Three classes over the summer?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
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This I had to look up, which means it’s not been something we’ve talked about enough.

Math 19A/Math 19B/Math 22, but that only counts as one area

CSE 30 for the second area,

and ECON 1 as the third area.

She’s taken some additional courses that prepare you for the major, but that will only help with prerequisites. And noticably missing is Stat 5.

So I think that takes some of the pressure off the summer. I even found something that says transfers wanting to graduate within two years should concentrate on math prep over Business Info Systems, Computer Systems & C Programming, and Computer Systems & Assembly Language.

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Based on https://catalog.ucsc.edu/Current/General-Catalog/Academic-Units/Baskin-School-of-Engineering/Computer-Science-and-Engineering/Technology-and-Information-Management-BS , it looks like she would need the following lower division courses:

1 statistics course (STAT 5) (5 units)
2 math courses (MATH 21, 24 or AM 10, 20) (10 units)
2 economics courses (ECON 2, 10A) (10 units)
7 CSE courses (CSE 12, 12L, 13S, 16, 50, 58) (29 units)

and the following upper division courses:

7 CSE courses (CSE 150, 150L, 170, 171A, 171B, 175, 182) (29 units)
2 economics courses (ECON 100A or 100M, 113) (10 units)
2 upper division electives (10 units)

This totals to 103 units, which would take 7 quarters worth of courses if she takes normal ~15 unit quarters and does not need to fulfill any other (e.g. general education) requirements and schedules carefully with respect to prerequisite sequencing. Some overloading could get this down to 6 quarters. Of course, this could also depend on how frequently each course is offered in relation to prerequisite sequencing.

Do the three proposed courses cover ECON 10A (Economics of Accounting), CSE 50 (Business Information Systems), and ECON 2 (Introductory Macroeconomics: Aggregate Economic Activity)? If so, then they would cut the remaining major requirements to below 88 units, which could be covered in 6 quarters of ~15 unit course loads. Of course, if she is willing and able to do this overload this summer, she could overload in regular quarters as well (although beware of high workload CSE courses with programming projects). Any two would cut the remaining major requirements to 93 units, which could be done in 6 quarters with slight overloading.

The prerequisite sequences to note are:

CSE 12 & 12L → CSE 13S → CSE 182
CSE 12 & 12L, 16 → CSE 150 & 150L
CSE 50 → CSE 58 (winter only)
CSE 50 → CSE 175
CSE 171A (fall only) → CSE 171B (winter only)
ECON 2 → ECON 100A or 100M
ECON 2, STAT 5 → ECON 113

Note also:

CSE 58 is offered winter only.
CSE 175 and 182 are offered spring only.

Of the three proposed summer courses, those equivalent to ECON 2 and CSE 50 appear to be more important for prerequisite clearance than the one equivalent to ECON 10A.

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Regarding UCSC general education requirements, note the residential college requirements for entering frosh:

https://catalog.ucsc.edu/Current/General-Catalog/Undergraduate-Information/Undergraduate-Academic-Program/College-Requirements

The UCSC general education requirements if she does not have IGETC are listed below:

https://catalog.ucsc.edu/Current/General-Catalog/Undergraduate-Information/Undergraduate-Academic-Program/General-Education-Requirements

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Thank you for all this work. The three courses over the summer would be ECON 10a, CSE 50, and ECON 2.

Forgive my ignorance, but are there only 6 quarters in two years? Or are there 8? And good note to beware of high workload CSE courses with programming projects.

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A normal academic year would be 3 quarters (a full 4 quarters would include the summer quarter as well as fall, winter, and spring quarters). If she intends to use summer quarter for school, then she needs to take into account which courses required for the major are not offered in the summer quarter when planning her schedule.

If she decides to back off to two summer courses, CSE 50 and ECON 2 are more important than ECON 10A for prerequisite purposes. Note that CSE 50 is a prerequisite to CSE 58 which is offered winter only, so it is desirable to complete CSE 50 in summer or fall in order to take CSE 58 in the winter.

Assuming that she takes CSE 50 and ECON 2 in the summer, then her fall schedule should probably look like this:

  • CSE 12 & 12L (important prerequisite)
  • STAT 5 or CSE 16 (preferred for prerequisite reasons), or any other course required for the major
  • residential college required course

If she does not take CSE 50 in the summer, it is best for her to take it in the fall (along with CSE 12 & 12L and the residential college required course).

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Oh! I saw that it wasn’t recommended for transfer students wanting to graduate in two years to take CSE 50 instead of math prep. I was thinking this meant that ECON 2 and ECON 10A were the most important to take for prerequisite purposes. ECON 10A defintely looks like more work. I also worry with overloading the summer that she’s risking her acceptance to the university, since it’ll get reported if she decides it was too much work and withdraws instead of drops. That drop date ends fast in the summer.

Thanks for the information about 6 quarters not including the summer. That’s really helpful.

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@ucbalumnus I just wanted to thank you. Someone from admissions at UCSC got back to my stepdaughter from last week’s email. She asked a lot of questions which had answers I’d already shared with her when I emailed her the contents of two of your replies. She copy and pasted what she’d learned and was told “Yup, that’s all correct. Glad you got the information you were looking for.” I can’t tell you how much time you probably saved her and that AO.

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Glad to be of help.

She may want to try to plan a remaining 6/7/8 quarter schedule based on prerequisite relationships and schedule limitations (e.g. courses only offered specific quarters) to see whether taking the third course in the summer will change the number of remaining quarters needed. She should consider:

  • Any general education not covered by IGETC (e.g. the residential college required course(s), or any upper division general education).
  • If she has only partial IGETC, what other general education will she need?
  • Whether no or slight overloading (15-16 units per quarter), moderate overloading (17 units per quarter), or heavy overloading (18+ units per quarter) would make a difference in number of quarters to graduation.
  • How much difference each quarter (1/3 of a year) cost of attendance would make to the financial and debt situation.
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As an update, the classes officially started. She still thinks it’s doable. Oddly, she says the Business Info Systems class is going to be the most challenging. I was expecting it to be the Financial Accounting class.

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The classes officially ended. She got a 90% in Business Information Systems, 96% in Macroeconomics, and 98% in Financial Accounting. So it worked out, but she had to give up the job she was going to get.

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Congratulations !! Wow, it must have been very tough but not only did she succeed, but with top grades !!!

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Thanks. Yes, she was not pleasant to live with while all stressed out, which was one of my worries. I know she plans on taking summer courses again, but next time only two.