<p>So what's all the hype about freshman clusters?
During open house, ucla administration were almost insistent on incoming freshman signing up for a cluster class. Has anyone taken a freshman cluster before? What are some pros and cons? Seems like some pros are it's a unique interdisciplinary program that really allows you to learn about the subject in depth, and it gives you credits for general requirements. Cons? I guess you're screwed if you don't find the subject interesting? What do you guys think? I know I'll only have 3-4 classes a quarter (one in which will probably be a required writing class) and so a cluster will take one class away from my schedule for 3 quarter. </p>
<p>I am a parent but my daughter is a freshman right now and went through the same process you are in making her decision. She is in her last quarter of the Global Environment Cluster. The first thing is that this is very individual. Many people will be for and many against. She has really enjoyed it. Pros: She really is interested in the subject matter (environment, pollution, population, etc.) She is not a science major so she was able to knock out about 3 of her science GE’s. It takes care of your writing II requirement AND your seminar requirement (one of those may not be required any more?). She got a couple friends to sign up so they have had the same class all year. The first 2 quarters are large lectures but you have the same group of lecturers for the 2 quarters so you do get to know them and they get to know you. The last lecture of 2nd quarter she said all the profs came to lecture with t-shirts they had made and did a rap song with lyrics about the class. She said it was very silly but very funny. She had the same TA for 2 quarters and really got to know her well. She got A’s both quarters and will probably get an A again. She is in the honors program and gets 15 honors credit for completing the whole cluster. She is now in the last quarter seminar with only 20 students, including 2 of her best friends. They have already taken 3 field trips to the beach. All in all she has been able to really delve into a subject and also have the comfort of the same group of people for the year, maybe important for a freshman.</p>
<p>I think it’s important to take a cluster you would find interesting but that is out of your major area. There would be too much overlap if you were a science major. This way you get lots of GE’s out of the way in areas you wouldn’t normally be taking classes in.</p>
<p>Cons: I guess the con would be if you find you don’t like it. But you can drop after the first quarter. There is no requirement to stick with it. You still get the credits for the quarter you finish but can be free to do whatever. The other might be that it does affect your schedule a bit. My D had her lecture MWF at 11:00 for the first 2 quarters. So if there was another class she wanted at that time then she couldn’t take it. But that will happen with any class. You will always have some kind of schedule conflict to deal with. I do believe that freshman taking a cluster get some priority at registration so that helps.The last quarter with the seminar she only meets once a week for 3 hours and they offered about 8-10 seminars to choose from so it’s actually pretty flexible. </p>
<p>All in all it’s been a very positive thing for my D. You must really be interested in the subject matter. There is some paper writing since you do get writing II credit and some people had said they are harder than regular GE’s. My D did get A’s so I don’t think they are much harder. So if there is one that truly sounds interesting to you than I would recommend it as the pros definitely outweigh the cons.</p>
<p>As I said, many people will say they don’t like them but many do. If you are just concerned with getting GE’s out of the way then yes, there are easier GE"s and you can have more variety if you are not tied to a cluster. But if the subject matter is really interesting to you, you like the idea of being with the same profs/students for the whole year, you want to get the writing II and seminar requirement out of the way and , if you are in the honors program you get 15 honors credits…then I think it is worth considering and if you don’t like it you can drop after the first quarter.</p>
<p>^ in reference to eddylee09’s post, i too am a pre-business econ major… which cluster would fit best with me… I was thinking the LA History one, but I don’t know.</p>
<p>I’m in my third quarter of the global environment cluster and have despised every moment of it. I know I could have dropped it, and probably should have, but stayed for the Honors credits and writing 2 requirement. The seminar requirement has now been dropped so you get four requirements out of the way with a cluster instead of the five you could get before. I feel that if you really like the subject than you may like it, but with the environment, the material got very repetitive very fast. Also, the professors seemed to not really be invested in the class as they each only taught for five weeks. The TAs were helpful and nice (all my TAs have been like this), but didn’t really help in preparation for exams and papers. They had review sessions before each exam where they said they would cover all the information that you would need to know. They said that if they didn’t talk about it, then don’t study for it. Except they just spent two hours summarizing all the lectures and telling us we needed to know everything. Also, the midterms were held in the evening (one was the day after the presidential election!), and this was very inconvenient for many people. I’ll conclude with this: if you are undecided (like I was), do not take a cluster because it limits your opportunity to explore many subjects and pick one you like. If you do know what you want to do, take a class that will fill GE requirements that your prereq classes will not.</p>
<p>The best ive heard is that its interesting, the worst ive heard is that it ruined their first year. Allow yourself some freedom. Take GE classes that interest you</p>
<p>if you don’t like reading, don’t take it
from what i’ve heard from my friends, it’s like 200-300 pages of reading a week
which is a lot for people who don’t particularly enjoy reading</p>