Super Senior Reflects: DUS Major May Have Been the Wrong Choice

By Winnie Fooslager

State College, PA-- Peter Weiss (super senior-DUS) came to the realiziation this week that the Division of Undergraduate Studies program, which he has been enrolled in for 10 semesters since choosing the major as a freshmen, isn't as great as he previously thought.

Pete at the off-campus apartment he shares with 3 other DUS majors, hard at work on a paper for his Introduction to World Religion class.

     According to the Penn State DUS website, students enroll in DUS because they realize they are not ready to make a decision about their academic direction. However, Weiss, a super senior who has been with the DUS college since 2003, has accumlated 225 total credits and still has no clear guidance about which path to enroll in. If and when Weiss does make a decision, he still remains a minimum of 74 credits away from achieving accreditation in any major.

     "I guess I kind of just figured, you know, why would a school lie to you and take your money if they weren't offering you anything," reflects Weiss. "It's a privilege to go to dear old state, but to have been here so long and yet achieve so little, well, the 120K in student loans is something I will be remembering for a long time."

     However, Weiss has had an extraordinary education in the DUS program, taking 3 credit classes in areas such as Nutrition, Accounting, Media Studies, Journalism, Eastern European History, Western European History, Northern European History, and a Celtic writing course. He currently plans to schedule Southern European History for next semester.

Editor's Note: Our interview with Peter Weiss ended abruptly due to an appointment with his DUS advisor, who will once again advise him to "find any course that sounds good, take any class, and don't worry about when you'll graduate."