Choosing the six classes one will take in a year has become an art form at Northeastern. Opposite six months of co-op, the two summer and four full semester classes must fit into a precise schedule in order for students to reach their graduation dates.

And once again, Northeastern has made it impossible to master the art.

After last summer’s trial period of two six-week sessions, NUPulse took a survey to find out what students thought of their rigorous class schedules and of the courses that filled the ominous catalogs.

Well, congratulations, Northeastern. Students must have given you high ratings because you decided to repeat the same process again. You even went so far as to make extra copies of last year’s summer catalog and smack a 2005 over last year’s date.

As a journalism major going into my fourth year, I have responsibly finished most of my core requirements. Northeastern asked me to take introductory classes to art and sociology and other subjects that distracted me from my major, and I did it.

Somewhere along the way, I also found time to take all of the introductory journalism courses as well. I should be well on my way.

With the prospect of an early graduation date on my horizon, I was shocked to find this week registration for Summer II had already begun. The word of mouth advertising about the registration dates had worked its magic on me. And with finals coming up and six months of co-op ahead of me, I was more than prepared to pick the classes I would be taking in nine months. Obviously.

I dutifully headed down to 1 Meserve Hall and grabbed the thin red catalog and began to browse through the Arts and Sciences offerings. Two minutes later, I was finished.

First I flipped to the journalism section where I can’t imagine why I was surprised to see five classes listed, two of which I had already taken, and three which did not interest me at all.

Let me just stop here for a minute and wonder why a class like Journalism II is on this list. This class, almost always taken by journalism majors in the fall semester of their sophomore years, will do no good to the majority of students planning to be here for the summer — upcoming middlers, juniors and seniors.

The same thought ran through my head as I flipped through last year’s catalog, desperately hoping for Journalism III to be on the list, the class almost everyone in my year and major would be looking to take as we came off of co-op last spring. No such luck then, and no such luck now.

After counting out journalism classes, I next flipped to my last remaining requirements — political science classes that would hopefully fulfill my minor. I painstakingly found one class that I had hoped never to take, and put a little blue-pen star next to it. Then I flipped back to the beginning and read through each purely-elective course I could take until I found one I may possibly be able to stomach.

So, Northeastern, thank you. I will be thinking of you when I am sitting through comparative politics for about seven hours a week on my beach days. You will be on my mind as I suffer through a fourth unwanted sociology class every day.

After that, I may have to ask NUPulse to take my pulse.

– Stephanie Vosk is a middler journalism major and a member of The News staff.