As the semester approaches, most students won’t need reminding that courses are right around the corner. Registration – if not completed already – won’t be getting any easier with time and ought to be prioritized.

At this point in the game, you’re best off if you’ve already signed up for your fall 2015 courses, or at least partially registered. Still, a number of students – for whatever reason – won’t have been able to register yet or will have a few openings in their schedule to fill.

So, for students who need to fill a liberal studies requirement or who are simply looking for interesting electives to register for, I’ve taken the liberty of digging through the course catalogue in its entirety to highlight some of the hidden gems at UNC Charlotte.

For example, “Sexing Shakespeare” is offered as a liberal studies credit through the English department. Listed as LBST 2101 with multiple offerings and accommodating hours, the course explores “historical and contemporary meanings of gender, sexuality, subjectivity and desire” in Shakespearean England and his works.

“Social Action through Music” (MUSC 2001), applies – as it indicates – music to social issues and justice.

“Bollywood and Religion” (FILM 3050/RELS 3000) looks at how the “world’s largest cinema industry” sheds light on “key aspects of religious traditions of the Indian subcontinent.”

“Disney: Gender, Race and Empire” (WGST 3050) addresses “how ideologies of gender, race, class, and sexuality are constructed in early and recent animated films of Walt Disney.”

Then, there’s a course titled “Seeing is believing – I can’t believe my eyes: Storytelling, Movies, Science Fiction” (ENGL 2090) uses sci-fi to teach about the human phenomenon of storytelling, our constructs of the supernatural and the natural world and how we perceive and relay them.

The depth and specificity of each of the aforementioned classes does, admittedly, catch attention. They combine varied and diverse interests into innovative curriculum, and for that reason, many of them are – for the time being – full.

But, when you’re sitting in microeconomics or chemistry and want to drop and pick up something more interesting, consider “Tricky Dick: Richard Nixon, Poker and Politics” (AMST 3020). It’s a course that will fill your writing-intensive requirement while investigating President Nixon’s gambles as a “formidable poker player” and as a politician.

Or there’s “Modern China, From the Ming to Mao, 1660-2005” (HIST 3002) for a non-Western history perspective on an emerged industrial superpower.

Dr. Barbara Thiede offers “Why God Lies” (RELS 3000) for a secular, non-theological approach to the nature of God in the Hebrew Bible and, as the course title suggests, why God lies, and I can personally vouch for that professor.

The important thing is to find classes that engage you enough to get to campus and achieve your academic goals. Whether that’s “Blood, Sweets and Beers: Forbidden Food in Literature and Culture” (LBST 2212) or that accounting or chemistry course that I know I wouldn’t be able to put up with, the important part is crafting a college experience that’s exciting and applicable for you.

And, of course, it’s important that you keep a proactive eye towards the spring semester so I don’t have to keep writing articles like these.