<p>I'll be transferring from a community college to a UC next fall. My intended major is political science, and I'm also considering law school. My community college didn't have any law related classes. I completed the IGETC which fulfills the general education requirement, as well as all the lower division classes for political science. So as soon as I transfer, I'll probably be taking upper division classes already.</p>
<p>So my question is, even though I'll be in this situation, could I still take classes that won't go towards what I need to graduate, or is that not reccomended?</p>
<p>And while I'm here, I thought I'd ask a few more questions. It seems that since I've gone to a community college, I'm pretty ignorant as to how the 4 year university system works.</p>
<p>For example, I checked out UCSB's upper division political science requirement, and it requires 41 or 44 units depending on the concentration. And it says that you need a total of 180 to graduate. If you take 3 classes of those upper division each semester (I assume they are four units each), you'd be done in 4 quarters. So what do you do the other 2 quarters, take whatever you want?</p>
<p>Yes of course you can take other courses not related to your major - it is neither recommended nor advised against - as long as you complete all the requirements you need to graduate, its all good. If you have more time to take other classes, by all means go for it.
As for your other question - if you finish two quarters early because you have no other classes to take, then you graduate two quarters early haha. Or at least, you don't have to take any classes if you dont' want to. But you always have the option - A friend of mine who is a third year here at UCLA is going to be done with all the classes she needs to graduate at the end of the year, but she is staying for another year so she can be an RA again, do a Spanish minor and just take random classes she has wanted to take. It's really up to you how you want to work with upper divs.</p>
<p>Yeah, I did a little more reading on it for UCs. They require that you have 180 units completed to get the degree. Since I'm transferring, I have 90 units left. And since only 41-44 is required in the upper division for political science, then I assume that there's a lot of units left for other stuff. It says that you need something like 64 total upper division units, so I guess they want you to take other classes. That is, if I understand the system correctly.</p>
<p>Well, it looks to me like you have to, correct? Since I have 90/180 completed upon my transfer, and Political Science needs 44, that means I still have 46 units remaining before I graduate. Correct? Do I take any classes I want for this 46?</p>
<p>Lets say after the Major requirement, College Requirement, and the University Requirement you end up with 150 Units, for the rest of the 30 you can take what ever you want. YOU MUST have at least 180 to graduate. This is how the UCS do it. Don't forget you also have to do an Upper Division English course to satisfy UCSB writing Requirement. Also just so you know you MUST complete all Pre-Major courses or their equivalence, and all lower division preparatory classes for the Political Science major or their equivalence, regardless if you did IGECT. Like UCSB requires PoliSci 12, you must complete that class either at UCSB or your CC. IGECT is not a free pass to skip the undergraduate courses.</p>
<p>In general, you will find the answers you need to questions about stuff like this in the university catalog. Requirements change, BTW, but there is usually a 'grandfather' clause that says the rules in effect when you entered are the ones applying to you. It would be a good idea to buy a copy of the catalog that is current the year you enter and save it in case any problems arise in the future due to changes in the rules.</p>