After over 12 years of schooling, it’s probably safe to say that every Bucknell student has the academic life figured out. We’ve all learned to balance our social lives and schoolwork, navigate campus housing, and organize our course schedule to avoid a rough 8 a.m class. But–frankly–Bucknell is not real life. Even though we can manage doing laundry in the dorms and grocery shopping enough to stock our minifridges, not all of those skills equate to the post-college world. Wouldn’t it be nice if squeezed between your Foundation Seminar and lab science your schedule blocked out time for Adulting 101? Ideally, every school would offer these classes specified in teaching us the small, but important, bits of information we need to succeed in the “real world.”
-
COOKING 101: For students who didn’t grow up in the kitchen, the idea of cooking their own meals seems daunting and probably unnecessary. Why cook when you can DoorDash your favorite thai food every night? As easy and delicious as it is, however, ordering is not kind to your wallet or your health. The Cooking 101 syllabus covers a variety of simple and yummy recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, while teaching students the basic skills to whip them up in the kitchen.
-
COOKING 296: Alumni from the 101 program and self proclaimed home-chefs alike will enjoy and learn from this more advanced course in the culinary department. Students will attempt more complicated recipes and learn the subtleties of flavor pairing and presentation. To round out the semester, this course’s final exam is hosting an elegant dinner party that tests your knowledge of table setting, decorum, and the palette.
Pexels -
NEGOTIATIONS 350: This senior seminar will give you all of the haggling skills you need to master the art of negotiation. Starting off with salaries, the syllabus covers negotiation for car purchases, real estate, job benefits, and more. Study of each subject area culminates in a live negotiation simulation and gives students the practice they need before entering true adulthood.
-
WARDROBE 101: It can’t be expected that every school teaches its students to create and design a wardrobe like F.I.T., but even if they don’t aspire to be featured on Project Runway, students still need to know how to dress properly for life events. This course covers appropriate dress for important occasions like interviews, business dinners, black tie events, weddings, and everything in between.
-
INSURANCE 300: Most students know close to nothing about the complicated workings of insurance, and thankfully most students also are attached to their parent’s or employer’s insurance. Nonetheless, learning how to properly manage insurance is a necessary life skill that students will gain in this senior year course.
-
REFERENCES 205: People are constantly making different references in nearly every sphere of life, in the workplace, at home, and in the media. The goal of this course is to avoid that awkward smile and nod when you don’t get the joke. References 205 is essentially a crash course in conversation; students will learn hundreds of the most commonly used references to movies, books, history, pop culture, and more.
-
PERSONAL FINANCE 150: A college student’s concern for things like taxes, loans, building credit, and investment are minimal at best. Post college life, however, requires you to know how to navigate these important and often complicated financial processes. The Personal Finance course is structured to help students know how best to handle their money for success.
