Show Students Seeking An AS fr- fr Degree In Gen Ed Beware z i V I by Durant Black e t Academic A A Advisor o to t- t 1 0 The May 15 pub publication of Points West referring to our new new designation as asa a 1 community college included the following the school will be offering a greater variety of general education classes This will bring more students in who are working towards an Associates Degree Degreek k in General Education as a part of their year four-year bachelors program While the Associates Degree in General Education in an attractive option for many students there are some pitfalls During the last year or two I ha have e counseled dozens of students who were working toward an AS Degree in General Education A great number of them had the idea that their random selection of the elective six forty-six credit hours of general education would satisfy the requirements of the first two years of a Bachelors Degree and they could then proceed to take upper division courses as a junior In most cases that just simply would not be true For example suppose you wanted to major in some area of Biological Science at the year four-year school You take the required LS and then to fulfill the life science requirements Perhaps you also take two or three more life science classes and then finish filling the elective 46 credit hours with humanities and social sciences When you transfer to the year four-year school of your choice you are informed you will need fifteen hours of chemistry ten additional additional additional addi addi- hours of math or more and fifteen hours of physics-all physics lower division courses and all of which could have been taken here It would have been much more efficient to have concentrated on these classes than on the humanities and social sciences which do not count toward the BS Degree I could give other illustrations but the principle is the same for most disciplines You need to be selective and know what your major is going to be and what the requirements of the year four-year schools are to make the most efficient use of your time at Salt Lake Community College Of course some students are seeking education for educations education's sake Some may want to major in Liberal Education at the year four-year school also Still Stin others may not mind if they spend an extra year getting their degree For them the thes s S random selection of general education classes is not a bad choice as long as that choice is deliberate But most of the students I have talked with had not made that choice they deliberately simply did not understand They were were just going along with the crowd just doing what they assumed to be correct without asking questions or in some cases asking the wrong person and receiving a wrong answer There is a solution a a very simple one On pages to of the 87 1986 catalog the general education requirements for the Associate of Science degree are outlined On page is a list of areas of emphasis Students planning to tomajor tomajor tomajor major in any area of business should be aware that the requirements are exactly the same for all business students The degree requirements for all of these areas are pretty well ell outlined elsewhere in the catalog The students who em to be the most conf confused sed are the ones who choose an anarea anarea anarea area of emphasis as outlined on page A student selecting any of these options especially the general education emphasis should meet with an academic advisor in the College Center or with Jeff Hunter in TB to discuss classes to be taken Then in most cases the student should take one of our school catalogs and visit with an appropriate counselor at the year four-year school she he plans to tb attend With this counselor a list of classes at least 46 credit hours should be selected elected which will be most useful to the student in the pursuit of the bachelors degree The classes should be selected in accordance to the guidelines listed on page of our 87 1986 catalog The student should obtain a special form from an advisor here and have the counselor at the year four-year institution fill in the recommended classes and sign the paper indicating his approval Then the student should return to the academic advisor here for his her signature The few hours spent with this up follow-up assures the student that the correct classes are being taken and could save many months of schooling and many dollars in tuition and fees-and fees perhaps a good deal of frustration |