While UCLA offers a wide variety of educational opportunities, one aspect of every undergraduate student’s education remains the same: general education requirements. These course requirements allow science students to explore the arts and humanities and history students to explore science and engineering. The requirements aim to make students more academically well-rounded. Angel Perez, a UCLA Honors Counselor, shares some tips and information about GE classes.
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REDDY : North campus, home to the glorious Royce Hall, Powell library and the imposing Bunche Hall, is known for humanities and arts classes such as political science and ethnomusicology; South Campus includes the court of sciences, complete with sleek architecture, as well as students lined up in front of their chemistry classes, hoping to claim a seat in the upcoming lecture. Despite UCLA’s 28,000 undergraduates taking diverse subjects and classes, there is one commonality among all students: the general education requirements, better known as GEs to most students. GE requirements for the UCLA College of Letters and Science fall into three foundations of focus: Foundations of Arts and Humanities, Foundations of Scientific Inquiry and Foundations of Society and Culture. UCLA Honors Student Counselor Angel Perez says he thinks that GE’s are an important part of an education at UCLA because they are a way of exposing students to other disciplines, making them more well-rounded and better prepared for the real world.
PEREZ : I get a lot of pre-med students who are like “I don’t understand why we have to do all these GEs in North Campus,’ but what you fail to realize is the benefit that you will gain from these classes that may help you when doing your applications for Med school, when doing reports later on down the line, hopefully as an M.D.The long term benefits a lot of students don’t see right away, but ideally, it is to make you a more well-rounded student and possibly open up doors to a minor or double major in a different field.
REDDY : UCLA offers a plethora of GE’s from LGBTS M137 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Perspectives in Pop Music, to Classics 10 Discovering Greeks, to Gerontology M108 Biomedical, Social, and Policy Frontiers in Human Aging. Some people choose classes based on level of difficulty – finding out which classes are easy and hard through other students and sites such as Bruinwalk. Bruinwalk is UCLA’s own professor and class rating website, where students can rate professors based on difficulty, effectiveness and availability. For a student such as fourth-year physiological science student Martina Shoukralla and recent psychology graduate Sahar Portahari, difficulty level plays a key role in the decision to take or avoid a GE class.
SHOUKRALLA : I took something that I would be interested in but at the same time, I looked for easy professors that I could get good grades. All my GEs I ever took, I always got As on them.
PORTOHARI : I didn’t want to take something that was boring that I would dread studying for and I also looked up teachers online to see who was the most helpful teacher, who was the nicest professor, not gonna lie, the easiest class I could take, so that is what I looked for.
REDDY : Students are encouraged to choose classes that involve a subject they are curious about or have a developing interest in. Honors Counselor Perez elaborates.
PEREZ : Ideally, look for something that interests you. Something that you wouldn’t mind studying for 10 weeks and reading about and being tested on because that it exactly the experience you are going to have. If you like what you are studying, you are going to do well in that class.
REDDY : According to Perez, a lot of people are looking to get rid of GEs by taking as few classes as possible. One option for incoming freshmen trying to cut down their GE classes involves taking one of the offered GE Clusters, a year-long, writing intensive course that counts as credit for four GEs, fulfills your writing II requirement and offers honors credit. There are 11 clusters offered within each of the three foundations: There are clusters that fulfill a mix of the GE requirements – some of them, like Sex: From Biology to Gendered Society, eliminate some science and history requirements, while others, like America in the Sixties: Politics, Society, and Culture, take care of some historical analysis and arts requirements.
Different general education requirements may be challenging for different students. There is the option of changing the grading basis to pass/no pass grading. This means that instead of receiving a letter grade that factors into the GPA, one is given a pass grade for a C or above and a no pass for a C- and below. Perez reveals how this form of grading is a protection for one’s GPA. A class can be changed to pass/no pass on URSA, but it must be done by sixth week to avoid an extra charge or notation on one’s transcript.
PEREZ :The benefit is to protect your GPA in areas you don’t feel as strong in. There are no real cons to taking multiple courses pass/no pass. It’s really up to you. Now of course you don’t want all your GEs pass no pass and you can’t take a whole quarter of pass/no pass. There has to be a letter grade. That’s just a rule. If you sprinkle here and there, there is no negative impact. You could always ask a counselor beforehand because some courses you can’t take pass/no pass.
REDDY : While, some students believe GE’s are necessary for shaping their university education, others view undergraduate education as a stepping stone for further education and job opportunities. As a result, they may view GEs as a waste of time. Here is Sean Chonino, a fourth-year anthropology student.
CHONINO : My end goal was always law school and I think the same thing applies to people who go to med school and applies to people who go to GREs and Ph.D.s. To answer your question, I believe it is unnecessary.
REDDY : However, the point of General Education is to expand on a basic, one-tracked education one would normally receive at a four-year university like UCLA. It allows a student to explore other fields and further develop existing interests or find completely new ones. Many students such as Robin Barios, a third-year psychology student, can see this perspective and appreciate the general education courses.
BARIOS : I think they are a benefit because they lay down a fundamental kind of structure upon which you can build more knowledge and it also is very diversified.
REDDY : Whether students are taking advantage of the diversity that GEs provide for their education or are taking them just to fulfill a university requirement, GEs are still mandatory to graduate. Keep in mind, GE requirements differ for each college and students should double check with their counselors to ensure they’re signing up for the right courses. Counselors can be found at the College Academic Counseling office located in A-316 Murphy Hall and honors students can find college honors counselors like Angel Perez in A-311 Murphy Hall. Another option is to ask a summer orientation counselor about GEs or browse through the UCLA class registrar page for a list of GE’s available for the upcoming quarter.
For Daily Bruin Radio, I’m Neha Reddy.