Spanish at UCSD

<p>How much work is it? I want to learn Spanish for fun so I guess I'd be in the least advanced class...anyone taken it? Can I add it on as a sixth class and not damage my gpa? Thanks!</p>

<p>You could take it for pass no pass. But are you sure you even want to sign up for 6 classes. You have to keep in mind adding spanish means your add 2 classes</p>

<p>im pretty sure you cant take more than 22 units.</p>

<p>what about the self-study option they have? anyone ever try that?</p>

<p>you should also consider that a spanish class is 5 units, and so you’d have the class every single day and it’d be more work than your regular classes. i think it might be too much work in addition to five other classes.</p>

<p>i think 5 classes is too much already</p>

<p>I did it last quarter, I got a better gpa than taking 4 classes b/c I was always keeping up with all my classes…always busy. makes sense in a weird way.</p>

<p>@drsarah: I know exactly what you mean! I think I fare better when I’m busy; there’s a certain balance to it such that you’re not totally overwhelmed, yet you have just enough work to stay on top of it.</p>

<p>yea i agree with you that being busy always makes you on top of things, but its tough to take 5 a quarter and work / play on a sports team, or both.</p>

<p>i dont think i would be able to do it.</p>

<p>Arctic, I think you could. I work freelance as well as take that many classes as well as have a social life as well as campus activities. It’s beneficial, try it, and if you can’t, drop classes.</p>

<p>I function like the rest of you</p>

<p>Last quarter was 5 classes + TA + research/199 + 19 hours of work and fared better than I did freshman year</p>

<p>What year do you have to be to TA for Poli Sci?</p>

<p>you can feasibly be a 1st year, though depts/profs make the final decision</p>

<p>most departments only require one to have gotten an a/a+ in a class and instructor+dept approval.</p>

<p>So what exactly does one do? Is it paid? ETC…benefits of doing so?</p>

<p>your first quarter ugia’ing you get 195 credit. second time, you go under a more exhaustive application program and can get paid $13.84 (last year’s rate–not sure if it changed)/hour rate. you mostly hold section/office hours and do objective grading (usually multiple choice/scantron). very rarely does a ugia grade papers/short answers. you audit your professors lectures/assignments/exams and see if its somewhat representative. you make sure youre accessible to students outside of class. you may be asked to compile a grade sheet/distribution.</p>

<p>benefits: very few ugia’s are hired for pay. theres usually so many people who want to do it that they can easily live off of not paying anyone and just giving everyone 195 credit. you do get to feel what grad student life is. unless youre lucky enough to get a fellowship, youre most likely going to be a ta to support yourself. you get to form a relationship with the professor. if youre planning on going to grad/prof school, this is an invaluable benefit.</p>

<p>all in all, if youre doing it in hopes of making money out of it, you probably wont. ive ta’ed 4 times in 3 depts and have never been paid. do it if you want to further your credentials for higher education.</p>

<p>oooooooo, I might try to get an A+ in Physics and be a TA. Sounds fun and $$$$</p>

<p>thanks Biopsychosocial! and how do you go about doing this? ask a professor? maybe my winter quarter…</p>

<p>SYNCHROTRON, I think you missed his point. He’s correct about very few people being hired for a second quarter. Why pay for labor when there’s such a large amount of people willing to do it for free?</p>

<p>And drsarah, you get a form from your respective department and you fill it out, have the professor you want to TA for endorse it, and have the department give you its approval. The second part is probably the msot difficult since professors get approached by quite a few students to TA their classes in the future.</p>

<p>For PHYS, CHEM, and BIO lower divs, for instance, it isn’t uncommon for 20-30 students in EACH lecture who got an A/A+ to apply for a TA position</p>

<p>Okay, thank you!</p>