<p>has anyone taken a cluster that was very unpleasant? or not what they expected? </p>
<p>and is it true, that although the clusters fulfill the writing ii requirement, graduate schools (i.e. law, med, biz, etc) want to see you actually take the class? and not just get a pass?</p>
<p>A cluster is by no means a substitute or pass for Writing II. Most Writing II courses concentrate on a subject (from a wide variety, usually humanities) just like any other GE class, except they just make you write a ton of papers (more than a non-W2 class).</p>
<p>It's not just "a pass." You actually get a grade for the W2 requirement for the cluster.</p>
<p>yeah...cluster courses DO satisfy the writing II requirement. No doubt about that. The only thing is, you have to have already satisfied the writing I requirement before the spring semester of your freshman year to get credit for the writing II. In other words, you can't satisfy II before I =)</p>
<p>I heard that since you're stuck in a cluster year-round, it'll cut into other things you want to do (such as your social life as well as other classes you may want to take). Can someone relate their experiences with the clusters?</p>
<p>You're not stuck. You can drop out of it anytime you want and give up most of the benefits of a cluster.</p>
<p>There's no reason that it should cut into one's social life just because it's year-round. If the workload is too much, then it would still be a burden even if it was one quarter long.</p>
<p>It may get a little tough with class scheduling since you are locked into that one lecture. However, discussion sections can easily be changed. Possible solutions would be to simply take another lecture and/or discussion for that other class or take it in a different quarter altogther. This problem is by no means unique to taking a cluster.</p>
<p>Thanks. I was planning on taking a cluster anyway, but I just wanted to double check what I was getting into.</p>
<p>Yeah taking a cluster definitely does not cut into your social life anymore than any other class you will be taking. Actually I made quite a few friends in my cluster (I took the Evolution of the Cosmos one) because we were in the same class for a whole year (a lot of us took the same seminar). Since everyone is a freshmen in the clusters, people are really friendly and talkative. The professors even set up a little movie social during fall quarter, which was actually pretty fun and we got to see the professors in a lighter atmosphere.</p>