Frequently Asked Questions

Home Undergraduate Program Frequently Asked Questions

Do students need to make an appointment to speak with the Undergraduate Advisor or can they just drop in? Advising is done on a drop-in basis, Monday through Friday 10-12 am and 1:30-4 pm, with an optional signup sheet outside the door (at College Eight, room 224).

Where should students not yet admitted to UCSC go for advising? Departmental questions can be answered by the Undergraduate Advisor even if the student has not yet applied or been admitted. General information and admissions questions should be referred to the Admissions Office. Transfer students can talk to the STARS advisors for transfer-specific questions.

How many classes can students take Pass/No Pass? The Sociology department does not have any restrictions on the number of courses a student can take Pass/No Pass in their major beyond the campus restrictions. However students should take Socy 1, 10 and 15 for letter grades, in order to satisfy the GPA requirements for declaring. Students can still declare if one of the lower-division courses was completed with a P, as long as the other two are completed with an A and a B or better (essentially treating the P as a C). Students should check with their college to ensure that they have not gone over their University allotted amount of courses that can be taken Pass/No Pass.

Can students declare after the last declaration session? Generally no. All majors must attend a declaration session in order to declare, which are usually held before the deadline. Minors can declare after the deadline, although it is preferred that they declare before it. Once the declaration deadline has passed, students can come to the department to create a sample plan (on the back of the curriculum chart), which is signed by the advisor and taken back to the college office. The college requires this plan in order to prevent placing an enrollment hold on the student for the following quarter.

Can students enroll in a class if it’s full or they don’t meet the prerequisites? The students should email the instructor of the course, to be placed on the wait list or to discuss their preparation (in lieu of the prerequisites). The only exception to this is when students are attempting to enroll in core courses (103A, 103B, 105A, 105B, 196A). The prerequisites for these courses are only to be a proposed or declared major or minor (except 196A, which requires students to be declared majors). It is common for students to have the need to enroll in a core course before they become proposed or declared in Sociology. If the core course is still open, the undergraduate advisor can give students a permission number to override the prerequisite and enroll in the course. However, once the course fills, students should contact the instructor to get on the wait list.

Do students need to do a thesis if they want to get into graduate school? Not necessarily. Students should contact the graduate chools they are interested and ask about this. Many students are accepted into graduate school without having completed a thesis. However, a thesis might give students an advantage, since they will have already learned how to conduct research, and will have a substantial body of work to provide as a writing sample. In addition, the faculty member will get to know the student fairly well in the course of working on the thesis, which would make them an excellent resource for a letter of recommendation.

What classes do students need to take in order to get into graduate school? Students should contact schools they are thinking of applying to. If the program is offered at UCSC they can contact the graduate program here to get a general idea. Students should research GRE requirements, deadlines (typically earlier than students would anticipate), and obtaining letters of recommendation.

What can students do with a degree in Sociology? The department has a few handouts for students– the Careers in Sociology booklet, and the Career Options for Sociology Majors handout. The answer to this question is somewhat challenging due to the nature of Sociology. It can be applied to almost any field, which allows for great flexibility and also great uncertainty when it comes time to go out into the workforce. One common theme seems to be that most students want to go into a career where they will be helping people, though applications of this range from social work, to politics, to medicine, to teaching, to give a few examples. Some students choose to go on to graduate school, which is necessary for many careers, some choose to get a job.

Students should go to the Career Center for more information.