<p>I just got back from orientation, where an "academic adviser" sat down with us and scheduled our classes together. This adviser told me "only General Education classes qualify to count as elective credits, so only classes designated as GWS, GQ, GHA, GN, GA, GH, and GS. I think this is dead wrong. I can't find any official definition on Penn State's website saying what an elective is, but the orientation video you are suppose to watch has this definition.</p>
<p>"Elective credits must be completed, but a student can choose to satisfy these credits by taking any course that bears Penn State credit."</p>
<p>Am I just stupid, or does that not mean any class offered by Penn State can be taken as an elective? </p>
<p>I can not speak to another adviser until tomorrow at 1pm. My brain is going to explode if I can not figure out what is going on here. </p>
<p>As far as I know, you can take any class and count it as an elective. Now, I would suggest crafting your electives towards a minor or something, so youre not just wasting them. Generally speaking though, a significant amount of intro classes you would take as an elective also satisfy gen ed requirements. </p>
<p>Thanks, I feel a little better knowing I am not the only one who thinks that. </p>
<p>I’m trying to utilize my electives in order to take several programming classes. It is strictly for the knowledge. While a minor would be great, PSU does not offer a computer science minor. I am planning to do independent programming as a hobby, so a degree is not entirely necessary. </p>
<p>I am, however, quite furious over not being able to schedule a programming class. As “it is not classified as Gen Ed, and thus would not count towards my electives.” or so my adviser says. </p>
<p>First of all, you can change your schedule. Advisers are there to give advice you are free to ignore it.</p>
<p>If you want to change the classes you selected at NSO you can go into your myPennState account and change anything you want.</p>
<p>I’m guessing something got lost in translation. You may have electives, depending on you major, but you also must complete 45 credits of Gen Ed, 3 credits of CMPSC/CSE can count as a GQ.</p>
<p>More here:
<a href=“http://handbook.psu.edu/content/general-education”>http://handbook.psu.edu/content/general-education</a></p>
<p>Also, look at the plan for you major to see how much room for free electives you have. Some majors, (eg engineering) do not leave much, if any, room for free electives.</p>
<p>I figured I could change it myself, but I was warned I could get in trouble if I did major changes without approval from my adviser. Honestly, I question everything she told me. She is not listed under the directory as an academic adviser and she seemed either new or temporary help. I even asked her how many students does an academic adviser usually have, and was told to ask someone else… </p>
<p>This will probably all get corrected when I get my “permanent adviser” in the next couple of days. It just boggled my mind how wrong her advice was. She even told me I did not need to complete a lab for a Bachelor of Arts degree, then a few minutes later changed her story after further reading.</p>
<p>I would recommend not making significant changes to your first semester schedule without chatting with someone about it. You’ll have it pretty much figured out by second semester scheduling, but a lot of people still go chat with their advisers about scheduling each semester.</p>