What Classes I’m Taking on Semester at Sea

When explaining to people what SAS is they usually picture the traveling, the countries, and the experiences and don’t realize it is real college classes on a ship.

Choosing my schedule was actually something I put lots of thought into. On SAS there’s no weekends at sea and you are always taking classes until you get to port. I wanted to make my schedule be A and B days so I wasn’t in class all day one day with nothing to do the next. While making sure I had A and B day classes you also have to make sure your in country field classes don’t over lap (this is 30% of your grade).

My Class Schedule:

• New student seminar (required for gap year students)
• global studies (required for everyone)
• General psychology
• Reading without borders

Why I Chose These Classes

Since two of my classes are required, New Student Seminar and Global studies, those were already set.

New Student Seminar is designed to help gap year students navigate college especially on a ship.

Global Studies is one of the classes I am most excited for and also the most relevant because we are literally traveling around the world. I am hoping this class connects everything I learn into lessons I get to use in every port, which makes it feel more real than just learning it in a classroom o land.

For my other classes, I wanted something interesting but manageable. I chose general psychology because when I am hoping to pursue Criminal Psychology after SAS. I also feel like learning different behaviors while seeing different cultures will give a whole other lesson I would not be able to get from a standard college campus.

Reading Without Borders was the last class I chose. I chose this one because it will allow me to read books either about a country we visit or written by an author from there which I think is a whole other look into the culture I will be able to see.

What I am Expecting

I honestly have no idea what to expect yet, which is part of the excitement. From what I have read and heard, classes are smaller and more discussion-based.

I imagine it will be very different from a normal classroom setting. Instead of separating “school” and “life,” I get to apply it more and everything blends together. You’re learning about the world while actively experiencing it at the same time.

How I Planned my Schedule

One of the things I focused on for my schedule was to have one class that could go towards my degree. Obviously I hope all the credits I earn transfer, even though the experience is worth it either way, but if they don’t I wanted at least one to.

I tried to choose classes that I know I will be genuinely interested in, while also keeping realistic workload.

I am really excited to see how these classes connect to the places we are visiting. I feel like it is going to make everything more meaningful rather than traveling without context.

Overall, I feel really good about the classes I chose. They all connect in some way to the bigger experience, which is exactly what I was hoping for.