Anonymous wrote:Every undergrad should have:

An exercise class or 3-4 days a week in a sport or at the gym
A personal finance class ( or to know the difference between a stock and a bond, basic investing)
A basic statistics course
A nutrition class
An organizational behavior class
A negotiation class
A human sexuality class
A happiness or mental health class (like the popular happiness class at Harvard)
A non European or non American history or literature or religion class

Most of these happen in middle school and again in high school.

Zero in college or grad school. It’s literally learned nothing of use.

In HS I took auto mechanics, wood working, small engine repair, drivers Ed, typing, cooking class as electives that were useful.

I'll list three - for different reasons:

1) Public speaking. Kind of goes without saying, but enormously valuable.

2)Medical terminology. I have a BS in public health. I am not in any sort of medical/health field. BUT, this class, combined with a SAT prep class in high school that focused on Latin and Greek roots, are the most helpful classes I've ever had.

3) Nutrition. I take it for granted that most people understand the basics and was flabbergasted when my spouse didn't and needed a modified diet after a medical issue came up.

My independent studies class and individual seminars with professors. Because there’s no hiding what you don’t know and can’t do when there’s no one else in the class! I had to figure out project management and all kinds of other skills on my own. But I already knew how to write, think and teach myself after 3 years of a traditional liberal arts curriculum. There were no life skills classes like what’s being suggested on this thread, but we developed skills to learn those ourselves.

I'm surprised colleges offer personal finance. We had econ classes including one on financial markets but no personal finance class.

Heck with the writing. I cannot write to save my life. I have take so many classes here and abroad and I still hate writing because I'm bad at it.
Personal finance, on the other hand, made me free of having to work and I can hire writer. Well, not for DCUM.
Foreign language classes were good too but the ones way before college. I have studied 7 languages over the years and they just gets easier and easier to learn.

Anonymous wrote:What was the most valuable class you took in college?
What would you recommend every undergrad should have?

Statistics

Personal finance, and all of my writing intensive humanities like upper level literature courses and philosophy. Statistics was great, too. I was a STEM major and went on to do science in graduate school. critical thinking and writing is the most important part of what I do day to day now.
I also took a fun PE course almost every semester to try something new and stay active.

The most helpful courses outside my major that I took in college were:

Healthy Lifestyles (an all encompassing health class that included addiction/nutrition/sex ed/mental health etc)
Business Writing (very different than writing English papers)
World Religions (valuable to learn about those different than had been raised in, especially at 18)

I like the idea of a personal finance course but feel like high school would be a better time for that.

Anonymous wrote:In retrospect, classes with small discussion sections that promoted interaction/exchange between students/teachers & those that required extensive writing (frequently they're one and the same) These reflect the real world situation i find myself in now.

This was my experience, too. And sometimes it's more about the professor than the topic.

Mine were a Feminism and Ethics seminar and 17th Century Poetry. I don't work in either field, but I've used what I learned about examining complex issues through discussion and about clear analytical writing ever since.

In retrospect, classes with small discussion sections that promoted interaction/exchange between students/teachers & those that required extensive writing (frequently they're one and the same) These reflect the real world situation i find myself in now.

That said, my favorite class was evolutionary biology. Fascinating stuff!

Most valuable class in high school -- keyboarding. (It's too bad so many people did not ever learn how to type on a QWERTY keyboard. I can type so fast thanks to that 9-week class in 9th grade.)

Anonymous wrote:Get good at writing.

Learn to write well.

Statistics
Econ 101
My freshman year English class.

I can't think of a single useful class I had in college. In high school I had a few - typing, English, history. But in college....maybe sociology, but I'm not sure that was valuable so much as just interesting. I really didn't learn much of anything until the PhD.