What are these college classes like?

[Ennui.]

I was looking through the general education requirements I got in the mail today for my college.

Since I'll be going to a Catholic school (only because it has a better education than my other option, I'm not religious AT ALL) I have to take two Religious Studies courses. What are those like if anyone has had to take them? I'm scared they'll talk about certain "sins" that I disagree with or something like that (ie homosexuality), so I want to know what they're actually like.

What's philosophy like?

We also have Common Foundations and/or Perspectives classes. I don't know how to pick them because I don't fully understand that part to be honest, but I'll ask questions on some of the things listed?

What is Quantitative Reasoning?

What is Kinesthetics? I looked it up online and it said something about noticing our movements or something and I was like "wat."

It says I can find the other Liberal Arts courses on the site but I don't feel like navigating their website right now so I may be back later with more classes. xD I figured I'd get explanations from people who don't overcomplicate definitions, ie you all!

[SpecterH]

With regards to Religion classes, I don't think they'll be as controversial as you think. I went to a Catholic high school, so I had to take some form of Religion in each of my four years at school. They didn't outright say things like "homosexuality is a sin", and promote other, common Catholic beliefs. However, it was more a reflection-based course, where you would read excerpts from the Bible, and perhaps, relate their teachings to your daily life. High school was quite a while ago for me, so I'm trying to remember in the best way that I can. Just know that it's okay to disagree with things that are said in class. In fact, a lot of people may challenge the beliefs of the Catholic Church - and that's to be expected. I'm sure you're not the only non-religious student attending the school, so keep that in mind as well.

Philosophy will really depend on the course that you're taking. I'll assume it's an Introduction to Philosophy course. I took a similar course in my first year of undergraduate studies. We mainly discussed various philosophers and their views on their respective studies. You'll likely focus on a few areas of philosophy: i.e., ethics, epistemology, ancient philosophy, logical reasoning, etc. Philosophy courses tend to be very writing-intensive, and as a result, you'll likely have to write a lot of essays; very opinionated essays. Philosophy classes want your perspective on everything. However, it'll largely depend on your specific course.

Quantitative Reasoning will likely be similar to a Math course. if you don't like Math, I'd probably avoid this class if you can. It's not pure Math, however. It's likely to be Math that has more of a practical application, as opposed to theoretical.

But, yeah. In order to truly find out more information, look at the course outlines. I know the ones for next year may not be available yet, but you can probably dig up the course outlines from last year. A quick Google search should be able to help you out. For example, if your Religion course is REL1000, and your university is Harvard University, for example, search something like:

" course outline REL1000 Harvard "

Good luck!