College is about having fun, who's to say the required GE classes are really the most important classes for your general education.
Here's a list of the most fun classes and professors at Cal Poly and what makes them so awesome!

Classes Without Pre-Reqs

  • Rodeo - AG 243 - We just got a new rodeo coach, Landon Sullivan, and he's an awesome guy!  You start in a class room learning the basics of rodeo and then once you go out to the rodeo unit the class gets to be awesome.  Between learning to rope, riding the drop barrel, and the bucking machine this class is tons of fun and highly recommended.
  • Tractor Driving - BRAE 141 - The lecture for this class is mediocre but once you get out to the lab portion you basically get to jump up on a tractor on day 1 and it just gets more fun after that.  Between driving tractors, bobcats, and ATVs every lab is a new experience!  Get Zetzsche if you can.
  • Welding - IME 142 - Lecture is boring, don't bother going. Go to Kevin Williams review session right before the final and he'll tell you the answers to every question.  Lab however is great.  When else are you going to get to use a plasma cutter or learn to TIG, MIG, and stick weld.  Kev is awesome, welding's awesome, do it!
  • Beekeeping - FRSC - Seriously, why would you not want to take this class?!  Plus honey for days.
  • Orienteering - MSL 111 -
  • Bowling - KINE 109 - We get college credit for this... Awesome!
  • Horseback riding - ASCI 214 - It cost $500, to assist with stabling and feeding the horse (it's basically a quarter long lease of the horse).
  • Composites - ME 412 Studying Mechanical Engineering?  Need to satisfy one of your last tech electives?  Take composites with Dr. Mello any Spring quarter.  It's hard, but what tech elective isn't?  And what other tech elective gives you the tools and materials to make your very own carbon fiber snowshoes in class!?
  • Graphic Novels - ENGL 381 - I took this a couple of summers ago, and don't see it offered much, but if you get the chance to take it, definitely do! Not only do you get to read awesome graphic novels, but Professor Stegner is worthy of his own show on Comedy Central.
  • Chocolates FSN 201 (i think) - email FSN dept. You get to make chocolate... enough said.
  • Other sports.  The Kinesiology department offers a wide range of fun 1 credit courses, including karate, fitness walking, and weight training.

Classes With Pre-Reqs

 

Best Teachers

  • Dr. Christopher Bickel (insists you call him Chris).  He is definitely one of the least formal and stuffy professors that I have ever had - he'd start every class out with rap music - and you WANTED to go to class, even though he gave no tests and did not deduct points for being absent. I learned more in that class than I have learned in any other class at Cal Poly.
  • Mr. Scott Jeffries. Beekeeping professor. Hilarious, casual, super nice and stoked on bees. You'll just want to be around him. Stay after class and talk to him!
  • Dr. Matt Ritter. Botany professor. Famously good-looking, funny and popular. It's like taking botany from Matt Damon with an excellent sense of humor.
  • Dr. Denise Isom. Ethnic Studies professor. She'll wrench open your mind, challenge your concepts of normalness and reality, leave you bewildered but inspired, and push you to new levels of intellectual capability. One of those professors that changes your life and your entire outlook on the world. Life is just more meaningful after a class with Isom.
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