My Experience with ISP

Coming into the College, I was interested in many different subjects in humanities and science. With my diverse interests, I applied to the Integrated Studies Program (ISP) to explore different courses while completing Gen Ed requirements.

The first semester was hard. Being both at home and taking online classes, I missed out on one of the main benefits of being in ISP: tight-knit community and living in Hill. Initially I had considered myself a “humanities person”, but nine grueling essays later I was contemplating dropping ISP after the first semester. I told myself that being in the program was a mistake. 

Eventually I decided to stick with the program, just because I was interested in the material taught during the second semester: religious despair and positive psychology. For context, each ISP course takes up 2 credits of your freshman year school, and you take one course in the fall and one in the spring. Each course is taught by two professors from different “streams”, or areas of expertise and the purpose is to think about the courses as a whole to discover new insights. The two streams in each semester vary year by year. 

While I can’t say that BFS was the best experience, I appreciate how the material engaged me and taught me to think from other perspectives. Writing essays challenged me to be a better thinker and reading the books required made me think beyond my current struggles. Doing BFS also made me realize that I didn’t enjoy humanities as much as I thought I did, and that I was actually more of a STEM person!

- Leilei H.