Hi there
i am in 2nd year Hon Life Science, wondering how many first year course can somebody take in 2nd year!!

It says in the Undergraduate Calendar. It depends on your program and faculty. In my case, I can take all my elective units (18 units) from first year courses.

I think I read something about Life Science and 48 units total level 1 courses - meaning assuming you took 30 last year, then 18 in second year (or later), which coincides with what Goce said.

Yep, 48 units is the amount of units of first year courses you can take over the span of the four years .

So the question is "does is really matter if someone take 30 units in first year and 18 units 2nd year? or the 18 units has to be spread out through *2nd, 3rd, and 4th years??

You can pretty much do as you please with electives.

Originally Posted by ebfrancis

So the question is "does is really matter if someone take 30 units in first year and 18 units 2nd year? or the 18 units has to be spread out through *2nd, 3rd, and 4th years??

It doesn't mention any restrictions as to when to take those other 18 units in the calendar. But for me, I would assume that it doesn't matter when you take them, whether in 2nd year or spread out over 3 years. At the same time though, make sure you fulfill the second year requirements for your program, instead of just taking a lot of first year electives unnecessary for your program/degree.

I talked to an academic advisor about this. If you are taking them in addition to the normal credits (120) needed for graduation in order to fulfill requirements for various things, you shouldn't have a problem getting a waiver. (ie. a kin kid wanting to go to US med school has 18 units of kin courses, 3 units of math, 6 units of bio, 6 units of chem, 6 units of physics, 6 units of english and 3 units of a humanities/social science course all in level one (assuming of course they took calc, chem, and physics in high school). That takes you right to the limit, however say you need Math 1 F03 or Physics 1 L03, and you are willing to take extra courses to make space, then generally they'd be inclined to give a waiver)

Ya, I think the life science program has less restrictions on the number of electives you take as compared with other programs since it is more flexible, nd since you can take up to 18 units from first years in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, you can basically choose your electives to be from first years!! still need to verify that!!

Originally Posted by ~*Sara*~

It doesn't mention any restrictions as to when to take those other 18 units in the calendar. But for me, I would assume that it doesn't matter when you take them, whether in 2nd year or spread out over 3 years. At the same time though, make sure you fulfill the second year requirements for your program, instead of just taking a lot of first year electives unnecessary for your program/degree.

I just wanted to emphasize the fact that you should fulfill your second year requirements because they are generally required for taking upper year courses that are also required for your program.

Basically what I'm saying is, make sure you plan ahead. Check out the prerequisites for required courses AS WELL AS courses you would like to take. The last thing you want to do is take summer school (unless you want to) or have to do an extra year.