EMJ930

My question is how long does it take the typical student to fulfill all 6 Categories of GE + Diversity + Writing (the freshman 140 one)? Are most able to do it all freshman year? I'm an undecided major & a spring admit and I'm trying to plan my fall schedule at a community college, btw.

Also, I am looking at College of Letters Arts & Sciences brochure thing from when I went to admitted students day, and it includes Foreign Language under USC Core. It says: "Complete Level Three or equivalent placement test." If I took 3 years of foreign lang. in high school is this good enough to fulfill this? Thanks for any answers.

2+2=5

I finished all of my GEs by the end of sophomore year and writing 340 by junior year, but I had friends who were taking them through the end of their senior year. There really isn't a rush to complete them ASAP. It definitely would have been nice to have a GE during junior or senior year. It adds a bit of diversity to a schedule that may just consist of courses having to do with your intended major.

Most people do NOT finish them their freshman year. Although my friends who finished their GEs the fastest were the ones who were undecided for their major. So instead of taking classes towards a major, they mostly just took GEs.

For the language requirement, you'll have to take the placement test and see where you end up. Just because you took 3 years in HS doesn't necessarily mean you will test out of the language. It depends on how well you were taught in HS and how much you retained.

alamemom

More on the foreign language: You can waive the requirement 1) with a score of 4 or 5 on an AP language course 2) by taking a community college level three course (obtain pre-approval) or 3) with the placement test. The online placement test can only waive you out of the first two levels - you have to take a paper-and-pencil test at orientation (or by appointment on-campus at another time) to waive the third semester. http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications...ollege1_09.pdf

EMJ930

^ thanks a ton for the reply! Like I said, I'm a spring admit so I'll be taking a full course load at a community college. I was thinking of taking 3 classes that fulfill categories I, II, AND V and then a math class. Do you think this sounds ok?

EMJ930

correction, thanks for both of the replies haha.

Nester

Film production majors have to complete all of their GE requirements (with the exception of the second writing course if they're not in TO) before they can start the production sequence. This means that lots of students are highly motivated to finish GE's by the end of the first semester of soph. year, and it's doable. I'm not sure if other majors share this requirement, but it's worth checking.

jbusc

usually people take 8 classes freshmen year. There are 6 GE classes, one writing class, one diversity class.

One of the GE classes can also count for diversity, so that makes for 7 classes. The 8th can be the 3rd semester of foreign language (if you place into it and your major requires it) and you'd be done with all sort of "non-major" classes.

the last GE class, writ 340, cannot be done your freshmen year (unless you are in TO)