- ie private contractors or mercenaries in Iraq, if a sexy sounding name makes it more attractive ( would you pay to see a burlesque show given by Bertha Hudpucker?), then it will attract a more diverse group of students.
That sounds like an advantage for any class.</p>

<p>I don’t however appreciate things like " Rocks for Jocks", when it is assumed that athletes aren’t intelligent enough for a regular lab course, but there aren’t any similar literature classes for those who less than literary.</p>

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<p>I think it is very important to the boys. My son chose the class “how to stage a revolution”. Anything with war, riot will keep his interest.</p>

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<p>^ Haha that’s at MIT! (:</p>

<p>It’s by far the most popular course in the History department here…lol</p>

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<p>My writing class is about Blasphemy and Religion, God, Sex, and the Human Body (something like that) and that’s why I signed up for it.</p>

<p>It’s writing about literature which I hate, but I’ve enjoyed it very much thus far. So I think the title did a good job in getting someone who otherwise would’ve avoided the class to enroll and enjoy it.</p>

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<p>Yes, but… how will these ‘sexy’ class names look on a college transcript which may follow you for decades after graduation?</p>

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<p>Like you actually had an interesting education?</p>

<p>It’s not like the titles are “Blowjobs 101” and “Advanced Sex Seminar 369”</p>

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<p>^^^ Actually, I was expecting something like that after seeing the thread title.</p>

<p>See? Naming IS everything.</p>

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<p>Hmmm… Gun Shooting courses should be called wiggas with triggas…</p>

<p>.02</p>

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<p>“Knights, Castles, and Dragons’’ </p>

<p>NOOOOO!!! How could I miss that class after four years at BC. <em>Hang shelf</em></p>

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<p>I took a class named: “Love, Sex, and Poetry in the Long 19th Century”…we studied poetry about love and sex from the 19th century.</p>

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<p>In the present day, people do not read lists or web pages. They scan.</p>

<p>So an attention grabbing headline is a good tactic, as long as it is backed up with a clear account of the course content.</p>

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<p>I agree!
*So an attention grabbing headline is a good tactic, as long as it is backed up with a clear account of the course content. *</p>

<p>I have a microbiology course called infections of leisure – the content would be similar regardless of the title, but the titles makes them look at the course descripton.</p>

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<p>It doesn’t make sense… how do you make “Mathematical Foundations of Database Theory, Design and Performance” any sexier?</p>

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<p>A popular class at Oswego when I was there in the early 90’s was “history of Organized Crime”. I still wish I had taken that class!</p>

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“Speedy Matrices”
“Stats: the Sequel”
“Rows, Lines, and Columns”</p>