<p>So i'm planning on starting at Santa monica college for winter. So i've been looking at assist.org, and i see that for biology and engineering (the two subjects i'm interested in) it looks like its going to take me 3+ years to finish their requirements and IGETC.... Another thing is that i see that alot of the courses i need for these majors aren't offered at santa monica college, so then i called uc irvine and uc riverside, and they said that the courses on there are the requirements for that major, and if i don't have them done, then i won't be able to apply for like bioengineering for example, if i dont have them done, even if they aren't offered at my college. I'm really confused right now.. What am i supposed to do if i need a course that's not offered at my community college.</p>
<p>If it’s a really confusing issue then you should talk with an SMC counselor, especially a Scholars one if you’re in the program. A majority are helpful for the most part, especially the Scholars counselors because it essentially is a small-learning community at SMC.</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, most engineering programs don’t require IGETC. </p>
<p>As for the courses they don’t offer (I had this issue too), UCs are generous if that course is not offered anywhere within commutable distance from you. Say if the closest school to offer a course you needed was Mt. Sac, they might make an exception since they know normal people can’t or won’t drive 40 miles out of their way to satisfy one class.</p>
<p>But make sure all the colleges around you don’t offer a comparable class. You won’t be the only one with this issue so the UCs usually know exactly where you can go to satisfy reqs.</p>
<p>For engineering I typically see that IGETC is not always recommended, it’s the major prereqs that matter most. If a class is not offered at your college or nearby colleges then you’ll have to take these classes immediately when you transfer. Unfortunately it might mean graduating in more than two years.</p>
<p>why would igetc not be recommended for an engineering major? I guess im kinda confused on what igetc is</p>
<p>IGETC satisfies general education requirements at a lot of schools but not all of them. It is not recommended for unit-heavy majors like engineering because they require so many more classes than say, a history major. Trying to fullfill IGETC and engineering prereqs in two years is also really difficult or may cause you to take longer than two years to transfer. You want to prioritize your major classes (physics,math,bio, etc) and english 1/2 and then take general ed classes if you can. </p>
<p>You can think of it this way. If you transfer to UC Irvine for bioengineering and you want to take your upper division class, advanced biological systems and robotics with super complex analysis, you’ll only be able to take the class if you’ve finished all the necessary prereq math and science classes. But anyone can take some random general ed class. You want to be able to finish your major on time.</p>
<p>There may be an issue if you want to TAG though. Though I don’t believe UC Irvine requires completion of IGETC for TAGing into the engineering department.</p>
<p>Of course, you should also meet up with a counselor at school so you can plan out your courses and verify exactly what you need to transfer. </p>
<p>I go to SMC right now and i’m applying to UCs this month and there are a couple classes that aren’t available for my major(mathematics/econ). So I’ll simply have to take them at whatever UC dares to accept me and take those in the summer or during the first semester. Good luck in SMC. PM me if you want some advice on teachers to take or anything like that, although I only know about math/physics. By the way, don’t take nestler or hong for calculus.</p>