Listen to a conversation between two students.

(woman) Hey, Steve, are you ready for classes to start?
(man) Not really. There’s still a big conflict in my course schedule.
(woman) What’s wrong?
(man) This is my last semester and I’ve still got two required courses left to take in order to finish my literature degree.
(woman) Ok?
(man) I have to take both History of the Novel and Shakespeare or I can’t graduate! Problem is the two courses meet at the same time!
(woman) Uh, oh. What are you gonna do?
(man) Well, I talked to the professor who’s gonna teach Shakespeare, he said I could do an independent study to fulfill that requirement.
(woman) How would that work?
(man) I’d read the assigned text on my own, do all the same assignments, and meet with him when I need to, if I had any questions.
(woman) Well, that sounds a good way to fulfill the requirement.
(man) Yeah, plus it’d be nice to have one-on-one discussions with the professor. It’s just that, well, working on my own like that, I’m kind of concerned I won’t be able to motivate myself to get the work done on time. It’s easy to put things off when it’s not an actual class, you know?
(woman) Yeah, are there other options?
(man) Um, yeah, I found out that the Shakespeare class is being offered at another university about a half an hour from here. That university has a really great literature program and our university will accept their credits, so…
(woman) That’s an idea!
(man) Yeah, I’m sure it’ll be a good class. And it’d fulfill the requirement. Only thing is, you know, I’d have to drive a half an hour to get to the class and then half an hour to come back, three times a week! That’s a lot of time and gas money.