I was looking forward to transferring to a 4-year. Having the opportunity to take some quality classes and explore a bit.
However, I did too much exploration in my community colleges (yes several, as I took some online classes too). Now I’m at 90+ units and theres a 140 max amount at the college I’m transferring too. (I’ve already been accepted)
Because of this, the college says I won’t be able to earn a minor, unless I can complete it AND my major without going over the 140. Otherwise, I’m only allotted the amount of units it takes to complete my major.
I was wondering is there any possible way to “expunge” unnecessary units? In my defense, I changed my major in CC, so now I’ve got lower division courses from two different majors counting against me. Likewise, some courses were so I could receive an A.S. transfer degree. Yet, many of those classes weren’t transferrable here; it was just to earn the CC (associates) degree.
I don’t know. I feel unnecessarily penalized. Just wondering if there’s any way to eradicate/correct the misguidedness of my first few years in CC.
You don’t need a minor. You say you feel penalized because you can’t look around and explore a bit class -wise, but you did that already for the first three years. Colleges are concerned about perennial students and want to make sure you get out of there with a degree.
The use of the term “units” for college credit suggests that you may be in California.
If your previous college credit is all from community colleges, and you transferred to a California public university (UC or CSU), then the transfer credit is capped at 70 semester units (but all courses taken can be applied for subject credit). If your new university has a 140 semester unit limit, that means that you can take up to 70 semester units there without going over the limit.
For other situations, others may be able to help you better if you name the university.
I can understand wanting to get me out of there. The schedule I came up with wouldn’t delay my time there. I have an intensive major, so my advisor is “capping” how many classes (in my major) I can take anyways. So as not to overwhelm me. I’d have more than enough time to add a 3 unit class each semester I’m there. The only problem is, it would go over their total unit limit.
Plus, I came in thinking they would require me to pick a minor. I thought colleges did that, I thought that was seen as a beneficial thing. And some of the classes that I want to take are personally important to me. I’m late-deaf and wanted to take ASL classes. To strengthen my language skills. I’m starting to understand college is more of a business than anything. Yes, in and out.
@alisharo – there is no limit to the amount of classes you can AUDIT. If it’s pure learning you’re looking for, you can do that without worrying about units.
https://www.csun.edu/undergraduate-studies/administrative-graduation describes the 140 unit limit – basically, a student with >140 units must graduate if s/he can, or else is limited to courses needed to complete the major for which s/he has already completed the highest percentage of requirements. Not sure how allowable would be to finish a semester with 139 or 140 units and then take a final semester of 15+ units before graduating.
So you have at least 70 units of headroom. Can you complete all of the courses you want at CSUN within 70 units?
Thank you ucbalumnus!! I’m contacting the school about the “70 unit” policy, as that wasn’t mentioned to me. That’s my only contention. I’ll understand if my chosen major has too much for me to complete. That’s a sacrifice I’ll make. It didn’t, however, feel fair to make that sacrifice for the useless classes I took before I transferred.
FWIW, at the UCs, well at least at UC-Berkeley and I’m pretty sure at UCLA (convert 4 semesters to 6 quarters):
transfer students with single majors are allowed four semesters to finish the degree and five semesters for those pursuing more than one majors. Students who do not complete their degree within these semester limits are then subject to the unit ceiling.
This implies that you can take as many units as you want during these 4 semesters / 6 quarters, no limits.
@alisharo for auditing a class you typically make arrangements with the professor or faculty adviser that you will sit in on a lecture and/or discussion. You wouldn’t take the exams. There’s not any official paperwork that you would have to do as far as I know, unlike taking a class for pass/no pass, and there wouldn’t be any record that you were in this class.
What is your major, and which of its requirements have you already completed?
Have you completed CSU GE or IGETC prior to transfer?
What minor are you trying to fit in, and which of its requirements have you already completed?
It looks like most majors at CSUN require about 30-50 upper division units of course work. If you have all lower division course work and GE satisfied before transfer, then you should have 20-40 units remaining of the 70 units. CSUN minors typically appear to have fewer than 20 upper division units.
However, if you need to “catch up” on lower division course work for either your major or the desired minor, or need to take more GE courses, then it may be more difficult to fit all of that into the 70 units you have left.
ucbalumnus, I’ll be a biochem major. I have all lower-division GE requirements done. I have 3 courses to complete, these being lower-division major prep. Then everything else is upper division (upper division GE, electives, major core courses).
The minor thing is out. I thought it was encouraged. But I can see now how it would be useless. Associate degrees don’t hold much weight these days. So I’m guessing a minor would mean just as little.
I just want to take some various language (ASL) classes. Again, just for my personal growth. I don’t want a career in it. Altogether, there’s probably about 3-5 courses I’m interested in.
https://catalog.csun.edu/academics/chem/programs/bs-biochemistry/ indicates that you need 52 upper division units for the biochemistry major. If you are missing 3 lower division courses, then you need 9-14 lower division units (depending on which ones), so that makes up 61-66 total units you need for your major. Upper division GE not covered by your major is another 6 units, according to https://catalog.csun.edu/general-education/upper-division/ . That leaves you -2 to 3 units within the 140 unit cap if you transfer in with 70 units. The 3-5 extra courses you want to take presumably will be from 9-20 units, but check if any can count as upper division GE.
Perhaps find out if the unit cap applies only after crossing 140 units, versus applying as you approach 140 units. If it applies only after crossing 140 units, you could finish a semester with 139 units and then take another 15 or so units in your last semester before graduation. But if it applies as you approach 140 units, then that may not be possible.
I contacted my major advisor. He said 70 units max goes towards my degree. I guess this means that the other units still do count against me?
Also, he stated after the 140 unit max, I’ll be given an extra 10 units (a 150 unit max), where I can only take classes towards my major. Then after that 150, I may lose financial aid.
Perhaps, I’ll wait until my last year to test my luck? When I have a better idea of how many units are actually on my record.
I can’t imagine screwing up and not earning my degree because of one or two extra classes I took up. But I just wanted all the information so that I could make an informed decision about which classes I do (or don’t) take.
wow that’s a ton of upper division units.
At Berkeley it’s 24 semester units of upper division (6 classes) plus 3 electives for 36 units. https://mcb.berkeley.edu/undergrad/bmb
ucbalumnus, thank you so much! Thanks for the references. I’ll bring these to whatever advisement appointments I schedule. But yes, it’s not looking optimistic right now. I surely wish I had known in CC that any units (even those that the uni doesn’t accept) would count against me. There are some courses I took that aren’t even agreeable/articulated at CSUN (as per assist.org). Yet they still count against me? Seriously whack.
ProfessorPlum168, I didn’t know it was that much either. Not when I first applied. Until I started calculating and saw that, even with no units against me, I’d still be getting mighty close to (if not OVER) the 140 unit limit, as I complete all the requirements.
To see it compared to a UC is even more shocking. I thought UC curriculums were tougher?
I’ll have to see.