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Other Requirements and electives

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 satisfy this requirement.

General Education, version 2 (GE 2)
Please note there is a different GE requirement for freshmen called GE 3. It does not apply to CBS transfer students but can cause confusion. If you have doubts, please come to the CBS Dean's Office for assistance.

Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) vs. General Education (GE 2) version

The Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) is the California community college equivalent of UCD's General Education (GE 2) requirement. Both the IGETC and the GE 2 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. Students from 4-year or out-of-state institutions are required to complete GE 2 at UCD. Some of the courses you have taken may match GE 2 category courses. If you completed your GE at another UC, a letter of reciprocity will be needed to satisfy GE 2.

If you have completed your entire IGETC

Your GE 2 requirement at UCD is fulfilled if you have completed all of your IGETC course requirements and a certified copy of your IGETC completion is in your file in the College of Biological Sciences Dean's Office, 202 Life Sciences. We cannot acknowledge completion of GE until we receive your community college's verification. During fall quarter, your IGETC verifications should be sent to UCD's Undergraduate Admissions Office. After fall quarter, your IGETC verifications should be sent to the College of Biological Sciences, Dean's Office. You will want to check at the end of fall to make sure the college has received your IGETC verification.

If you completed a Partial IGETC

Students must be within 2 courses of completing the IGETC to be eligible for the partial certification. You are responsible for requesting a partial IGETC certification form be sent to the CBS Dean's Office from the Community College. A UCD adviser will determine the applicable course(s) that can be completed to meet the deficiency and will email the student all course choices that apply. Students have one academic year at UCD to complete the required course(s) and also have the option to return to the Community College during the next summer to complete the missing courses. Once completed, you will be notified by the UCD adviser.

If your IGETC is not complete or you went to a 4-year or out-of-state institution

You are required to complete the UC Davis General Education (GE 2) requirement. GE courses are listed in the Class Search Tool. If you are not searching by specific GE course type be sure to read your results carefully as both GE 2 and GE3 are listed. Some of your transferrable courses may match GE 2 category courses. Check on Assist year 2010-1011 or earlier 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 2 course on our campus to qualify. 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, and you did not attend orientation, 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 catalog description and perhaps a syllabus of the course for the evaluation.

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 satisfy this requirement.

The English Composition Requirement

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 listed below. You may have taken an equivalent to one of these courses. California Community College students can check Assist for equivalency. Other students need to see the CBS Dean's Office.

  • Comparative Literature 1, 2, 3, 4
  • English 3
  • Native American Studies 5
  • Undergraduate Writing Program 1, 18 or 19

You will also need to complete one upper division course from the options listed below. These courses do not have a community college equivalent.

  • University Writing Program (UWP) 101, 102A-102L, 104A-104F, or 104I

The Foreign Language Requirement

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

Elective Courses Are Important

Whether you have taken many or few electives at your former institution, the following will give you some additional ideas of electives that are pertinent to your future. Not all of these are given in fall quarter.

Courses are listed here by a three-letter identifier code. This code is used in the Class Search Tool 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 wish to take.

  • Enhance your resume. Besides being interested in your scientific knowledge, many employers are looking for applicants that write well, speak well, solve problems, understand and use different software applications (PLS 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 (192) or research (199) 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 199 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 11 of your catalog), including the Quantitative Biology and Bioinformatics minor, the Neuroscience minor, and the Human Physiolgy minor.
  • Take advantage of our unique educational roots and take such exotic courses as managing captive raptors (AVS 15L), taking care of farm and lab animals on campus (ANS 49A-J), gardening (PLS 5), 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 (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 Science and Society (SAS), Science and Technology Studies (STS), or a seminar in your major or similar department.
  • Check the lists of Courses without Prerequisites (PDF file) from the College of Biological Sciences (CBS) list and from the First Resort (1-3 units).