When starting your first year of university you will be classified as a freshman. Freshman is the first level out of four that you will have as an undergraduate student. As you move from freshman to sophomore to junior to senior, you will still remain an undergraduate. If you are a fulltime student, it usually takes four to five years to complete a bachelor’s degree. The time required depends on how many classes you take every semester.
You can move faster or slower from one category to another by taking more classes per semester. You can do this by either take additional classes during regular semester or take summer or winter session classes.
Smart Class Scheduling
We recommend that you talk to a student advisor once you have arrived to plan which classes to take and when.
An undergraduate degree requires between 120 to 140 units or credits. One course is usually worth three credits. Some courses might require i.e. laboratory classes which usually count as one additional credit. To be a fulltime undergraduate student, you need to take 12 units per semester. That is usually equal to four classes. If you do not plan to take any classes in the summer or winter you probably need 15 units or five classes per regular semester to complete a bachelor in four years.
General Education
In Europe and many other parts of the world, students specialize in their chosen field already the first year. With the exception for professional schools, students do not specialize until the second or third year. Regardless of major, certain classes are mandatory for all undergraduate students. These classes are referred to as general education (GE) subjects. As a freshman and sophomore, a majority of your classes will be GE. As the name applies, these courses include math, biology, American history, and geography. Please see our general education appendix for an example of GE classes being offered at one US university.
In many parts of the world, university students often follow a standardized plan with courses already lined out for each field of study. Students in the United States have much greater flexibility in creating their own schedule. For instance, a sophomore business student might take biology, accounting, mathematics, statistics, and physical education during the same semester. Another sophomore student might have a completely different class schedule. This is of course very different from other university systems where student usually with other students at the same level.
M ore useful stuff: General Education and Major Classes
Courses that are a part of your major field might require that you complete certain GE classes before you are allowed to sign up. These classes are often referred to as prerequisites. Once you have completed the prerequisites, you are allowed to take some major classes, you do not need to take only GE classes during your first two years. For instance, your second semester might include physical education (GE subject), statistics (GE subject), philosophy (GE subject), accounting (major subject), and finance (major subject). The trick is to plan ahead and get familiar with which classes are prerequisites for each course that you would like to take. Some prerequisites are common for several subjects and it is therefore a good idea to try to take them first.
One of the benefits of the first two years of general education is that it will give you some time to decide which field to specialize in. One good idea is take one or two classes in the major that you are interested in. By doing this, you will have a better idea if whether or not you will enjoy your major. If you find out that the major is not for you, it is easy to change your concentration to another major without loosing time and money.
Once you have completed your undergraduate studies and have earned a bachelors degree, you can go on to become a graduate student. A graduate degree such as a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) can usually be completed in two years.
The table below shows the levels and classifications for undergraduate and graduate students.
Course credits, or units as they are sometimes called, is a measurement of how many hours per week a class is meeting during a semester. A class that meets for three hour a weeks is worth three credits. Some classes meet one hour three times per week, other classes meet only once but for three hours at one time.
Depending on how many credits per semester a student is taking, he or she is either a full-time or part-time student. Twelve credits per semester or more is usually considered to be full-time while everything less is part-time. As a foreign student, you are required by the US immigration authorities to be a fulltime student. Also, if you are planning to receive financial aid from your home country or if you are a part of a scholarship program you will often be required to be a fulltime student.
