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Requirements & Electives

Non-Major Requirements and Electives to fill out your schedule

General Education (GE) and Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC)

  • Have You Completed an IGETC?
    No or Not Sure -

    The IGETC (Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum) is the California community college equivalent of UCD's General Education (GE) requirement. Both the IGETC and the GE requirement are a pattern of courses that include social science, arts, English, science and humanities. Their purpose is to provide breadth to every student's program.

  • No - I did not complete IGETC

Even though you may not have completed IGETC, you may have satisfied some part of the UCD GE requirement by taking appropriate courses at the community college level.  AP scores cannot satisfy GE requirements. Check on www.Assist. Org to see if a course you took at a California community college could be used to satisfy a part of our GE requirement. The course must be equivalent to a GE course on our campus, not just transferable to our campus. GE courses are designated on Assist by the letters GE under the UC Davis course. If you attended a four-year or out-of-state institution, your courses will need to be evaluated at the College of Biological Sciences, Dean's Office, 202 Life Sciences, for GE equivalency. You will need a syllabus and catalog description of the course for the evaluation.

Without any transfer GE courses, you can complete GE with a minimum of six courses.  Students do not need to complete all of their GE coursework in the first two years.  Rather, it is often beneficial to use these GE courses to balance against the heavier science workload in later years.

The UC Davis General Education (GE) requirement is described in the UC Davis General Catalog (pgs. 91 and 92) along with a GE course list (pgs. 525-533). GE courses are also listed in the Fall Quarter 2009 Class Schedule and Registration Guide (pgs. 130-139). Bullets mark the GE courses offered that quarter. Catalog and Guide are in hard copy and on the web at the Registrar's website.

  • Yes - I completed an IGETC -

    Your GE requirement at UCD is fulfilled if you have completed all of your IGETC requirements and can provide a certified copy of your IGETC completion to the College of Biological Sciences Dean's Office, 202 Life Sciences Addition. To balance out your science courses, you still need to include some elective courses each quarter: non-science courses, internships, or research experiences. You may also still need to complete the English composition requirement as IGETC does not automatically satisfy this requirement for either college.

English

Every student needs to complete 8 units of English composition, of which 4 units must be upper division.

Courses that satisfy the lower division unit requirement are: Comparative Literature 1, 2, 3, 4, English 3, Native American Studies 5, Undergraduate Writing Program 1, 18 or 19. You may have taken an equivalent to one of these courses at a community college before entering UCD. Be sure to check www.assist.org.

You will also need to complete one upper division course from: Nematology 150, University Writing Program 101, 102A, 102B, 102C, 102D, 102E, 104A, 104B, 104C, 104D, 104E or 104F. These courses do not have a community college equivalent.

Foreign Language

There is no foreign language requirement for students completing a Bachelor of Science. Bachelor of Arts students do have a foreign language requirement and should see an adviser in the College of Biological Sciences Dean's Office regarding this requirement..

Taking Electives? Yes, you do need electives!

All students need elective courses outside of major courses and GE, English requirement courses to graduate, i.e. achieve the minimum 180 units. Enjoy your educational opportuinity at UCD and register for electives.

The following will give you some additional ideas of electives that are pertinent to your future.

Examples of Electives:

Courses are listed here by a three-letter identifier code. This code is used in the Class Schedule and Registration Guide and also at the start of each department's course listing in the catalog. Make sure you have completed the prerequisites given in the course catalog for any course you take.

  • Enhance your resume. Besides your scientific knowledge many employers are looking for applicants that write well, speak well, solve problems, understand and use different software applications (AMR 21, ECS 15), and relate well with other people. You can prove and improve your skills by taking courses or internships that include those areas.
  • Find an internship (92) or research (99) opportunity. The CBS research web pages and the Internship and Career Center give more information and a list of available faculty.
  • Take courses numbered 1 to 99 from our medical, veterinary, education, or management schools. They are open to undergraduates.
  • Improve your future lifestyle and take general courses in nutrition (FST 10, NUT 10), personal finance (ARE 142), healthful living (PHE 44).
  • Explore new worlds and seek out new planets by taking a "10" course. Almost every department offers a general non-major course designated by the course number 10 (e.g. Astronomy 10 taught by Physics). Who knows- our acting course (DRA 10) may help on an interview.
  • Focus on understanding other cultures (potential future clients) either through language and culture courses, or ethnic studies. Look for these course identifiers: AAS, ASA, CHI, NAS, WMS.
  • Earn one of our more than 80 minors (listed on page 8 of your catalog), including the new Quantitative Biology and Bioinformatics minor and new Neuroscience minor.
  • Take advantage of our unique educational roots and take such exotic courses as Captive Raptor Management (AVS 15L), taking care of farm and lab animals on campus (ANS 49A-J), gardening (PLB 1), growing grapes (VEN 2), making wine (VEN 3), clothing style and cultural studies (TXC 7), Art, Science and Insects (ENT 1), Introduction to Brewing and Beer (FST 3), Aging (BIS 15, ENT 117), National Parks (GEL 25), Earthquakes (GEL 17), and of course the incredibly popular tractor driving (ABT 49). It's fun handling the big machines!
  • Take a science integrative course in Nature and Culture (NAC), History and Philosophy of Science (HPS), Science and Society (SAS), Science and Technology Studies (STS), or a seminar in your major or similar department.
  • Check the list of elective courses with no or minimal prerequisites for Fall 2009 for College of Biological Sciences freshmen students.