I’ve been browsing through the Stanford University new hire packet – there is an astonishing array of benefits that seem to multiply every time I look away – and literally squealed in delight when I found this one:
Audit a Stanford academic course
Yep, that’s right, as Stanford staff I’ll be able to audit courses at Stanford, with manager and professorial permission.
Can you say “Pig heaven”??
The one hitch is that most classes are offered during the work week. I’m hoping to find some evening, early morning, or lunchtime classes. Probably not in the first few months that I’m there – I’ll have to focus on getting settled in – but afterwards, I fully intend to take advantage of THIS benefit! (And this is summer anyway…serious classes won’t start until September, by which time I’ll be settled.)
The funny thing is that, while I ran screaming from Stanford after my freshman year, and was completely satisfied with my decision to transfer to Caltech, I did and do think it is a better place of higher education than Caltech. Tech is essentially a trade school for scientists and engineers. Stanford offers a complete liberal arts education, and a dizzying array of classes with a breadth of coverage that Caltech couldn’t possibly offer. Caltech is small and focused. Stanford, well, has everything. I didn’t regret transferring – Caltech is also an excellent school, and was the right place for me at the time – but I did regret losing access to that wide breadth of education. And now it looks like I’ll have access again.
Woo hoo hoo hoo hoo!!!
Ah, the advantages of academic employment! and you get paid too. Seriously, back in the sixties and seventies, I started out auditing and ended up taking courses for credit. I acquired two master’s degrees as a university employee. The only cost was for books and minor student fees. Now that I’m retired, I’m back to auditing photography and computer courses.
Have fun!
Ah, the joy of auditing classes–isn’t it so much more fun to take something because you *want* to, rather than *have* to? Let us know which class(es) you decide to take!