Putting Together A Mock Schedule For Next Semester

College Life
1

I’m putting together a mock schedule for next semester and had a few questions about electives. When it comes to electives such as natural science and humanities, if your major doesn’t require a specific one, can you pick two completely different electives?

Example: I need 2 natural science electives. Would I be able to go with astronomy one semester and then go with geology the next? Or would I have to take the intro level astronomy class and then follow that up with the next level of astronomy?

2

I’m thinking you can just take random ones. I have taken an intro chemistry class and two different biological science classes. I would ask your advisor to be sure, but I didn’t have to take any “follow-up” courses because I’m not a science major.

3

You don’t have take courses in any sort of sequence when it comes to general education requirements or electives unless the requirement is something along the lines of achieving proficiency (i.e. proficiency in a foreign language would mean taking the same foreign language for a certain number of semesters) – but if it’s just “take X number of natural science courses” I’m pretty certain you could take any assortment of science courses.

4

It depends on your school, and it sounds like a question that your advisor should be able to answer easily if the requirements aren’t clear. If the requirement is simple to “take two natural science courses,” then it sounds like you can take any natural science classes you want (there may be lists of classes that are approved for this requirement).

But you should be clarifying this with someone at your school. Since we do not know what school you go to or what your school’s GE requirements are, we can’t tell you for sure one way or the other. For example, my school had GE requirements where you did have to take classes in the same area. For example, if the requirement was to take 2 natural science classes, you had to pick chemistry or biology or earth science or whatever and take 2 classes in that one specific area (so you couldn’t take one astronomy class and one biology class to fulfill the requirement). But this was made obvious on the school’s website. If your school doesn’t say anything about needing to take 2 classes in the same subject matter, then I would assume you don’t have to. But again, you should be checking with someone at your school about this.