I have heard some students at colleges complain that they are not able to take required classes/upper division classes for their majors and it completely messed up their 4 year plan to graduate. My biggest worry is the ability to graduate in 4 years. If I am not able to take a required class for my major, are there other possibilities to take them? I know you can take them another year, but that is how schedules get messed up. Do most colleges offer upper division classes like that during the summer where there might be more chance of open space in the class? Basically, I am looking at UC Davis right now and am worried that I might not be able to graduate in 4 years if I do not get my required classes, which is a problem at many schools.
It really depends upon many factors:
- Changing majors can delay graduation
- Not paying attention to when classes are offerred: example some classes may be available year round, some only certain quarters and some yearly or every other year, so it is important to plan out your 4 years ahead of time.
- Many students are picky with teachers and times. If you are more flexible, you will have more classes to choose from in the early morning or later at night.
- Use the waitlist and be persistent in trying to get into the classes you need.
My son is 2nd year and so far has only waitlisted 1 class in which he eventually got into. If some of the classes are offerred during summer session, it might be a way of getting ahead by taking a few during this time. AP credit will help with your registration times since they are based on the # of units. My son went in with around 34 units of credit as a Freshman so by end of Winter quarter, he is Sophomore standing with better class registration times.
How many credits do you think is enough to have better registration times?
Above 60 units is Sophomore status, but it will depend upon how much UCD will give for each AP exam you have passed. 34 credits during the Freshman orientation helped my son be the first in his group to register and he got all his classes. No waitlist issues until 2nd year where is trying to get into a class that is only offerred Fall and Winter quarter. Here is a link for UCD and the credit they give for the AP classes. You may be able to skip a few classes depending upon which AP classes you have taken. Dual enrollment may get out of some classes as well. He was not able to skip any classes and the AP credits mainly went to electives. I found the Cal states far more generous with AP credits and skipping classes than the UC’s.
http://catalog.ucdavis.edu/PDF/CollegeBoardAdvancedPlacement.pdf
I went to UCSD and in my experience, the ability to graduate on time had a lot more to do with the student than the school not having classes available. The students I knew who took longer to graduate did so because they switched majors often or very late in the game, failed classes and had to retake them, double majored and decided to take longer to graduate, took the minimum amount of classes to remain full time (or were part time), and/or took a medical leave during college. I don’t know anyone who graduated late because they couldn’t get a class they needed to graduate. I know some students who were off-track because they failed a class or took a remedial class in the beginning or missed a class because of a medical leave and then had to stay longer as a part time student only taking a class or two so they could take that extra class, but that wasn’t the school’s fault.
Make a four year plan, but also make sure you know where the flexibility is. When I was in college, I tried to get core classes earlier than elective classes so that I had wiggle room in case some classes conflicted or whatever. I could take pretty much anything for elective classes, but I wanted to make sure I got in the specific core classes in case something happened later. I also knew what classes I needed to take when. For example, if many of your classes are in sequence, it’s important to stay on the sequence so you don’t end up delaying graduation or needing to take a class over the summer. If you stay on top of things though, you’ll likely graduate on time. The vast majority of my friends did in the UC system, and they were all much less thoughtful about planning their classes than I was in.
But I tend to be a planner, and not everyone else is. For what it’s worth, I double majored easily in four years during budget cuts and such in the UC system and I was in an impacted major, while still taking lots of fun classes (I was toying with the idea of picking up a minor). I made a four year plan in excel, and then just checked it whenever I was registering for classes. If it didn’t line up with what was available that quarter, I just switched out classes on my plan. It helped me to know when I could take extra fun classes because I had the room to still graduate on time and when I really needed to take a class because it was difficult to get into. Make sure you know which classes are only offered once a year or at specific times. Some classes that are required for many students will be offered multiple times a year and at many different time slots, but smaller classes may be only offered once a year.