<p>Hi, I’m an incoming freshman, and was wondering if 18.5 units would be too much. And yes, I know that the orientation leaders recommended us to stay below 15 our 1st qtr, but the classes I’m taking don’t seem like they would be that dreadfully hard. And I’m really worried that I won’t be able to graduate in 4 years. Would you guys be so kind to asses if you think it’d be possible for me to do 18.5 units?</p>
<p>So here’s my current schedule:</p>
<p>-Mat 21A (I passed both AB and BC with 4’s. But taking the class b/c I want to apply to med school…)
-Chem 2A (only took chem HP sophmore year.)
Classics 30
-BIM 01
-PHE 1</p>
<p>Thats 14.5 credits right there, and I want to add: “ECS 30” to bring it up to 18.5 units. </p>
<p>I’ve been reading ratemyprofessor for my teachers, and so far they don’t seem to demand crazy study hours. I’m ok with studying alot, and I like math and computers. I see that MAT21A would just be like a review class that’s not gonna be too hard or easy. And I checked up on my finals, they’re all spread out nicely.</p>
<p>Soooo… All-in-all, what do you guys think? Would that schedule be do-able? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any advice, good or bad :D</p>
<p>do you need classics? why don’t you drop classics and pick up ecs? i and others really suggest against taking that many units your first quarter because you probably haven’t done anything like it before.</p>
<p>Possible? Of course
Suggested? You know the answer…</p>
<p>It really doesn’t matter how many units you take if you overextend yourself and do poorly. In addition, that emphasis on lower units your fall quarter isn’t because they believe the freshmen are stupid, its so you can have time to meet the new people living around you and make some friends. </p>
<p>If you’re taking extra units because you really think you’ll enjoy/need all those classes, then give it a shot and keep in mind the 10/20 day drop deadlines if it gets messy. If you’re taking them because you think you need to take that to finish on time, you’re wrong. </p>
<p>And ratemyprofessor reviews generally will not mention study hours (they’re way too relative, some can study very little and do well while some of us can study tons and do decent), they talk about the professors themselves, at least that’s how I always put mine.</p>
<p>Ohhh, sigh, yea what your both saying is kinda right. I see your points :(</p>
<p>I’m taking CLA 30 b/c it seems interesting and i need to build up some vocab skills my orientation leader reccommended me to take it.</p>
<p>I think I’ll just waitlist for ECS 20 and go to the first couple classes. I’ll add it only if I feel I really need to, and after I kind of get to know how busy my schedule would be. </p>
<p>Thank you!!! I didn’t think that we’re to have less units for a chance to socialize but it makes sense</p>
<p>ANDDD… one more question if you don’t mind :D</p>
<p>How many units would you say is the normal that engineering majors take? How manyunits does an average upperclass student take?</p>
<p>I tried to plan out how a sample schedule, and not matter how I re-arrange my classes, It looks like I’m gonna have to take well over 20 units almostevery quarter starting winter quarter. Is this normal? or did I do something wrong?</p>
<p>keep in mind only around 50% of ucd students graduate within four years, and many of those that go over are engineers.
i live with two engineers and they’re both on track to graduate within four years, but they’ve taken summer school at every opportunity and taken usually 15-17 units per normal quarter, taking double/triple dips as much as possible. very efficient. oh and they started in math 21B and C.</p>
<p>are there not four year plans on the website?</p>
<p>Yea there are plans on their site, but I need to satisfy med school requirements also, so that adds about 10 classes to my normal engineering major requirements. That’s the only reason I’m having a hard time trying to figure out my schedule.</p>
<p>I guess I’ll just have to stack up during summer school and hope for the better :D</p>
<p>Of course I wouldn’t recommend it, especially if it’s your first quarter. You’ll want to get used to college first before you dive right in.</p>
<p>Also, remember that this is just your first quarter. If you graduate in 4 years, that means you’ll be at UCD for 12 quarters. So now is not the time for you to be worrying about graduating! You should be focused on getting yourself settled in college.</p>
<p>To graduate, you need 180 units, right? That means you should be taking about 15 units per quarter. However, there’s always summer school. Plus, the great thing about summer school at UCD is that it’s split up into two 6-week sessions–that way, you can take one or two classes during one of the summer sessions, and still have a nice long summer break before fall! </p>
<p>Just don’t overdo it. My philosophy is that fewer classes = higher grades and better retention. Good luck!</p>
<p>It would be far worse to flunk out than to take more than four years to graduate. Sign up for the classes you want, but pay attention during the drop period and make sure you find out exactly what kind of projects and papers you will have to turn in for every class at the end of the quarter. You will be a lot busier later on when you have to do all those projects than you will be in the first few weeks, during the drop period.</p>
<p>Honestly, I’d just stick with around 13 to 15.</p>
<p>You’re a freshman, and I’m assuming you haven’t taken a college class yet. If this is the case, I would take it pretty easy on my first quarter to get a feel of college classes and the college life, because college is very different from highschool in terms of difficulty, workload, and what they(professors) expect out of you.</p>
<p>Don’t take that many. Your a freshmen, you really don’t need to take that many classes your first quarter, trust me you have A LOT of time. You can always take summer courses if you still feel like you wont have enough time to finish.</p>
my orientation leader reccommended me to take it.</p>
but it makes sense</p>
That’s the only reason I’m having a hard time trying to figure out my schedule.</p>