<p>I'm currently an incoming freshman whose major, for right now, is chemical engineering. But here's the bad news: I took AP Chem in my junior year and actually got a 5 on the exam, which was mind-boggling for me. That means I'm exempt from taking Chem 6a, 6B, and 6C. Along with that, I'm considering pre-med atm. I'm really unsure what to do atm, since looking at my situation, it looks like I don't have much of a choice but take Chem 6AH. The thing is, according to previous threads on Chem 6AH, it sounds like it's more on theory. And honestly, I'm not even sure how USEFUL it may be for my major, compared to Chem 6A. From what I've heard, Chem 6A sounds more useful to my major, but the problem is that it won't add up to my overall GPA for the fall quarter.</p>
<p>For any upperclassmen or anyone who was already taken Chem 6AH or has any knowledge of it, what is your suggestion to my situation? I truly don't want to waste a potential space for my fall schedule.</p>
<p>Well are you short on units? If you aren’t then just take chem6a; you just need minimum of 180 to graduate so it shouldnt be an issue at all as a chem E major. If you are applying to medical school, medical school would recalculate your GPA to include chem6a.
Your biggest concern IMO is the fact that you are doing pre-med doing chemical engineering.</p>
<p>Luckily no, I have around 40 units on me, since I took a good amount of APs in high school. So it should bring the total down to 140. Along with that, I have to agree with you: I’m really confused as to whether I should choose between chem E or med school. I was originally going to pursue M.S/P.HD in chem E, but then the thought of med school came to mind. Having both would sound almost impossible when thinking about it. But I’m still confused if choosing Chem 6A would be the right choice. I’m asking myself this: would I get more out of Chem 6A or Chem 6AH as an engineer?</p>
<p>Okay, after deep reflection over the two courses, I’ve decided that Chem 6A is bound to be the overall useful class for me. Despite not getting credit for it, I know that I will get a solid foundation in chemistry. As for med school, my mind is veering away from it, but I’ll take some time in the first 2 quarters to decide whether I want to go or not. Thanks DistressStudent for your helpful response!</p>
<p>As an incoming freshman, I only have one more slightly relevant question. With Chem 6A not being counted for credits, I am wondering if this schedule doesn’t look too difficult for the fall quarter. Here’s the schedule:</p>
<p>Chem 6A (non-credit)
Math 20B (credit)
MCWP 40 (GE)
PSYC 1 or COGS 1 or SOC 1 (either one)
CENG 1
CENG 15
ENG 1 (seminar, is it necessary?)</p>
<p>I think this is overkill for an incoming freshman. Any advice for this schedule or on what to drop for the fall quarter?</p>
<p>I don’t think you can even enroll in that many courses even if you wanted to.
Even though you are not taking chem6a for credit , it will still appear on your transcript with a grade or pass no pass if you choose to opt for that option. So ask yourself if you still want an a. If you do, then this schedule is way way too difficult.
Even without chem6a it is still too much. 16 units is the average course load. 20 units are for people who really really want to graduate in 4 or earlier without summer classes . 24 or more are for people who don’t care about their gpa and just want to be done(at this point you’d have to petition the unit cap). That said, I recommend one non science ge, your writing course, seminar, and two science courses. I might be wrong on this, but I don’t think freshmen generally take ceng; esp not first quarter. Many people overload themselves first quarter thinking it would be like high school (where norm is 6 classes). Needless to say they regreted their decision.</p>
<p>I agree with you on the average course course load for the fall quarter. I guess I got desperate thinking that 12 units total (4 courses including Chem 6A) for this quarter wouldn’t be enough.
Most freshmen don’t take CENG courses? I honestly had no idea that they didn’t take them. I figured freshmen would’ve wanted to complete their required courses as much as they can in their first year, especially for their major. Hopefully I don’t become one of the freshmen who took too many courses.
So based on your suggestions you’re saying that my schedule should either be one of these:</p>
<p>Chem6A
Math 20B
MCWP 40
PSYC 1 / COGS 1
ENG 1</p>
<p>Chem 6A
PHYS 2B (Got a 4 on AP Physics C Mechanics exam)
MCWP 40
PSYC 1 / COGS 1
ENG 1</p>
<p>I know PHYS 2B is another required course for my major, but there’s only 1 problem. The class size. Looking at it right now, there’s about people who are on the waitlist, which is crazy. With only 2 days left to finalize my fall schedule, it looks like that it’s not a good idea to wait for that LONG waitlist to drop. Along with that, I feel very uncomfortable removing Math 20B from my schedule. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>I just answered another tread about someone who is unsure of taking CHEM6AH because he/she has the AP credits as well. </p>
<p>If I were you, I wouldn’t waste my time and take CHEM6A. but that’s just me and I am not a chem engineering major, so idk if taking CHEM6A would be useful to your major. </p>
<p>I skipped the entire gen. chem series and didnt take honors because I got a 5 on my AP chem exam. I took organic chem CHEM140A and I felt like… there was stuff that I learned from my high school AP chem course, but I also didn’t regret not taking CHEM6A first because even though gen. chem and ochem are chemistry, they are very different in my opinion.</p>
<p>At that point, I was also unsure about the premed track. And I also asked for suggestions in one of my treads. Someone told me that if you are reluctant of going to med school, you don’t have to take gen. chem now but you can always come back to it and take it later in your third/ fourth year or whenever you are really sure about it.</p>
<p>Back then I kinda wanted to go to med school but right now ehh… prolly not.</p>
<p>I took 4 classes my first quarter of college and I think I’ll stick with 4 courses each quarter.
For me, I usually mix GE’s and required courses for my major in my schedule. The prereq courses can be pretty tough to get into because there is a gigantic number of people wanting to take the same class. On the other hand, there’re more options for GE’s and I feel like you can get into it more easily.</p>
<p>I was really worried when I was waitlisted for the first time because counselors don’t advice freshmen being waitlisted. Since the enrollment time was basically random for freshmen fall quarter, I got into all of my classes including MATH20B with Bowers. It really depends on professor though. In that class there were many students waitlisted by somehow you just need to talk to the prof. and he would direct you to the TA’s and the TA’s would add you into class.</p>
<p>However, like when there were 2 PHYS2A courses last yr, the prof. said that the number of students are limited because the room is small and she told waitlisted students that they should take the other 2A course with another prof.</p>
<p>Another note: Most people drop the class after the first they when they actually go there and realize they can’t handle it or for whatever reason. So you still have time to get in until the end of week 1 or 2 i dont remember.</p>
<p>This is how I do it for my fall quarter. Right now I am on the waitlist for my upper div chem course, like #39 which is terrible but I have a back up plan. Right now my schedule is 3 courses + this course = 4.
BUT I will sign up for another class (the class that I am sure there will still be room for me at that time) during the first day of school = 5 class. so that if I really can’t get in to that chem course I am waitlisted right now, I still have 4 classes total.</p>
<p>Wait, now I’m confused about Chem 140A. I know that it’s an upper division course that requires Chem 6C. Along with that, most sophomores/juniors take that class, with a few freshmen who are identified as “sophomore standing” (having enough units to be labeled that). Isn’t a freshman supposed to be seen as a sophomore standing in order to take Chem 140A? Because if I heard it right, freshmen can’t take upper division courses unless the’re labeled as that. Along with that, doesn’t it seem somewhat risky, since I don’t know how difficult the workload will be with my schedule? (And also since I took AP Chem in my junior year at high school)</p>
<p>Different note: Your way of getting classes for your schedule sounds reasonable. Always necesssary to have a backup. But looking at the upper division chem course, I’m pretty sure juniors and sophomores are given more preference, rather than freshmen.</p>
<p>It’s not true that freshmen can’t take upper div courses. As long as you have completed the prereq for that course. Like for CHEM140A, you have to finish CHEM6ABC first. That’s why a lot of people in ochem aren’t freshmen because they are still taking gen. chem their first year. And it’s kinda harder for freshmen to get into upper div courses because the upperclassmen have the earlier enrollment time. So upper div courses are usually full already for freshmen to sign up.
About the workload in CHEM140A, I think it’s easier to handle compared to PHYS2 where you have quizzes every week. It depends on the prof. though quizzes might be given but that didn’t happen in my class. If you feel like you need to get used to college life first then just take ochem later or whenever you feel like. For me, it’s just like other classes in college where your grade is solely based on exams and there’s no hw for you to turn in. Along with that, materials are getting harder over the course but as long as you study, you’ll survive till the end.</p>
<p>On the Schedule of Classes, freshmen are not allowed to take courses that are labeled JR/SR on the left (next to section ID). You just have to take a look at it. It’s also true that some courses are not open for freshmen and,or sophomores. but for ochem, there’s no problem with that</p>
<p>For classes like PHYS 1 or 2 that are lower-division major requirements, but are already completely full right now (with looong waitlists too), will UCSD open up more spots once freshman enrollment begins? Because otherwise, doesnt that mean that very few freshmen get to take the physics series this quarter?</p>
<p>@chainiwatmj, I have some questions about what you said in earlier posts:
Does this override the waitlist order? For example, if Im #35 on the waitlist in a class with a limit of 300, but I talk to the professor on the first day of lecture and ask to be added, can I bypass those 34 people in front of me (if none of them have also asked the professor in person)?</p>
<p>Also, for freshmen-taking-UD-classes thing, I was wondering about courses that list prerequisites as course x or upper-division standing. Right now Im wondering if I can take PSYC 179, which lists the prereq as one lower-division psychology course (1, 2, 3, or 4) or upper-division standing. I took AP Psych, got a 5, got credit for Psyc 1. But I dont have UD standing, and on the course schedule, theres a JR/SR next to the course. But since theres an or in there, could I still take it ?</p>
<p>(Sorry to invade your thread Basstime! I did originally have the same question about you though, should I take the honors chem series or not But Im not 100% sure if I want to go to med school so Im not taking chem 6 or 6H yet, until Im SURE. Gonna take care of major/GE requirements first.)</p>
<p>The waitlist system here is completely weird. I can’t tell in advance because it really depends on your professor. </p>
<p>I am like #39 in the class out of 242 students. (my upper div class) how sad… </p>
<p>The TA can’t just add the person he wants to add. From my example, what happened was that my MATH20B prof. announced at the end of class that all waitlisted students would need to talk to the TA’s so that the TA’s can add you into class. So basically all of them got in regardless of their position on the waitlist.</p>
<p>Actually, the class was like damn full. If you went to class like 5 mins late, you gotta sit on the floor. I think I was like that one time but you know there’ll be someone else sitting on the floor too so it wasn’t that awkward. In my math class, there were like 10 discussions or more which were never full because not everybody went to discussion. The downside of having a huge class was that you just had to compete with space in lecture hall.</p>
<p>It’s possible that they might add more space some time later on for the freshmen, but only if they see tons of people on the waitlist. Like for math and science, they usually add extra sections/discussions to fulfill the gigantic number of people wanting to be in that class. This happened to my math class one time.</p>
<p>For PHYS, it can be different because adding more space or not depends on that particular department. Physics dept might have a different method from math dept.</p>
<p>IDK for PHYS1 but in spring I was trying to get into PHYS2A but I had a very bad enrollment time so by the time I signed up, I was #80. Phys. dept secretly added an extra class by emailing all the waitlisters. I immediately switched myself into the new class because I felt like there was no way for me to get out of the waitlist. Sadly, phys dept never told who the prof. was going to be until like very late. I found out that the new class that was added would be taught by a new prof. And you know, try not to take a class with the prof that has no reviews on the websites because that means you don’t know what to expect.</p>
<p>Another scenario:
For my art history class, only the few people on the waitlist could get into class after the first week because some people dropped the class during the first week. So the TA’s pretty much obeyed the waitlist system.</p>
<p>There are several ways freshmen can take upper div:
Email the prof. asking about your case and you’ll know whether or not you can take the course
Email the specific dept. (but I’d rather email the prof. since sometimes people in dept. don’t know much)
If you can sign up in Web Reg, that means you can take the course.</p>
<p>In your case, it looks like only juniors and seniors can take it and I don’t see any prereq. along with it. However, it seems like this course is never gonna be full, so if you try emailing the prof., you might be able to take it. idk</p>
<p>I am taking PSYC157 right now in summer session, which is an upper div. I am not even a psyc major and I never took AP psyc nor any lower div psyc classes before.
note that PSYC157 didn’t mention JR/SR status on Schedule of Classes</p>
<p>Don’t try to go ask the prof. in person so that he/she can accommodate you into class.
I understand that being far down the waitlist is sad but they can’t do anything about it. No matter what, idt they can actually let #77 in first instead of #1. Even sometimes, it’s people in that dept. who deals with the waitlist system rather than the prof. himself.</p>
<p>Since you are a freshman, try taking other class instead or have a backup plan. GE’s are less impacted in my opinion.</p>
<p>@archaic: No need to worry man, we’ve ask got questions to ask around! So feel free to ask as well.</p>
<p>Looks like trying out Chem 140A might not be such a bad idea, though 140B sounds like hell. However, I would have to e-mail the professor for the class right?</p>
<p>One last irrelevant question before enrollment times start: Would you guys recommend either COGS 1 or PSYC 1? I’m thinking of using 1 space for a GE, and I figured these two seemed interesting to me.</p>
<p>@chainiwatmj: The multiple posts are okay man. Actually quite helpful for us freshmen coming in to UCSD.</p>
<p>Oh, and this is the semi-final schedule for my fall quarter:</p>
<p>Chem 6A or Chem 140A (Either Johnson or Ternanskly respectively)
Math 20B (Is Sorenson a new professor?)
COGS 1 or PSYC 1 (Boyle sounds like a good prof)
MCWP 40
ENG 1</p>
<p>I just hope these classes will open more space up.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing your personal experiences chainiwatmj! Really helpful to see some real-life examples of what could happen in these scenarios. Hopefully they’ll open up a lot more spaces in the required major classes because with 4500+ freshmen, I don’t see how everyone can get the classes they need when the class limit of 300+ is already filled up.</p>
<p>I’m gonna email the PSYC197 professor then. Not sure why no prereq shows up in the class schedule; it does show up in the course catalog, maybe the catalog isn’t completely up-to-date… I did email the psychology dept advising people and didn’t get a straight answer. Ehh.</p>
<p>No need to email the professor to register for Chem 140A. You’ll be able to register for it on WebReg because you’ve fulfilled the prerequisite for Chem140A (which was credit for Chem 6C, through your AP Chem score.)</p>
<p>What chainiwatmj was talking about, for emailing the professor to get in the class, was for classes that specifically say in the prerequisite “upper-division standing” or “consent of instructor”. Then, as freshmen, we’d need to email the prof to get their consent. But for Chem 140A, it says neither of those, so the only prereq is Chem 6C. Which is already taken care of, yay!</p>
<p>COGS 1 seems interesting, from the course description. AP Psych was pretty interesting too. I think COGS and PSYC 1 are a bit different though; cognitive science seems more interdisciplinary, combining psychology with language with technology and “real-world applications.” Psychology is much more science-y. Both seem like great GE choices to me. Take whichever one seems more interesting to you!</p>
<p>Btw this is my first-choice schedule at the moment:
CHEM 140A (Ternansky! His class is supposedly the most difficult ochem class, but also most rewarding for some…)
PSYC 197 (if they let me register! If not, probably going to have to take PSYC 3 or 4, ehh)
WCWP 10A
Research course (only 1 unit)
= 13 units</p>
<p>After seeing some people’s schedules though, maybe I should add another 4-unit course…</p>