Accepted, bunch of questions

spatel23
Fri, 23 Mar 2012 23:39:41 +0000

Welcome to UCSD! Glad you got in!

I’m a freshamn so I will answer to the best of my knowledge.


No idea


2.How’s ERC? I’ve read it’s heavily focused on writing/history, but i’m not worried about that at all. I just don’t understand the whole 6 college system, will i be taking all my classes in this Eleanor Roosevelt college area? What is the purpose of the six colleges.

*ERC is easily the best college there, and yes it’s biased because I am in ERC!! The purpose of the six college is somewhat interesting. It creates this sense of divide and unity and the same time. Think about it this way, the individual colleges help you unite with fellow college students, and at the same time you are taking classes with other college students. A sense of divide and unity. In addition, each college promotes different values, different teaching methods, etc. They focus on specific things and have their own way of “creating” graduating students.

Like i said above, you are going to be taking classes with other students from other colleges (except MMW which is ERC students only, but lectures locations are not in ERC; however sections are usually in ERC area). Thus the majority of hte classes you take will occur on different colleges. For example, a lot of the Chem 6 A/B/C classes are held in York 2722, which is in Revelle College. At the same time there are some classes in Warren Lecture Hall [Warren College]. *


Is it possible to start in the summer and get ahead on credits? Is it worth it if so?


* I don’t know if you can start taking courses AT UCSD, but you can get a head start by going to say a community college Check out [Welcome to ASSIST](Welcome to ASSIST) for more info. [basically it will tell you which college courses are eligible for UCSD Units. I think it’s worth it because I want to graduate ASAP and get out quickly, save myself a few thousand bucks and then make my way over to grad. school, but that’s me. *


I’ve read about the good/bad professors and how people advise to try and not get the “bad” ones, do you get to pick your professor ahead of time, or how does that work?


* Yes you get to choose your professors, but only if they are available [ie. have space in their lectures, but of course you can wait list]. Basically you will be given a time and a date for enrollment. Then you will be able to select your classes with the professor you want. You can see the courses and professors before hand, so it’s not a last minute thing. It feels a bit hard describing how to do course registration, but trust me it is extremely easy and takes only seconds to register for your course (assuming the classes are available at the time of registration). Also, since you are in ERC, I would recommend Prof. Herbst for MMW. He is a fantastic lecturer, and even though it’s boring ol’ history, he manages to keep my, and the entire classes’, attention very well. He is a superb prof., and kind, nad simply great. He is the BEST!!! *


How does the week schedule work, does it depend on your classes or do you go everyday for a certain amount?


* You choose your week schedule, lolz this is college not high school!. Basically there will be two things per class. So take for example you are taking Chem 6A in the fall. the first thing you will have is Lecture; and the second thing is Section. Lecture is well lecture, and Section is a smaller “discussion” like group where you can ask questions to TA’s and do hw problems, etc. You may be wondering if it is required to go to section, and it depends. If it is mandatory then duh!, and if it isn’t then it’s up to you if you want to go. It isn’t high school where attendance is taken in lecture or section (unless mandatory section). [BTW MMW Sections are mandatory]. My advice would be to check out section. I myself started going to all the non-mandatory section my first quarter. Slowly I realized that it ate into my time, so I stopped going (unless we had quizzes in section), but that’s just me, I have different methods. *


What is a manageable amount of units to take, not too little but not overkill?
*~16. The max is 19.5 i think, so taking about ~16 units or about 4 classes is just fine. Since you are a freshman in Fall, I would suggest you look into some Freshman Seminars. They are extremely interesting, and I am sure you will love it. *


With that all, welcome to the University of California- San Diego. I hope you will enjoy your 4 years here.

***Thank You, Come Again ***