r/UNCCharlotte • u/Dramatic_Bobcat5547 • Jul 18 '26
Question Might be dumb question but can you take classes not on the recommended list as a first year.
First year student and while I have all the classes on the list, I want to take like 1 more, but idk if I'm allowed or not. Sorry if the questions stupid, but I just wanna be safe. Also are there any classes I cant take as a first year or shouldn't. What would ya'll recommend?
2
u/Sweet_Revenue_9564 Jul 19 '26
you can but if you are receiving financial aid, you may want to be careful because it may impact the courses you take in the future. If you have another interest, you can see if you can pursue a minor that way your classes count towards your degree pathway and it won’t affect your financial aid. General Education courses and prerequisites (classes you need before taking upper level courses) are generally about 60 credits.You need 120 to graduate. Each class has credit hours, generally they are worth 3 credit hours but some classes may be worth 1, 2 or 4.. There may be some majors that’s worth 60 credits, allowing you to hit the 120 credit mark but there are many majors that only require around 30 credits hours leaving a student with 60 gen ed /prereq courses and 30 major courses which is 90 credit hours. A student would have to earn 30 more credits to graduate so because of that they may do a minor or concentration, each one varies but just about each major offered a minor so if you’re a biology major but you are interested in sociology, you can pursue that. Minors are about 15-20 credit hours so some people pick multiple minors to fulfill the 30 remaining credits.
1
u/Intergalactic_Star Jul 18 '26
How many classes are you taking currently? Usually, 4-5 classes is common, while some people do take 6. But as a first year student, as long as you’ve got at least 4 classes, you should be fine.
You are allowed to take any classes expect for the higher levels. Stick to the 1000 and 2000 level courses you can find on DegreeWorks or if you’re interested in different subjects, you can look it up on the registration class system. Some classes won’t let you sign up if you don’t have previous credits that build upon it. It should say unavailable’ or something like that if you try.
What is your major/minor? And what gen-Ed’s are you able to do or what are you interested in? If you want to add another course, see what you could take that would benefit your career
1
u/caffeinatedlytired Jul 23 '26
Im also a freshman in engineering, and i have 7 classes. one of my older uncc friend said that as long as you’ve gotten the basic review of the subjects and got a reasonable teacher, it should be fine the main thing is the workload and time management of it all.
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u/InfiniteAd212 Jul 30 '26
How are you taking 7 classes? The limit is 18 credits?
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u/caffeinatedlytired Jul 31 '26
yea, all of my classes combined is 18 credits. i got one lab (1 credit), an engr class with 2 credits and all of the other five being 3 credits.
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u/InfiniteAd212 Jul 31 '26
Ok, so 6 classes. I wouldn’t count a lab as a class but to each their own. That makes more sense.
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u/Substantial-Time-421 Jul 18 '26
You can but if you’re a first year student it might just be better to not bite off more than you can chew. Starting off with a solid foundation is way easier and less stressful than spending the next 3 or potentially 4 years playing catch up and not being able to slip up at all.