Core Curriculum Concerns... Help Planning Courses/Courseload

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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Here is the link to Alabama’s core requirements: https://catalog.ua.edu/undergraduate/about/academic-regulations/curriculum/core-curriculum-general-education-requirements/

From what I can gather, here is the complete core curriculum that must be completed in order to graduate:

  • 6 hours of written composition (FC)
  • 6 hours in 300 or 400 level courses, preferably in your major, with a writing (W) designation
  • 6 hours of a foreign language OR classes with a computer (C) designation
  • 12 hours of humanities and fine arts
  • 12 hours of history and social/behavioral sciences
  • 11 hours of math and natural sciences

Adding this all up, you get 53 total hours of core requirements (47 hours if you lump the writing classes in with your major requirements). Is it just me, or does this seem like a lot?

I’ll be entering freshman year with 34 total credits from AP classes:

6 FC credits (English Language/Literature)
3 Computer credits (Statistics)
3 Humanities credits (Scoring 5 on both English exams)
18 Social/Behavioral Science credits (Psychology, US Government, US History, and World History)
4 Math/Science credits (Calculus AB)

It seems that I need 3 more Computer credits, 9 more Humanities credits, and 7 more Math/Science credits to fulfill the core requirements. I’ll try to take all of these in the Honors College if I can so that I can get the honors designation.

I’m also planning on double majoring in Political Science and Economics while doing the Blount Scholars program and being enrolled in the honors college. I want to be done with this in three years.

Political Science major will be 30 credits (15 of which can be graduate level), Economics major will be 27 credits (I could also take 15 graduate credits as an undergrad if I want to), and the Blount Liberal Arts minor will be 20 credits. So 77 credits in six semesters on things I actually care about… can I do this while still fulfilling the core requirements? That’s 96 credit hours for all of it (including the core), which comes out to 16 hours a semester. Is this feasible?

Another caveat: I’m thinking of studying abroad during my third or fourth year as well, and then ultimately completing a masters degree in my fifth year (thanks to the Accelerated Masters Program). Should I take seven semesters instead of six to complete my undergraduate studies and then study abroad in my eighth semester? Would that make things easier? Or is a full year of study abroad really worth it?

What I really want to do is the Alabama Honors Program at Oxford; it can also cover a couple of Honors college credits which should help. What do you all think? Is the eighth semester a good time to do this?

I know that this is a lengthy post and I included so much information but I wanted to give everyone a very clear idea of my situation so that hopefully you are able to help me out a bit. Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks!

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Try and CLEP out of Biology and/or Chem. Also look at the link below to make sure you have the Arts & sciences requirements of at least 90 hours selected from A&S or related disciplines. Use DegreeWorks to see if your plan is correct for the 96 hours. https://catalog.ua.edu/undergraduate/arts-sciences/#requirementstext

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Seconding the advice to try to CLEP, especially Bio or a foreign language. There are online resources to study for them if its been a while since you took those subjects.

Many students take classes (especially core) during summer, online or at CCs. That would reduce how many credits you need to take during each regular semester. 16 hours is doable though!

Also sit down with DegreeWorks once your APs have been converted to actual class credit. The Core is not just large, but pretty finicky in spots. For example, some sections (like HI/SB) require not just X hours but also that some of those hours be a sequence or depth study. You’ll need to doublecheck you’ve actually completed them.

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@MichiganGeorgia great call on the CLEP. I was only marginally aware that I could do that. As for DegreeWorks, I’ll check it out and see if it’s doable. Thanks for your help!

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@flatKansas I’ll definitely see if I can take some summer classes… the main issue if I do that is completing the honors requirement but I’m sure I can work it out somehow. As for the CLEP, I’ll try and knock out Bio, Chem, and Spanish if possible. Spanish will be the most difficult for me but I can start studying soon. The others are a bit more fresh and if I pass them then I should be done with my math/science requirement. Finally, the core is very oddly specific in certain cases; I noticed that too. I’ll definitely try and plan it out so that I’ve covered all my bases. Thanks!

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@grant1509 - Use this to study to pass the clep tests. It’s free and after you finish. You can get a voucher that pays the cost of the CLEP test .https://modernstates.org/

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Alabama offers 8, 11, or 14 credits depending on results of Spanish CLEP. Here’s another prep site which I hear is very good - $20 per month (you can start and stop paying according to your exam schedules) https://www.instantcert.com/
InstantCert - Study Guides For CLEP, DANTES, ECE, And GED …
www.instantcert.com

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@MichiganGeorgia wow, this website is awesome! I’ve spent a few hours today already looking through it and getting enrolled in some courses for the next few weeks. Thank you!

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@MichiganGeorgia the fact that they pay for the test seems almost good to be true but I’m gonna go with it!

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@historyrocks I’ll check it out. That might be the way to go for Spanish if it already has a good track record. Thanks!

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@grant1509 - My son used Modern states to CLEP out of Biology for UA last summer. He only had Biology in 9th grade so I know it does work. Good Luck.

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does degree works allow students to put in two majors at the same time and combine the curriculums?

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Some of your Blount courses will also count as honors and/or humanities. Also, if you CLEP Spanish, you could apply those hours to the FL/C requirement instead of having to take another C class. If you score high enough to have extra FL credits, those go in the humanities category.

And if you do the Alabama in Oxford, I think most of what they offer is humanities. And I could be wrong, but I think that’s only offered during the summer, not fall or spring.

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@ChattaChia I’ve been playing around with it and I’m trying to figure out if I can… not sure yet

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@afe2018 you’re right. It is in the summer only, but I’m thinking of studying abroad for a semester on top of doing the Oxford program as well!

As for Spanish, I am going to try to CLEP out of it. It would be nice not to have to take another computer class to open up my schedule a bit and get the FL requirement out of the way. I’m also going to try and CLEP out of biology and chemistry if possible which I think would make all of this so much easier! Thanks!

@MichiganGeorgia by the way, I’ve started modern states… it’s great!!

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How do you find degreeworks?

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@ChattaChia

It’s on the MyBama student portal.

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@ChattaChia In MyBama, click on the top where it says “more”, Crimson email is in that spot too.

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Degree Works is NOT totally reliable. DS’s has requirements for classes that aren’t even taught anymore. Also, he had one class shown as satisfying a requirement, then after the semester, it ended up as an elective. So be sure you verify everything.