<p>I'm considering taking this class to as a fill-in. It sounds pretty easy, but I may be wrong. I'm taking Calculus and Accelerated Programming next quarter, and those two classes add up to 12 units. So I'm wanting to take an easy 5-unit class, and two choices are: Personal Computers and Intro to Networking/Internet. The latter sounds more fun. What are your opinions? Has anyone taken that Networking class? What did you think of it?</p>
<p>I’ve taken both Personal Computers and Intro to Networking. Personal Computers is probably the easiest course at UCSC. I went to class about 4 times in total and I ended up with around 110%. The projects are ridiculously easy and just require you to do basic things like create a word document, powerpoint, html site, and excel. If you know how to memorize answers, you literally can’t fail the exams.</p>
<p>I probably enjoyed the material from Intro to Networking way more because I actually learned something in the class. The material usually changes because they keep switching the lecturer for the class (I had Juan Gomez), but it usually goes over material such as TCP/UDP protocol, router/network configurations, IP subnet masking, binary/hex/decimal calculations, and some html. The average grades in the class weren’t that great (especially for exams/quizzes), but your relative grade can be pretty high. I think I had around a 85-90 in raw points, but it was curved to ~105%.</p>
<p>So it’s really up to you. I know both of these classes list their syllabus, assignments, and exams from previous years online. So you can go to the SOE website and take a look and see what you would rather take.</p>
<p>MidnightGoldger, I have a question. IDK if I should take AMS 11A (Econ 11A) or Math 19A. If I go the Math 19 route than I have to take a third quarter of calculus and if I go the AMS route I only have to take two. Which one do you think is better? I am a BME major by the way. The teacher for AMS 11A is Jonathan Katznelson, idk if you had him, but according to ratemyproffesor he is a terrible teacher and Eastman,M.R. is teaching Math 19A. I’ve heard Eastaman’s midterms and final are brutal. Which math path do you recommend? I’ve thought about minoring in math but it seems unmanageable alongside BME.</p>
<p>Sorry, I rarely check the forums haha. In all honesty, it depends on what you want to gain from taking the classes. Econ 11A+B is usually the route most econ majors take because it’s only 2 classes. Katz basically always teaches that class and he’s a so-so professor. He usually gets bad ratings because the students taking Econ 11 aren’t necessarily the biggest fans of calculus. The class will teach you the basics of calculus and enough of it to help you with your undergraduate degree in BME.</p>
<p>There’s also the Math 19 or Math 11 route, but both of those require 3 classes. The Math 19 series is more difficult because it’s technically engineering/math calculus. So most of the students in that class are majoring in some type of engineering/math field, while there are usually very few econ students in the class. I took the 19 series and I think it gave me a solid foundation in calculus. I really like eastman/baurele teaching these courses too. However, I do know several econ students who did fail the course, so it really depends on how comfortable you are in calc. I found that Eastman loves to teach fundamentals and concepts, but its completely up to you to know how to actually apply what you learned towards the exams. This is different compared to Econ 11 and Math 11, where most of your exam questions come from hw problems and you just memorize the generic way to solve each type of problem.</p>
<p>Math 11 is normally completely filled with bio/health science students and the class does very basic calculus. I’m not sure if they changed the requirements for BME, but the Math 11 series should still be a valid route for econ students as long as they take Math 22/23 as their third math class.</p>
<p>With all that being said, there are clear advantages for each of these routes. Econ 11 is only 2 classes and will be filled with econ students. Math 19 looks great for grad school applications, should help you out if you decide to take Math 22 instead of Math 23, and it gives you a great understanding of calc. Math 11 is very simple calc and should be pretty easy.</p>
<p>Cons: Econ 11 can be hit or miss with Katz teaching. Also if you are interested in taking courses outside of the Econ department that requires calc, Econ/AMS 11 isn’t always listed as an equivalent. Math 19 is harder compared to the other routes and some people have issues adjusting with the way the course is structured. Math 11 might be too simple which makes Math 22/23 more difficult.</p>
<p>BTW: Minoring in math is still doable if you are majoring in BME. I was actually thinking about it when I was a freshman and planned it out pretty easily. However, I changed gears when I started liking the idea of the ISTM minor instead.</p>
<p>I going to chimed in here about Math 11 series and Math 22 since I took it. Math 11 is fairly easy sailed through it no problem. Despite it being water-downed calculus, I found that I was prepared for Math 22 in fact I found it much easier then Math 11B since it was just the same thing as the 11 series but with an extra variable. Math 23 I can’t comment on since I never had to take it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! I think I’m going to take the Econ 11A route. Saves time and money since I don’t have to take more math classes. Although I did talk to an upper-class-man and he said that taking a lot of math classes really helps out in higher level econ courses. He also said that a math degree is one of the most employable degrees you can get. Anyways, how hard are the intermediate micro and macro classes? I got an A- in microecon (although I would’ve got an A if I had been more prepared for the first midterm lol) and hopefully will get an A in macro. I’ve heard macroecon is easier than microecon.</p>
<p>Another question Midnightgolfer. I was looking at UCLA’s requirements to transfer to its business/econ program. It says you need two quarters of calculus, differential and integral calculus and Integration and Infinite Series. Would Econ 11A and Econ 11B fulfill that requirement or do you have to take Math 19A+Math 19B in order to do it? IT says it has to be an equivalent course.</p>
<p>I thought Intermediate Macro was easy, but that’s because I really enjoyed that class. I don’t think you should have a problem as long as you study and can understand your problem sets. I don’t really think the class has a curve.</p>
<p>I took Intermediate Micro at Berkeley and it was probably my most difficult econ class so far. Usually inter. micro is a difficult course, but I think it really depends on your professor and the competition in your class (sometimes there are HUGE curves). In my micro class at UCB, to get an A you probably needed to average a 85-90% on your exams. I have friends at UCSC who got an A with ~70% and some even lower. Having a professor that is clear and that you can understand is the largest difference maker for this class. You might be able to solve the free response problems just by using calculus and by manipulating some of the curves, but proper intuition is essential for all of the multiple choice problems (which can be about 60% of your exams).</p>
<p>Econ 11 A/B might not work for you. From my understanding, UCLA does not recognize the Econ math series at UCSC. UCLA admissions has a long history of making a fuss at UC-UC transferable courses, so I personally wouldn’t risk taking the Econ 11 series.</p>
<p>Your only choices would be Math 19A+B or Math 11A+B.</p>
<p>MidnightGolfer: Wasn’t that the series that caused a whole hoopla this past acceptance period? The one that it was the correct series, but UCLA was dragging their heels insisting it was not the same despite what seemed like sufficient written proof it was? If so, then I agree. It’s not worth the risk if the end goal is a UCLA transfer.</p>
<p>So Econ 11A+B doesn’t meet the Calculus requirements for any of the other UC’s? I been thinking that if I don’t get in UCLA or UCB I would at least transfer to UCI or UCSB or UCSD. UCSC so far has been great but it’s really difficult for me to go back home in the holidays/brakes. UCI, UCSB, and UCSD are closer to home so they make it easy on my parents (I know that UCB is farther than UCSC but I don’t think my dad would mind making a long trip there lol). Ideally, I would like to transfer to a top UC but even if I can’t I would at least like to transfer to a good nearby UC.</p>
<p>Kender: I actually have not heard any cases of UCSC students getting denied specifically for the econ series. Most of the time admissions just tells them that their gpa/EC’s was not competitive for business econ (avg gpa ~3.94). The problem I think you’re referring to was when UCLA didn’t accept a UCI accounting course and several people on these boards suffered the same consequence. Of course it’s not given that this course was the defining factor that got them rejected, but it surely didn’t help them lol.</p>
<p>@Protein: The biggest issue is that there is no UC-UC articulation agreement like CC’s have on Assist.org. Only UCD has a type of transfer course agreement where it lists equivalents, but it’s only for their economics department (econ/math/stats classes). With that being said, you can only hope that admissions accepts Econ 11 as regular calculus. If you get rejected solely because of the econ series, then you can always appeal with a syllabus for the econ calc class, but it’s just better not to risk it.</p>
<p>Do you mean that your parents pick you up for holidays? Most of my friends from socal had that issue fresh year (also homesickness), but they found it easier soph/junior year because you meet people who usually drive home most of the time. Otherwise, UCI/UCSB are really easy to get into for econ. UCSD is also really easy as long as you have around a 3.4 - 3.5 GPA. UCLA/UCB usually requires the 3.8+ with some EC’s.</p>
<p>No, I’m very sure there was a UCSC issue with a set of courses. I just forget which series they were. I know 100% for sure it was not UCI and that it was indeed UCSC. If I could remember the name of the user who posted about it the most, then I would just search out their posts.</p>
<p>Oh well. Not a big deal. It’s just random curiosity that will remain unsatisfied for now ;)</p>
<p>Haha, oh okay. Was it another major? Because the only series that econ/business econ requires is just math, accounting, and econ, where math is the only series that allows students the option of picking different “paths.”</p>
<p>Funny thing is that UCLA is a transfer friendly school as they state that they review UC intercampus on the same level as CC transfers, but LA still has the most problems with course articulations. I had an issue when they said I didn’t take a required english course even though I took 2 courses past the requirement. When I had an admissions guy check my records over the phone, I got the golden response: “<em>long pause</em> well looks like that course actually is an equivalent…you can always appeal…?” </p>
<p>I doubt an appeal would have worked, but it’s just a pain to get that kind of response from admissions. So if you want to learn from my experience, you might want to add a small comment in the comments section if any of your required courses may seem different than they appear (in the case of your english class or if you end up taking the econ calc class). Otherwise your other required classes are very self-explanatory.</p>
<p>@MidnightGolfer</p>
<p>When are UC transfers suppose to appply to transfer? Someone told me it’s in the beginning if sophomore year that you apply, ie. around this same time next year. But that seems too early to apply as admissions would only be able to see freshman year grades in the application.</p>
<p>MidnightGolfer: Haha, who knows. Honestly, I didn’t pay much attention other than the oddity that the courses were being claimed to not transfer and that it was from UCSC. I was just intrigued that there was this issue since UCLA is, as you said, supposed to be transfer friendly for UC-UC transfers on the same level CC-UC transfers are. So strange what many people ran into.</p>
<p>@Protein</p>
<p>Most students apply during their soph year. If you are currently a freshman, you would apply November 2011. The only exception is if you have a massive amount of CC/AP credits because the only requirement is that you apply with a minimum of 90 quarter units. </p>
<p>Yeah, colleges only get to see your freshman fall, winter, spring grades (summer if you take it) and your soph fall grades. You submit your app in November, but you have to send the UC’s a grade update on their website with your fall quarter grades. Your winter and spring grades are still important because you can risk getting rescinded if you fail any of those courses.</p>
<p>Sorry for my nagging, but I have another question lol. I been thinking of studying econ instead of business if I transfer. What is the job market for econ majors? What kind of jobs can you get with an econ degree? I’ve heard that it’s better to get a business degree as it is more practical. Econ is very interesting and tough, but I want to study a degree that will get me a job right out of college. I just want to make sure that getting a degree in Econ will be rewarding and provide many opportunities. Also, is it true that Ivy league schools don’t offer business as an undergrad major, just econ?</p>
<p>Also, do you think Math 19A is too much for someone who has never taken Calculus? I’ve never taken Calculus before so I’m kind of scared. I’m thinking about doing Math 19A.</p>
<p>Well, this is going to be kinda difficult to explain haha. So I’m going to break it down into a few sections.</p>
<p>Majoring in business vs econ. These are two VERY different majors. I’m not sure what type of business you’re talking about (business econ, business admin, business management), so I’m going to guess you’re talking about econ vs business econ? I’m making that assumption because you talked about transferring to another UC and currently only 3 UC’s offer business admin (Cal, Irvine, and Riverside). If that’s correct, then business econ vs econ isn’t TOO big of a difference. In fact, majoring in one or the other won’t really give you an advantage. </p>
<p>Majors like that don’t have that big of an impact when it comes to the job market. I’ve worked with people on a finance team who majored in history and philosophy. The only thing is that they needed to take additional coursework outside their major to be qualified and the same applies for econ vs business econ. The difference between these majors is that business econ includes some classes that apply economic theory towards “business courses.” In all honesty, majoring in business econ won’t give you an edge over a student who is majoring in econ. Even though it depends on what type of work we are talking about and the experience required, econ students can always take business econ courses to learn any principles they deem necessary. I know a lot of econ students who took accounting courses even though it wasn’t required for them.</p>
<p>Majoring in econ can be very flexible. You can get jobs in finance, sales, marketing, accounting, academics, research, and etc. I’m not saying that these jobs will instantly be available to you with a degree in econ, but you will need to prove that you have experience in the given field. Example: You won’t be handed a job in finance if you haven’t taken any courses in finance. Employers love to hire people that they don’t have to train that much. Resume experience is the biggest factor in all cases when it comes to jobs, ALWAYS remember that.</p>
<p>I really don’t think the 19 series is that difficult. Attend lecture and go to section and you will be fine. Exams might be a little tough depending on your strengths, but getting an A is pretty easy. Just make sure you don’t fall behind on homework/lecture material.</p>