Since I've been a jerk and focused on the negative, let me say the course that had the greatest POSITIVE influence on me was an Optics course I took. I think I

Since I've been a jerk and focused on the negative, let me say the course that had the greatest POSITIVE influence on me was an Optics course I took. I think I took it the same semester as the lit class above. I didn't go on to an optics career, but the instructor was an exceedingly gifted educator. He was able to present the material in a way that most of the class was right there in the derivations... you felt like you really understood what was going on as he presented it. There was also a bit of math towards the end that I was a bit shaky on... but again, the examples in class really made it clear. I can't say I remember too much about Optics, but the rudimentary Complex Analysis in the course gave me the confidence to take other courses that used "difficult" math.