Congrats! Glad she’s happy with her choice and excited. That’s what counts!
2 Likes
However, be sure to account for the quarter versus semester system. UCLA students will likely take about 1.5 times as many courses as students on most semester system schools, but each course is smaller (because a quarter is 2/3 as long as a semester). So the number of courses for general education and major requirements will also be greater for the same amount of material covered.
UCLA: Campuswide GE Requirements Overview | UCLA Registrar’s Office
47 quarter units (30+2/3 semester units) of general education, or 26% of the 180 quarter units (120 semester units) to graduate. Highly specified. May overlap with major.
Kenyon: Requirements for the Degree | Kenyon College
9 Kenyon units (72 semester units) outside the major, or 56% of the 16 Kenyon units (128 semester units) to graduate. Moderately specified.
Smith: https://www.smith.edu/about-smith/registrar/degree-requirements
64 credits outside the major, or 50% of the 128 credits to graduate. Minimally specified.
UCLA’s general education requirements appear to be the lowest in volume, but the most specified in terms of specific types of courses.
3 Likes
Just an FYI, certainly not intended to complicate any decision… The Communications major at UCLA is selective. You don’t declare, you apply starting in Sophomore year, and it’s not a sure thing. I was a Comm Studies major eons ago, then ran their internship program while a grad student at UCLA. I have no recent experience so I may be wrong about all the particulars. When I went they received ~5x the # of applicants and they admitted and only let in about 100 a year. My guess is it’s a bigger program now as they recently launched a graduate program (it was only undergrad in my day), which probably substantially improves the odds of getting into the undergrad program (but I could be wrong). Here’s a link to the current process. (FWIW, it says below that there is no GPA requirement; I know it my day it was mostly GPA – that may have changed.)
2 Likes
Thanks for this! Super useful to know what she’s getting into to. I think we’ll cross that path when she gets there. She’s pre-political science for now, but has a lot of interests … journalism, literature, economics, music, sociology… If communications doesn’t work out for her, I think she will have plenty to keep her occupied.
She’s planning to take a cluster her freshman year, which apparently gives you credit for 4 GEs over 3 quarters, and her tour guide spoke well of the experience. Someone else on CC mentioned that their child enjoyed his cluster, too. So it seems worthwhile to check it out.
Thanks again!
2 Likes
Congratulations! My daughter is a freshman at UCLA (in Engineering) and is happy there. Wishing your daughter all the best!
3 Likes
I can’t speak to the other two because I have never looked them up (my visited many LAC’s but none were Smith or Kenyon). On UCLA, the # of requirements is a bit deceptive (not saying you presented it that way but that the page itself is not comprehensive or clear), for a couple reasons:
-
In the table for each of the categories of GE requirements it typically lists 3 (or in the case of science 4) specific course requirements, and then says there’s a 10 class minimum. However, they separately list a 15 unit minimum for the first two and 17 for the science category. The vast majority of courses at UCLA are 4 units. So in practice students understand they need to take 4 course per category, not 3. (Science requires at least one lab course which typically carries an extra unit which is why it is higher.) Net result, for the vast majority students this core GE requirement is 12 classes, not 10.
-
The GE page isn’t the only set of proscribed course requirements. It’s the final of seven categories of required course. The full list is summarized here (for Letters and Science which is the college in question for the OP): https://caac.ucla.edu/academic-planning/degree-requirements/
In addition to (usually 12) GE courses, students need 2 writing courses, 1 Quantitative Reasoning course (usually overlap-able with a GE course), a foreign language requirement (usually 3 courses for a beginner but varies by language), a diversity course (also potentially overlap-able), and a couple university-wide course requirements (usually overlap-able with GE’s).
So someone coming in with zero AP or other credits may be starting out with 17-19+ course requirement unrelated to their major requirement. It typically takes about ~45 course to graduate. It’s possible to get AP credit for some or to test out for the foreign language and a couple of the non-GE can be overlapped with GE requirements to reduce the total number.
By comparison, when my son was at Bowdoin there were 6 requirements unrelated to the major and the typical student completes ~32 courses. Similarly to UCLA, even that 6 can be reduced
Of course, LACs vary in their general education requirements. Evergreen State has none, while Harvey Mudd has many, and St. John’s College has a core curriculum that is the entire curriculum.
I believe this unit minimum is no longer enforced as it isn’t compatible with the clusters: Clusters give you 18 total units (6 per quarter) and cover 4 GEs (including for some of them a lab science requirement) as well as the writing requirement. So the actual requirement for most students is a year long cluster plus 6 other courses.
The biggest issue is for students without an AP language score (3 or above) is that they need to do the year of foreign language. But if you do have the foreign language already covered off then it really is just 9 classes out of about 36-40 (depending on how many units you have from AP credit).
Congratulations on the decision! It’s so nice when they have that lightbulb moment about a school. All the best to your D!
2 Likes
Congrats! It’s wonderful to get that kind of clarity!
My daughter had a friend who had dreamed of UCLA for years, was ecstatic to get in. And then… Bruin Day gave her a sudden realization that UCLA was not for her, and she committed to Davis! So apparently it isn’t just that everyone who attends Bruin Day gets caught up in UCLA spirit - they must really be doing something right in terms of showing students whether the UCLA experience is a good fit. But clarity is good, no matter which direction is goes in!
6 Likes
Great news to hear she was smitten and feels good about her choice. My son (our first) is having a wonderful experience as a freshman at UCLA. It’s big, but there are definitely ways to make it smaller. I’m glad your daughter was told about the freshman cluster program – that’s been a difference-maker for him as it takes care of 4 GEs in just one year, plus your writing II requirement. In his case (probably an econ or poli sci major – tbd, he’s still figuring that out), it made sense to take a science cluster because it’s outside of the normal area of study and takes care of ALL 4 science GEs. He also was able to use his AP score in Spanish Language to pass out of that GE. And his AP Lang to get out of the earlier writing requirements. So there are ways to not have to take some of the GEs. And trust me, your bank account will be SO HAPPY not to be paying $45K extra per year to send her to college. I can’t tell you what a difference that has made to us. Congrats! If you haven’t already, come join the parents Facebook group to ask UCLA specific questions if you have any. 
1 Like
Thank you so much! I’m so glad your son is enjoying UCLA! I’ll join the Parents group now
And I hear you on the bank account thing!
1 Like