<p>UCSD has recently received my TAG, but i was wondering... DO we have to complete calculus before we transfer.?</p>
<p>The assist page states that we have to complete a series calculus
"it will be enforced"
but does that mean we have to finish it before we get there?</p>
<p>It appears that you can get either a BA or a BS in Psychology and both require completion of three semesters of Calculus. If you are studying for a BA you can meet the requirement by completing Calculus 10A, 10B and 10C which sounds like a Calculus sequence primarily for Life and Social science majors. To earn a BS in Psychology it appears that if you entered UCSD after 2000 as either a freshman or a transfer student you will be required to complete Calculus 20A, 20B and 20C which is a sequence for Math, Physical Science and Engineering majors. It does not appear that you have to have completed or even started this sequence before starting your studies at UCSD but you will have to complete it to graduate with a BS in Psychology.</p>
<p>Unless you are really good at math you should probably go with the BA in Psychology because the Calculus 20 sequence is going to be considerably more rigorous than the Calculus 10 sequence and will be predominantly populated by Math, Physics, Engineering, Chemistry, Astronomy and Geology majors.</p>
<p>I am also a psychology major planning to go to UCSD, and the way I understand it is that the calculus requirement does not have to be completed before we transfer. I believe it is recommended, but not required. I will not have completed it either, but still plan to transfer in fall 2011.</p>
<p>I just went to the UCSD Math Department website and looked up these courses and the questions and solutions posted for the first midterm in Calculus 20C which I figured would be the most difficult of the Calculus 20 sequence courses. Actually, this course might not be as hard as I thought. My son is a Sophomore at CSU Sacramento majoring in Geology and is taking the three semester Calculus sequence for Math, Physical Science and Engineering majors there now. To my surprise, UCSD seems to use a more elementary textbook for their Calculus course for Math, Science and Engineering majors than Sac State does, and the midterm exam questions on the UCSD midterm seemed very easy compared to the ones on my son’s Calculus midterm exam at CSU Sacramento.</p>
<p>This may partly explain why the graduation rates from CSUs are so much lower than from UCs (It is only 42% at Sac State). The UCs get the best freshman and transfer students but, at least at the lower division level, the courses are more difficult at the CSUs.</p>
<p>I would advise against taking the Calc courses until you get to UCSD, it’s much better to take Elementary Stats instead, that gets you more options at more UCs.</p>
<p>I’m completing the calculus sequence this summer but only because I want to go into the honors program, and all lower division prerequisites should be completed before the application deadline in October.</p>
I’m curious what the names of the texts are, and possibly an example of the comparative problems.</p>
<p>Engineering is fairly rigorous at CSUs, but I’d be surprised if it was not tough at the UCs. Jacobs School has a pretty good reputation. </p>
<p>OTOH, it’s possible UCSD has a more lenient curve, because the instructors know a large number of the students taking Math 20 will be looking to go to med school.</p>
<p>Edit:
I just checked the UCSD webpage and the required text is by Rogawski (?) Looks like a clear text, not particularly difficult to understand. I don’t know if that makes it any less rigorous necessarily. I’m curious what they use at Sac State. Not questioning what you wrote, just curious.</p>
<p>My experience with MVC is that the “differential” and “vector” portions of it are actual easier than many other areas of Calculus, but the integration portions are significantly harder. No matter where you take it. I don’t think I ever really understood a lot of the Stokes and Green theorems, and line integrals, blah blah, which made Complex Analysis really tough for me.</p>