Taj Taher

Honors 100
3 November 2012
Sample 4 Year Plan
Freshman
Sophomore

Junior
Senior

Fall
CHEM 142
MATH 124 H
ENG 281
CHEM 237
BIOL 200
ENG XXX

Winter
CHEM 152
MATH 125 H
HONORS 211 A
CHEM 238
CHEM 241
BIOL 220

BIOC 405
ENG XXX
HONORS 391
ENG XXX
HONORS XXX
SPAN 201

BIOC 406
ENG 349 B
HONORS XXX
ENG XXX
HONORS XXX
SPAN 202

Spring
CHEM 162
MATH 126 H
BIOL 180
CHEM 239
CHEM 242
ENG 301
ENG 297
ENG XXX
ENG XXX
HONORS XXX
HONORS 496
ENG XXX
SPAN 203

Summer
Physics Series
Study abroad?

MCAT!!

Major: English w/ Premed

Honors 391:
This seminar will engage in intense discussion about student life and encompass
key aspects of health and wellbeing. The framework is the controversial novel, I am
Charlotte Simmons, by Tom Wolfe, that chronicles the world view of an 18 year-old
undergraduate female, Charlotte Simmons, and her first year at a northeastern
college. The highly readable work addresses college campus issues including self
esteem, sexual risk-taking, cultures of drinking, date-rape, pathological narcissism,
depression, disclosure, student-athletes, elitism, sororicide and fraternities, social
support, and family-ties. These social dynamics are reflected in brutal, outrageous
and stylistic formats in Charlotte's Alice in Wonderland initiation into year-one of
undergraduate life. A chronology of events builds in the 34 chapter novel to inform
a deeper understanding of the human condition. In this course/seminar, health
education theories serve are frameworks; such as Social Learning or Cognitive
Theory, the Theory of Reasoned Action, the Stages of Change or Trans-theoretical
Model, and the Health Belief Model.
The Socratic approach is employed to give students a voice. Students must bring
the maturity and intellect to critically examine both the summit and the pitfalls of
campus life.
I really like the sound of this course because it perfectly encapsulates my interests.
Im on a premed track, but so many people see that as just prescribing someone
pills while it is actually one of the must humanistic jobs one can have. The themes
in this class, combining this sense of morality to the medical world, really appeal to
me. In addition, the professor Clarence Spigner really seems to understand that

concept of marrying the two qualities I think are absolutely necessary to be a great
doctor, so I look forward to taking his class one day.

Spanish 201:
Spanish 201 is the first course of the Second-Year Spanish Language Program at the
University of Washington. It is part of a sequence of three intermediate-level
language courses (SPAN 201, SPAN 202, and SPAN 203) designed for those students
who have completed the First-Year Spanish Language Program or its equivalent.
This course aims to expand the oral and written communication skills acquired in
earlier classes and to broaden students understanding of the cultures of the
Spanish-speaking world, including the Hispanic/Latino communities in the U.S.
Spanish 201 is open to students who have taken Spanish 103, Spanish 123, or
Spanish 134, or scored 70-100 on the SP100A placement test, 0-75 on the SP200A
placement test, or a minimum of 51 on the SP TL placement test.
This class seems to be thrown in kind of randomly into my Senior year, but there is
a reason. I really enjoyed Spanish in high school, and apart from being simply a
great skill to have, it is also part of a very deep and rich culture and heritage that I
really love. Unfortunately, because of English and premed requirements, I do not
have any space to fit in Spanish regularly, so Ive tacked it on at the end so that I
might at least get some Spanish again before I leave college. I think I might take
some Spanish classes over the summers so that I dont lose it all, and if I could
Study Abroad in Spain, that would be even better.
English 349 B:
This course attempts to frame the contemporary interest in apocalypticism (zombie,
nuclear, viral, or otherwise) by tracing the history of apocalyptic and postapocalyptic fiction. While our primary focus will be on science-fiction, well push the
boundaries of the genre by considering a range of nineteenth and twentieth century
texts that imagine the world after its destruction.
Course readings will likely include, among other items, Mary Shelleys The Last Man,
Margaret Atwoods Oryx and Crake, Cormac McCarthys The Road.
Since Im majoring in English, I decided I should mention at least one that I want to
take before I graduate. Im a fan of quirky classes, and this is the kind of class that
does not dumb down the material but asks questions that we do not really bother
thinking about. Ultimately, these are the kinds of classes that are quite insightful
about humanity, which is after all why Im even bothering studying English; its
great to be able to write with aplomb, but at the end of the day, literature is one of
mankinds greatest forms of self-expression, and I like being able to explore the
facets that I might have missed through these kinds of classes that reside off the
beaten path.