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UCSC college's "core course"

I have some questions about "core course":

1) Is the core course only for ONE quarter? Does that means after the one quarter of that core course, you don't need to worry about it anymore and can go on with your intended major?

2) Is it only ONE class for one quarter in this "core course" or are there a bunch of classes that are included in this "core course"?

3) Colleges are themed. Does that means the clubs and activities that are related to the theme will be all there? (for example, Biochem guest speaker came and will be talking in Crown college. Students from Stevensons, College 10, etc will need to travel all the way to Crown)

4) If you got bad grades on this "core course", will your GPA is forever scathed or can you retake the "core course" and erase the previous bad grade?


My background:
I want to major in some sort of physical science. I am debating between "Crown" or "College 9/10".
By the way, I notice the location of "College 9/10" is closer to Science Hill than "Crown" which I find quite interesting.

By Roh (Roh) on Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 09:41 pm: Edit

the themes have nothing to do with your major at all.
my major is underclared-life sciences, but i pick college 9 as my first choice because i like living in new and nice dorms. it's also convenient because the science departments are close.
in fact, a lot of people live at colleges whose themes have nothing to do with their majors.
i would recommend living at better dorms than older dorms.

1) it's only for the fall quarter i believe. once you're done, you don't need to care about it anymore.
2) porbably one class...not sure
3) most likely...not sure
4) i think you either pass it or fail it...again, i'm not sure.

By Vyola (Vyola) on Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 11:22 pm: Edit

I currently go to UCSC. Here's the info you want, feel free to ask me anything else as well:

1.) All the college's core courses are only 1 quarter long, except Stevenson's, which is 3 quarters long = your entire freshman year). It might be reduced to 2 quarters. I am from Stevenson, and the core course is very easy, but I wouldn't recommend it.

2.) The core course is exactly one course taken Fall quarter, nothing more. Each quarter (Fall, Winter, and Spring) you take 3 courses. Core is automatically ONE of them, only for Fall. You pick the other two. Then you're done with core forever, and can take anything.

3.) As far as I know, nothing is themed. Events are located in certain places because of size and room vacancy. It's random.

4.) I do not believe you can take core again, but they are VERY easy, so it shouldn't be of concern. It's only for freshman, although I think they sometimes make transfer core classes.

College 9/10 is brand new a centrally located- it's very close to EVERYTHING. You just cross the bridge and Science Hill is there. It has the best dining halls as well. Crown is pretty much all science majors for historical reasons. I imagine the hill would be annoying to walk up all the time.

I would request 9, 10, then Crown. Chances are you'll get Crown though, b/c 9/10 are extremely hard to get.

By Socal311 (Socal311) on Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 11:24 pm: Edit

.

By Roh (Roh) on Wednesday, April 21, 2004 - 01:12 am: Edit

^ well my 1st choice is college 9, and then college 10, and then crown.
so it's all good. =D

By Luie (Luie) on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 08:36 pm: Edit

Thanks very much.

btw,

Why choose College 9 as 1st choice and College 10 2nd choice?
Any special reasons?

By Roh (Roh) on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 10:35 pm: Edit

^ both college 9 and college 10 has nice dorms, and asians too.
crown doesn't have dorms as nice as college 9 and 10, but a lot of people there are science major, and also lots of asians too, or so i've heard.

By Vyola (Vyola) on Friday, April 23, 2004 - 06:57 pm: Edit

I arbitrarily placed College 9 before 10; they're essentially the same.