<p>I signed up for two 3 unit classes and a 4 unit class at calso ( 10 units total) and I'm planning on signing up for a seminar ( 2 units)during my phase II
I want my first semester to be manageable but I am missing 1 unit to meet the minimum requirement. Would it be a good idea to take a decal?</p>
<p>Why not? If you find an interesting decal, I’d say go for it! At my CalSO session the counselors really stressed the importance of not taking overloading yourself the first semester. As long as you do 13 units, I think you should be fine.</p>
<p>you can take as many seminars and decals as you want.</p>
<p>Hm, I’m pretty sure there is a cap to how many 98/198 units you can have. Otherwise, I would have taken more than 1 decal.</p>
<p>KnitKnots remembers correctly. For L&S, in a semester you can’t take more than 4 units combined of special studies courses, which by definition are those with numbers 98, 99, 197, 198, or 199. </p>
<p>Overall, a max of 16 units of these are counted towards the degree. That is, a max of 2/15 of all units towards your degree can come from these types of courses. </p>
<p>DeCals are listed as 98 or 198 courses. </p>
<p>Fortunately for the OP, most seminars are not considered special studies. Usually they are listed with 24 or 39 numbers, thus NOT subject to the limit of 4 units per semester/ 16 units for the degree. </p>
<p>If you took 2 units of Decal every semester for a four year stretch you would just fit in the cap for L&S. Seminars are just a choice of what to take for the remaining units towards your degree after you satisfy the breadths, the major requirements and the other prescribed coursework - take a seminar, take a different class, whatever interests you or seems beneficial to master.</p>
<p>My mistake, I’m sorry.</p>
<p>Is there a list of decal classes for fall 2011? The decal site doesn’t have them up yet so how come everyone is talking about them already?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>they are a common way to add a unit or two to fill a schedule without loading on much workload, if you are already taking a few weeder or heavy tech courses.</p></li>
<li><p>you have a good chance of getting into most of them and a guaranteed shot at a majority. Only the most popular, things like Harry Potter World and Batman oriented classes, are going to turn away people after they use their random drawing or justifications you submit or whatever criteria to pick out those who will receive the CEC to register. </p></li>
<li><p>Most are pretty relaxed and you can register and start a week or two into the semester, no worries ahead of time like the normal classes.</p></li>
<li><p>They are a great insurance policy for when your waitlist does not clear and you are at thus below minimum units two weeks into the semester - just add one at that time</p></li>
<li><p>They are a great insurance policy in case you hate a class or have to drop it because you realize you are unprepared or you find you are going down in flames, allowing you to cover at least some of the lost units</p></li>
<li><p>They help bulk up your units count which is a key basis for earlier telebears appointments, thus averaging a unit or two per semester of DeCal can edge you in front of others who don’t take advantage, yet they don’t bump up your study requirements or project load very much</p></li>
<li><p>They can be great fun and many of them recur semester after semester, which you learn after a semester or two here, and can be dependably anticipated. </p></li>
<li><p>You might look up the students who ran the class last semester, contact them and find out if they or a replacement will be holding the class again in Fall.</p></li>
</ol>