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College stuff

Buvanesh

New Member
Guys, I have recently joined the forum. I am writing a story similar to harry potter.This is my first story. I have finished the first chapter and I want to hear others opinion about it but it seems that I need to post 5 posts before to increase in rank and post my story for review. But I need your help. Since my story takes place in the university I want you guys to give me an idea about the subjects/course which should be present at the university. I have already thought about a few already but I also welcome your suggestions. Thank you.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
The world is wide open for University Courses. I've seen courses on Soundscapes for Film, How to make product packaging, Kite design and strange things like Physics, English Literature and History [nit all at the same time though].
 

Tom

Istar
I'm majoring in graphic design and minoring in sound tech/electronic music production. I've taken classes like Black & White Photography, Writing in the Humanities, Children's Literature, Women in Literature, Advanced Drawing, Physics of Sound, History of Graphic Design, Western Art History (1 & 2), Astronomy, Illustration, Psychology, Public Speaking, Motion Design, Intro to Sound Recording, and tons more. Pull up the course catalog of a university or two near you and see what they've got going on!
 

elemtilas

Inkling
Since you liken your story to HP, perhaps consider graduate seminars like Problems in Modern Magic: Thaumic Wave~Particle Theory Applications or perhaps Perspectives on Modern Prescriptivism in the Grammar of Spell Casting or even Advanced Seminar on the Generation of Precision Waveguided Ensorcellments!
 

D. Gray Warrior

Troubadour
I had a somewhat similar idea, but with the "majors" being based around different kinds of magic like alchemy, divination, shamanism, necromancy, enchantment, etc.
 

Tom

Istar
I'm majoring in graphic design and minoring in sound tech/electronic music production. I've taken classes like Black & White Photography, Writing in the Humanities, Children's Literature, Women in Literature, Advanced Drawing, Physics of Sound, History of Graphic Design, Western Art History (1 & 2), Astronomy, Illustration, Psychology, Public Speaking, Motion Design, Intro to Sound Recording, and tons more. Pull up the course catalog of a university or two near you and see what they've got going on!
Oops, just realized I completely misinterpreted the OP. To save face, here are some thoughts that might actually be useful:

Academia has its own specific jargon, and this is usually pretty apparent in course names. So naming classes right is going to be one of those little details that make it feel like a real college even though it's a fictional school of magic. For instance, you can take a class I've taken, Survey of Western Art History 1, and make it Survey of Western Magecraft 1. Or using a class I'm taking this fall for my minor: History and Stylistic Evolution of Electronic Music. That could become History and Stylistic Evolution of Electronic Magic. Or something. There's a ton of possibilities so I would just play around and find stuff that sounds cool.

A few more I thought up:

Alchemy for Non-Majors
Introduction to Divination
Intermediate Wandwork
Fundamental Concepts in Object-Oriented Spellwriting
Theoretical Applications of Numeromancy
etc

Universities/colleges also usually have their academics divied up into departments, so it might be a good idea to think about that too. What's the department with the biggest/most popular/fastest growing programs/majors? Let's say, digital magic. They get the most funding so they're featured front-and-center on the website and in promotional material, and probably have a big, shiny new building, a generous course list with plenty of course sections to choose from, lots of assistant/adjunct professors alongside full-time faculty, the works. Meanwhile a smaller, less popular department (necromancy, maybe) is probably tucked away in a corner of a building mostly claimed by another department, has less faculty and fewer courses with less sections available, making degree planning tighter and more stressful (oops, that class I needed to graduate is fall-only). They most likely also have to put up with outdated equipment and the odd leaky roof that the school administration refuses to spend money to fix. I'm definitely not talking from experience.

But yeah, like I said, it's the little things that make it seem like a real school. Courses with long, stupidly intricate names are one of those things.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
And one thing to have in mind, Universities and colleges around the world work very differently. In the US, you can take a different course [or three] every semester from a different faculty and end up with a degree of some sorts. In the UK and much of Europe you take a subject [like Psychology] which will have different modules [Intro to Psychology, Neuropsychology, Mathematics etc...] that you have to take if you want a degree, You may have some choice in your final year [take any three courses from six], as well as a research project and often you can add a language [Spanish, Chinese are really popular and so is BSL - British Sign Language] but 80-90% of your time is locked down.
 
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