Help me plan my freshman schedule?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
1

<p>I'm still rather confused, overwhelmed, and maybe a little bit frightened for what classes I'm going to take next year so I figured I should ask for help.</p>

<p>Basically, I can't AP out of any GE credits because I never took any AP tests so .. idk what I should do.</p>

<p>Am I to expect four classes per quarter?</p>

<p>and I know I need classes in </p>

<p>Literary and Cultural Analysis:
Philosophical and Linguistic Analysis:
Visual and Performance Arts:
Historical Analysis:
Social Analysis:
Social Analysis:
Life Science:
Life Science:
Physical Science:
Physical Science:</p>

<p>I want to take extremely easy GEs.. I know there's an easy GE list, but I'm still confused as there were some that fell in multiple categories and I wasn't sure if my future grad/law school would frown upon those classes. But, I still want an easy A, very easy A in all the classes I take during the GEs. I plan to pursue my academic interests after I'm done with them.</p>

<p>Lastly, I'm planning to major in Philosophy or double in Philo/Socio. Thanks for all the responses/advice.</p>

2

<p>Aren’t you going to Orientation?</p>

3

<p>Yes, but I’d like to be prepared beforehand.</p>

4

<p>UCLA doesn’t allow AP credits to be applied towards GE anyways.</p>

<p>It’s advised that you start out with 3 classes the first quarter. Otherwise, generally ~15 units (3-4 classes) on average per quarter. Although, it’ll probably be more like 4-5 classes if you want to double major.</p>

<p>Classes required for your major(s) probably satisfy about half of those GEs already. Although, there are other requirements such as Writing II, quantitative analysis, etc., which could be from those same classes for GE/major or AP credit.</p>

<p>Some courses fall under multiple categories, but it will only count towards one.</p>

<p>People generally don’t just do GEs their first year; it should be spaced out as filler courses to compliment your progress in your major(s).</p>

<p>The easy As aren’t gonna help your GPA that much in terms of graduate school.</p>

5

<p>Ohh, I did not know that.</p>

<p>I do want to double in Philosophy and Sociology, but I’d rather take classes over the summer instead of taking 4-5 classes a quarter. </p>

<p>If I did this every summer, do you think I’d be able to finish a double?</p>

6

<p>Hmm… actually. I was wrong (well it’s more accurate for south campus stuff). It looks like you could double major in Phil/Soc with 4 classes per quarter and maybe a few of them with just 3 classes.</p>

<p>[Major</a> Requirements](<a href=“http://www.philosophy.ucla.edu/index.php/undergraduate-program-/39-undergraduate-category/46-major-requirements]Major”>http://www.philosophy.ucla.edu/index.php/undergraduate-program-/39-undergraduate-category/46-major-requirements)
[THE</a> SOCIOLOGY MAJOR (for students entering 2008-09) — UCLA Department of Sociology](<a href=“http://www.soc.ucla.edu/undergraduate-study/the-sociology-major-for-students-entering-2008-09]THE”>http://www.soc.ucla.edu/undergraduate-study/the-sociology-major-for-students-entering-2008-09)</p>

7

<p>Ohh, I see. I found the Philosophy major thing too… I couldn’t find the reqs before. Thanks! You are beyond helpful.</p>

<p>Quarter 1</p>

<p>1.
2.
3.
4.</p>

<p>Quarter 2</p>

<p>1.
2.
3.
4.</p>

<p>Quarter 3</p>

<p>1.
2.
3.
4.</p>

<p>Quarter 4</p>

<p>1.
2.
3.
4.</p>

<p>Summer</p>

<p>1.
2.
3.</p>

<p>With 10 GEs being necessary… I guess I’ll take 3 freshman year?</p>

<p>and I suppose I’ll take Sociology 1 during here somewhere too?</p>

<p>I know there’s a Bruin professor site and stuff, but I couldn’t login into it. </p>

<p>I really am stressing about my GPA so for my freshman year, I just want to get acclimated and take “easy” classes because law school admissions seems to be just a giant number game.</p>

8

<p>Not sure what that chart is ^^^, but there are only 3 quarters + summer in the year here.</p>

9

<p>oh dang it o_o… i took “quarter” literally… haha… ok. </p>

<p>so you know how unprepared I am.</p>

<p>Quarter 1</p>

<p>1.
2.
3.
4.</p>

<p>Quarter 2</p>

<p>1.
2.
3.
4.</p>

<p>Quarter 3</p>

<p>1.
2.
3.
4.</p>

<p>Summer</p>

<p>1.
2.
3.</p>

10

<p>Quarter is meant literally. Your first list had 5 sessions, the correct one has 4.</p>

11

<p>Yes, I thought the summer session was independent of the school’s quarters.</p>

<p>I was wrong haha; I understand now.</p>

12

<p>While I can appreciate your desire to be prepared, I must say this is somewhat unnecessary (and will probably result in just a lot of wasted time and stress). </p>

<p>First of all, you said you never took any AP credits, and you have no mention of previous college coursework, so that indicates to me you’ll be entering UCLA as someone with close to zero or zero units. That means you probably will be left with the most undesirable classes (realistically, since class registration is ordered by number of units), and you will most likely have no chance of enrolling in the schedule you would find most desirable.</p>

<p>Second of all, you have not taken into account the fact that many classes are not offered every quarter and many classes will end up overlapping anyways so (again) there is little point in you trying to create a perfect schedule. </p>

<p>But since you are so proactive, I suppose that despite these warnings you will try and make a nice schedule anyways, so here is my take on it.</p>

<p>Your first quarter, your orientation counselor will emphasize to you that you should only take three classes so that you won’t overwhelm yourself your first quarter here. And for the most part, people will listen, (I don’t know of anyone who took four classes their first quarter) so I would strongly recommend you take that into account for your schedule.</p>

<p>Secondly, taking easy classes is not necessarily the best thing you could do for your grade point average. From what I’ve seen, people in GE classes tend to get A’s in whatever classes they are most interested in. So if you see a general education you think you’d enjoy, by all means take it. You might have to work harder than when you take classes on the “easy” list but in the end you’ll be much less miserable.</p>

<p>Now many of your general education requirements will also be covered by your premajor courses. It’s a good idea to look at what classes you have to take for your premajor and look them up in the registrar. It will tell you what general ed. requirements they fulfill (and they will fulfill one of the requirements as well as your premajor requirement). </p>

<p>But again, all this information will be explained to you at orientation, and there is a whole lot more to planning a schedule. Hopefully this will sate your thirst for scheduling for a while. Best recommendation is to relax a little bit, you will have plenty of time during the summer to structure you classes for the fall quarter</p>

13

<p>Many many thanks.</p>

<p>I am trying to familiarize myself with the college system, and my worst fear is getting off on a wrong foot.</p>

<p>I feared that I wouldn’t have enough time at orientation, and I was not sure how assisting the counselor would be to make my schedule.</p>

<p>I have a few college credits, but after reading that post, I won’t worry about factoring them in. </p>

<p>But, if this will all be done at orientation with sufficient time, then I have no need for further assistance.</p>

<p>Thank you again; that post was beyond informative and helpful.</p>

14

<p>Yes, most people learn everything at Orientation; you get one on one time with the student councelor who has the same or a similar major to you. It is 3 days afterall. However, I do admit that it was a bit hectic trying to figure out classes because the computer lab was full… I don’t know if that has changed, but I suppose you could always bring your own computer.</p>

15

<p>You have gotten good advise here. My daughter is a freshman this year and she did the same thing you are doing. But then just releaxed until orientation. I think we did get a catalogue when we visited the school afetr she was admitted and she spent some time looking at that. But all you need to worry about right now is your first quarter and you should only take 3 classes. My D took a freshman cluster (Global Envirornment) which is a year long class in a particular subject that takes care of tons of requirements, a history class and another GE. So she basically was taking 3 GE’s that were interesting to her and no major classes. Of course if you are doing engineering or pre med you would want at least one major class. So think about what 3 classes you might want first quarter, than have at least 2 full back up plans. Classes you want may conflict with other classes or discussions or for some reason won’t work out. You counselors at orientation will be very helpful. The best advise I can add is to bring your own laptop. When it comes time to actually register you will have a specific time (along with tons of others) and having to wait for a computer is a pain. My D said having her laptop made it very easy to check enrollment numbers, keep tabs on the classes she wanted, and to sign up for them as soon as she was permitted.</p>