Tag Archives: Joe Bridgeman

What on Earth should I do?

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By Joe Bridgeman

A common worry among college students is “What should I major in?” or “What classes should I take?” Fortunately, new students have four years to explore these very questions!  While you are earning your degree at Baylor, you will take three types of classes:

  • Core classes, which pertain directly to your major.
  • Secondary classes, which are required by your degree type.
  • Elective classes, which are taken for fun.

Some majors and degree programs can be heavy on the core and secondary classes.  However, there is always room for a few electives here or there, and these electives can really brighten up a semester. Baylor offers a lot of interesting classes that you can try out for fun or to get a taste of another major’s academic life.  Some neat ones I found are:

  • Backpacking & Camping
  • Beginning Bowling
  • Social Dance
  • Swahili
  • Slavic & East European Studies
  • Abnormal Psychology
  • The Causes of War
  • Basic Guitar
  • Neuropharmacology (shameless neuroscience plug)
  • Crime Scene Investigation
  • Space Weather
  • Arabic

In addition to electives, there are also many programs you can enroll in at Baylor.  For example, there are nine pre-professional programs that can focus you into a desired professional field, four Honors College programs which offer harder, but more interesting classes, and more than 60 study abroad programs.  Take a look at the programs and majors available to you when you start Baylor.  You have time to sample them; choosing can come later. Look early into study abroad programs, so you can plan ahead of time.  Take those fun electives that you’ve always wanted to try!  You only get opportunities like this once in a lifetime.

The course catalogue: So many classes!

Baylor’s Hidden Jewel

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By Joe Bridgeman

There is a place on campus that many have seen, but few have ventured into its halls. The Armstrong Browning Library is on the edge of campus and is one of the most beautiful buildings on campus.  It’s even been ranked by outside sources as one of the top five most beautiful college libraries in the country.

If you ever take a step inside, you’ll see why.  The front doors are giant and made of six-inch thick bronze.  They are difficult but satisfying to pry open. The first floor is comprised of massive two-story vaulted ceilings, pillars and marble. The “meditation foyer” is the centerpiece of the building, showcasing 26 feet-high vaulted windows that make you feel like you’re somewhere in Europe.  The foyer is lined with cushioned, stone benches, where you can sit down and read a book in-between class.  The rest of the building functions a bit like a museum, sporting various letters and Victorian-era furniture for perusal.

Garden

Outside the library is the “Garden of Contentment,” a beautiful and serene area with tables, fountains, trees and infamous Baylor squirrels. The library is only open until 5 p.m., disqualifying it from being a favorite study spot for many students whose study hours are usually late at night.  However, the garden is open 24/7 and is well lit at night.  It is truly one of the most peaceful, serene and beautiful locations on campus, and a surprising number of people have never been there or only visited once. It’s definitely worth a visit as both a remarkable landmark on campus and as an occasional respite during a day of busy classes.

I’m Finally a Mad Scientist

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By Joe Bridgeman

The day had finally come.  After two years of being a neuroscience major, I finally got my hands on an actual brain for the first time.

Being a neuroscience major means taking lots of prerequisite classes when you first start out to prepare you for the harder and actually fun neuroscience classes later on in your Baylor career.  Having just become a junior this semester, I was very excited to take my first true step in neuroscience – a class called “Clinical Neuroscience.”

At the onset, I wasn’t even aware that I would get to handle brains in the lab portion of this class, and it was a great surprise to learn that every student would get their very own sheep brain to hold, observe, prepare and dissect throughout the semester.  Not only do we get to handle brains, but we each get our own one!  How luxurious!

Brain

The first two weeks of lab were composed solely of lecture material.  Same old, same old.  But week three held the promise of receiving our sheep brains.  Finally, that week came, and I was ecstatic.

The class’ sheep brains came together in a giant white bucket full of formaldehyde (a preservative agent), water and brain goop.  The whole class lined up, and our teacher plopped a brain down into our hands without any pomp or circumstance.  I found it odd how “normal” this seemed – just a bucket of brains and a friendly, “Here’s your brain!” as this wet, gross-looking organ is sloped down into your hands.

 

Brain

We spent the first class period painstakingly peeling off the outer layers of the brain (called the dura and pia mater, if you’re curious), so we could get a better look at everything.  The next week’s task was to slice the brain in half (called a mid-sagittal cut) with a giant kitchen knife, so we could look at the insides.  Once again, I was amused by the apparent savageness of how we were treating these brains…with a kitchen knife!  But, it got the job done, and I even was able to snap a quick picture of it while no one was looking. 

It is always a great moment when you get to go hands-on with the subject of your major.

Whether it’s a business internship, a musical performance, or a brain dissection – it’s when your learning experience moves out of the book-learning atmosphere of the classroom to a more tangible real-life application that learning gets really exciting.