<p>Is it a big deal if you did not take the planned courses you said you will or not in the same quarter or school you listed?</p>
<p>yes, you have to notify them b/c they base your acceptance/rejection on what you plan to take. This is done so they can clearly see if you will complete your prereqs and IGETC before enrolling.</p>
<p>It can be a big deal if you’re required to take a course that is designated for your major on assist.org, and decide not to take it. The UC’s want IGETC and your major prep done at the end of the spring semester. If you’re not fulfilling those priorities, then the UC’s will considerably lose interest in you. However, if for example, you’re a Bio major, but change your schedule by dropping Lit 100 or something, it won’t affect anything. </p>
<p>Just make sure that you notify the colleges you are applying to if you make any changes to the courses you claim you will be taking in the spring, and also make sure that you’re still fulfilling the necessary requirements for your major and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I’m just curious because UCLA is my top choice, is it yours also? and if so, what’s your major?</p>
<p>Yeah I’m applying to UCLA for business econ. The thing is I took CALC3B because I didn’t know at the time my AP score didn’t qualify for CALC3A, so what I’m thinking is that I don’t wanna take it unless I get in.</p>
<p>I’m in a similar situation. I’m a psych major and trying hard to get in to UCLA/UCSD. However, for some reason, for UCSD I need Calculus for the psych major reqs, and for UCLA I need Physics 100 for the psych major reqs… Since when is Physics commonly used in Psych?? lol Anyways I don’t want to take Calculus or Physics to be honest, but because I know UCLA wants Physics and UCSD wants Calc to fulfill their major reqs, I am going to take these classes.</p>
<p>For Bus/Econ, if Calc is a major requirement, then you pretty much need to take it to get in. By saying you’ll take it in Spring, the colleges you are applying to will greatly take that into consideration in your favor. If you don’t take it, it will likely work against you. The way I see it, to give ourselves the best chances of getting in to UCLA and anywhere else we’re applying to, we have to take these stressful courses (like calc) for our majors.</p>
<p>Stressful classes like Calc? A good calc problem really sets you in the mood.</p>
<p>“However, for some reason, for UCSD I need Calculus for the psych major reqs, and for UCLA I need Physics 100 for the psych major reqs… Since when is Physics commonly used in Psych?? lol Anyways I don’t want to take Calculus or Physics to be honest, but because I know UCLA wants Physics and UCSD wants Calc to fulfill their major reqs, I am going to take these classes.”</p>
<p>this is why no one respects community college transfers. most of them get into good schools by taking easy classes that pretty much anyone could ace and avoid classes where actual work needs to be done like general physics, chemistry, or calculus which, for people who can study, are pretty easy. Psychology, philosophy, rhetoric, …are easy for everyone.</p>
<p>that’s why UCSD and UCLA require classes like physics or calc, so you get a holistic education and don’t get a degree by taking simple classes that 9th graders can and do pass over their summer breaks.</p>
<p>"this is why no one respects community college transfers. most of them get into good schools by taking easy classes that pretty much anyone could ace and avoid classes where actual work needs to be done like general physics, chemistry, or calculus which, for people who can study, are pretty easy. Psychology, philosophy, rhetoric, …are easy for everyone.</p>
<p>that’s why UCSD and UCLA require classes like physics or calc, so you get a holistic education and don’t get a degree by taking simple classes that 9th graders can and do pass over their summer breaks." </p>
<p>I don’t take easy classes by any means. I’m taking 18 units (6 classes) out of a maximum of 19, while volunteering 20 hours per week. These classes include Bio and Chem, which many ppl consider “hard or stressful” classes. If anything I embrace hard and meaningful work. Your generalizations are grossly affected by your own experience/opinion. </p>
<p>I’m all for a holistic education, however, I don’t see the significance of Physics in psychology or Calculus in psychology…do you? What I’m trying to say is that these courses are really in no way applicable to those majors. I’m not saying that they’re unnecessary or can’t help others learn new concepts and information. By saying that Calculus is stressful, I was saying that for the majority of students, Calculus is more challenging than other classes and therefore more stressful. I’m still taking both Calc and Physics because I care about my own education, I want to learn concepts from a variety of fields, and they apparently apply to my major.</p>
<p>I don’t take easy classes by any means. I’m taking 18 units (6 classes) out of a maximum of 19, while volunteering 20 hours per week. These classes include Bio and Chem, which many ppl consider “hard or stressful” classes. If anything I embrace hard and meaningful work. Your generalizations are grossly affected by your own experience/opinion.</p>
<p>Bio and chem are both required for the psychology major for UCLA. Would you really be taking both if they weren’t pre reqs and contingent on your acceptance to UCLA?</p>
<p>*I’m all for a holistic education, however, I don’t see the significance of Physics in psychology or Calculus in psychology…do you?
*
In fact I do, I’m in an upper division psych class now at Cal and we are expected to know mathematical formulas and be comfortable with the vocabulary associated with math to interpret statistical results. The professor and GSI’s expect us to already be comfortable with the basic material so we can hit the ground running and not explain why p < .05 means what it means. That’s why lower division statistics (which has a prerequisite of calculus 1) and upper division psychology based statistics classes are a graduation requirement for psychology majors here. </p>
<p>* What I’m trying to say is that these courses are really in no way applicable to those majors. I’m not saying that they’re unnecessary or can’t help others learn new concepts and information. *</p>
<p>Wrong, same psychology class, we are expected to understand neurotransmitters and the basic mechanisms by which they are released in the brain. My cc biology class prepared me in this aspect.</p>
<p>* By saying that Calculus is stressful, I was saying that for the majority of students, Calculus is more challenging than other classes and therefore more stressful.*</p>
<p>The majority of students here took basic calculus in 12th grade (when they were 16/17/18) they took the AP test and either didn’t take it at Cal or took it and got an easy A. I had the same experience (but at cc) and I can say that calculus is a class of basic concepts and should be a cakewalk for anyone who has a good work ethic. This relates back to my original point, that most CC students see classes like first semester Calculus as some hill to overcome when in actuality, it is considered a pretty common course.</p>
<p>* I’m still taking both Calc and Physics because I care about my own education, I want to learn concepts from a variety of fields, and they apparently apply to my major.*</p>
<p>from your earlier post:</p>
<p>“Anyways I don’t want to take Calculus or Physics to be honest, but because I know UCLA wants Physics and UCSD wants Calc to fulfill their major reqs, I am going to take these classes.”</p>
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<p>CC transfers have higher graduation rates and the most popular transfer major at most schools is economics as opposed to psychology for freshman admits.</p>
<p>That seems like a dumb statistic, UCSDJake. Sure, CC transfers have higher graduation rates…they only need to take 2 years of hard classes while the kids that went there from high school were there for 4. Doesn’t seem surprising at all that the transfers would graduate at higher rates.</p>
<p>“Sure, CC transfers have higher graduation rates…they only need to take 2 years of hard classes while the kids that went there from high school were there for 4. Doesn’t seem surprising at all that the transfers would graduate at higher rates.” </p>
<p>If transfers are such ■■■■■■■ transferring into harder classes then they would fail the 2 years because of lack of background preparation instead of having higher transfer rates.</p>
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<p>true but at least we get to take the hard classes in our major :)</p>
<p>On the other hand, if CC classes are as easy as advertised, they wouldn’t have higher graduation rates because CC students wouldn’t be adequately prepared.</p>
<p>that’s what i was trying to say, just put in a difrerent way</p>
<p>joliefillie: You need to work on your reading comprehension if you think I called transfers “■■■■■■■■.” All I said is that it seems logical that someone who has to take 2 years of hard classes would have a higher probability of graduating than someone who has to take 4.</p>
<p>Further on the topic of course difficulty, I’ve taken classes at both UC Riverside (a low ranked and thus “easier” UC than most) and a community college, and the difference in difficulty, at least for the specific classes I took and certainly doesn’t apply to all classes, was vast. The courses at UCR were at least twice as hard and required at least double the amount of preparation and studying.</p>
<p>Again, this certainly isn’t an insult to community college students, but I do believe that community college classes are much easier in general from my experiences and from testimonials of friends.</p>
<p>Again, I’ll ask you:</p>
<p>How is taking 2 years of hard classes easier, when, according to you, CC classes are easier and don’t prepare you for those 2 years?</p>
<p>*How is taking 2 years of hard classes easier, when, according to you, CC classes are easier and don’t prepare you for those 2 years? *</p>
<p>this wasn’t directed at me but what the hell it’s a forum…</p>
<p>CC prepares you for UC’s but the students who have been here for 2 years have a significant advantage.</p>
<p>4 year students take “weeder out courses” their first two years. These are classes that have a lot of first and second years (~500) in one class so their is a curve when grading happens (similar to a bell curve). The majority of the students get C’s and the minorities get either A’s/B’s or D’s/F’s/W’s. This makes the classes much more competitive and generally more difficult than the Community College course that you took with 20 other kids and a professor who gave “Extra Credit for writing a paragraph about your favorite animal”.
These are the courses that 4 year students (not transfers) have taken for their GE’s and major prereqs. They are more accustomed to how the grading works, how to study for big lectures, what resources to use when studying, and how to distinguish between the important, unimportant, and somewhere in between from book and lecture. In CC the professors spoon feed the class the information they need to know, here they give you a bunch of information and instead of memorizing all of it, you need to understand why the information relates to the central theme of the class and what information is more important than other.</p>
<p>Overall it’s not surprising to me that transfers have a higher graduation rate. Upper division classes arn’t about getting the students to compete with each other but rather getting them to understand complicated concepts. Upper division courses, which is the only thing transfer students really need to complete (at least at Cal and UCLA b/c you need to have IGETC and major prereqs done before you transfer) are smaller in class sizes and concepts. They go over very specific information and having 500+ students haggling over a grade isn’t going to make the most effective education.
Where I think transfer students get the higher statistic is the fact that the classes they have taken in undergrad have been easier in general. Lower division: at CC. We can all agree they are pretty freaking easy. Upper division: at UC. difficult, but sill manageable. 4 year student take lower div’s at a standard that CC students would not be prepared for and that is where they get the poor grades and the retention rate is lower when compared to community college transfers.</p>