Hi guys! I was accepted to #UVA20 and am super excited about it, but I have a question about the general requirements for the students. How easy are they to fit into your schedule/complete and are they a burden? I understand their purpose but would also like as much opportunity as possible to take classes that specifically interest me, rather than to complete a requirement. Do current students find they take up a lot of your schedule? And how did you go about completing them in terms of how many per semester etc.
thanks!
Alright here was my breakdown/tips.
UVA degree requirements:
120 credits
FWR 0-3 credits
SWR 3 credits
FLR 0 - 16 credits
SS 6 credits
Humanities 6 credits
History 3 credits
NWP 3 credits
S/M 12 credits
Max required = 52, approximately half of your classes at UVA.
I came in with 17 AP credits and 25 duel enrollment credits.
I got out of FWR, 3 cr Humanities, History, and 9 s/m. Technically I got out of half of the language requirement too but I decided to start over with a new language.
So I had 34 credits left, which is approximately one fourth of my classes at UVA.
HOWEVER, I tried to double up whenever possible.
For example, I took a class that satisfied science + nwp (Archaeoastronomy – though it needs a previous astro class for a prereq), and I took a class in my major that satisifed SWR (almost everyone does this).
So I ended up taking 4 foreign language classes, 2 SS classes, one humanities, one science class, and one non western class, along with the class that counted in my major for SWR. So that is 10 classes. You take 5 classes per semester so that is 1 - 3 per semester. You take more gen eds early and less/none later. I was done mine at the end of my 5th semester. Here is how many gen ends I took per semester:
1st - 2
2nd - 3
3rd - 1
4th - 3
5th - 1
Then your major is 30 credits at least. My major had 8 required classes (I had credit for one coming in), 3 prerequisite classes (I had credit for those coming in), and 1 extra class (CS - took it at UVA). So I took 24 credits for my major but you should look into whether or not you have AP credit for your major’s prereq classes.
That means I used 31 credits on gen eds (1 class in major), 24 credits in my major, and had the other 60+ credits to take what I wanted. I ended up doing 1 major but a 5th year masters. I took 20 elective credits (including 2 extra classes in my major) along with the classes for my masters. If I hadn’t done a 5th year masters I would have probably double majored math/cs or made my own major (maybe History of Math or something similar). I didn’t want to do a minor because a lot of the minor classes felt like gen eds to me, I would rather just take the ones I was interested in and do a bunch of mini minors basically. I considered minors in astronomy, CS, and Hebrew and took extra classes in each but not enough for a minor. Which is ok!
OK so last but not least here is how I chose my requirement classes. Honestly I thought they were interesting for about half a semester, but the 2nd half of the semester was boring.
SWR - took in my major, no big deal, loved it
FL - chose a new language, took an extra semester. I ended up with 2 semesters transfer of German and Spanish, 5 semesters of Hebrew at UVA, and 1 semester of Yiddish at UVA. Love languages.
SS courses - took a “common course” on poverty which still really influences me, that was a great class, and then a child psychology class which also actually was very interesting but was graded on a true curve!! So I lost motivation in the 2nd half of the class.
humanities - took a religion class (Bioethics - very popular class) which again comes up from time to time but was more interesting in the 1st half of the semester than the 2nd half.
NWP - took archaeoastronomy which was super interesting, loved it, learned about the Mayans and 2012 and stonehenge etc. But I also really like astronomy (so does TJ! haha) so try to find a class in an area you like. Look in previous semesters for offerings not just current semester when planning. The archaeoastronomy class was good because in the 2nd half of the class we had a research paper on a topic of our choice which held my interest better than the other gen eds I took.
sci/math - I was a math major so it was annoying that I had to take a science class too but I like astronomy so it worked out great. Intro astronomy is very interesting and I had a lot of misconceptions that were cleared up. Then I also took archaeoastronomy and then a 3rd one about black holes. Ed Murphy is the best (had him for intro & black holes).
All in all I wish I could have audited or pass/failed the classes instead of getting them for a grade, but it made me more well rounded. In addition I ended up with Phi Beta Kappa which you need extra classes on top of your requirements to get (I took extra math, extra science, extra languages, an elective fiction writing class, etc). So keep that in mind, too!
HTH sorry it’s so long but it gives you an idea of how to pick your classes I hope
The system is designed so that you can get many of your required general requirements out of the way first year. However, the system is designed that you probably will have difficulty getting into interesting electives your first year. As you progress each year, it will be easier to get into classes that you desire.
Just be patient, and try to get as many of the requirements out of way so you have flexibility in your later years, and so you can meet prerequisite requirements and be on track to declare a major. For arts and sciences, the department websites all list the requirements for being accepted into their major. If you are considering two different majors, it would make sense to try to meet some of the requirements for each, to keep your options open.
In trying to meet requirements for non-Western courses, my son found that he could not get into any interesting classes that met that requirement first year. That was fine - he just delayed it until he received more preference in registering classes his second and third year.
If you have AP credits, don’t be too quick to use them to lighten your courseload. You need 12 credits to be considered fulltime. My son saved one his semesters of a 12 credit courseload for when he was job hunting 4th year. That helped him because he had to travel to complete a set of interviews and screenings even after he had his job offer. Your AP credits can also be very useful later in your scheduling if you decide to do a 5 year joint bachelors-masters degree. My daughter saved one of her 12 credit semesters for when she had her most demanding science classes.
Many students also need to use the flexibility that comes with AP credits in order to meet the requirements for a double major. Some use AP credits to graduate early.