<p>Hello, I will be attending UCLA in the fall and I have a few questions about the courses I will be taking next year. What GE courses are required and how many are there? Also, can anyone explain the clusters? I have no idea what those are, how they work, or if I should sign up for those. Any help is appreciated! Thanks :)</p>
<p>Also…can anyone explain how I can use my APs for credit? I understand that I can’t use them to replace GEs but does that mean they can replace classes I would otherwise have to take towards my major…?</p>
<p>All of this will be explained at orientation, but I’ll give you a brief answer.
Assuming you’re in the college of Letters and Science, you must complete 10 GEs in three different groups: 4 in Scientific Inquiry (science classes), 3 in Society and Culture (History,Philosophy, etc. classes) and 3 in Arts and Humanities (music, art, etc.). AP classes exempt you from some intro classes (calc, language, English, there are others too) but if they don’t, then you just get units that go towards helping you get the minimum 180 units to graduate. The clusters are year-long, exempt you from multiple GEs, fulfill a writing requirement and are worth 6 units per quarter (most classes are 4 or 5).</p>
<p>My daughter is a senior at UCLA and is about to graduate (yeah!). I am an older student myself and will be transferring to UC Davis myself this fall. I can’t answer you questions abut the AP units as I really don’t remember how they were handled. I know my daughter did get credit, and possibly was able to skip some classes due to her AP test scores. Do you plan to go to Orientation? I HIGHLY recommend it and all your questions will be answered there.</p>
<p>I can respond to your question about Clusters. Basically the clusters are offered in a number of areas; sciences, literature, history, etc. If you choose to do a cluster, you will be with the same group of professors and students for your entire freshman year for that class. You would still have three separate classes over the school year, one per quarter, but they would all be related by subject or theme and you would be with the same students in all three classes. The last quarter, in the spring they do a seminar based class with each one only having about 20 students. There will be many topics to choose from but all are related to the initial subject or theme. The main thing about clusters is that you are with the same students and professors throughout the year, and have a small (20 student) seminar in spring quarter. For a freshman at a big school like UCLA it is really nice to have that thread going through your freshman year. </p>
<p>My daughter did a cluster called Global Environment (or something like that). It was a science based cluster and by taking it she was able to knock out a bunch of science ge’s, a writing requirement, and a seminar requirement. She found the subject matter very interesting (she is not majoring in a science related field). For her final seminar in the spring she took a seminar about the ocean and pollution and they went on a couple field trips to the beach. I never would have known that a freshman at UCLA could be in a class with only 20 students and that they would be going on field trips to the beach. She got to know fellow students really well and as I said it took care of many requirements.</p>
<p>The main thing is to take a cluster OUTSIDE of your major area. Other wise there will be too much overlap in your required classes and it defeats the purpose of the cluster. Many people will say clusters are not good, or they don’t offer any advantages, but my daughter is glad she did it for a number of reasons. You will find out all about them at Orientation. Or search the UCLA website for freshman clusters and you might find some info. You should be able to dig through the UCLA website to get lots of your general questions answered. I know my daughter and I did hen she was in your situation. Try
[UCLA</a> Freshman Clusters](<a href=“http://www.college.ucla.edu/ge/clusters/]UCLA”>http://www.college.ucla.edu/ge/clusters/)
Clusters are not open to engineering students I don’t think.</p>
<p>Go to the main UCLA website and click Academics. Try to find info on general ed requirements. There are many classes required of all students and they fall into different areas, like life sciences, arts and humanities, historical analysis, etc. You have many choices under each category and will have do take something like 3 from each area. If you can download a copy of the general catalogue from the website you can find this info under General Education Requirements. Good luck to you.</p>