The Spring 2025 Schedule of Classes is Live!

Enrollment Prep Week for Spring quarter is February 19-25. This is the time to review the schedule, select your classes (with some backup options), and get your shopping cart ready in MyUCSC. Enrollment appointments begin February 26, starting with priority groups, and continues over the next two weeks. Here are some helpful details and resources to get you ready for enrollment:

In this Newsletter:

• Sociology Advising

• Enrollment Appointments

• Approved Elective Course Substitutions Offered Spring Quarter

• Supplemental SOCY Course Information for:

  • SOCY 1, Intro to Sociology

  • SOCY 105B, Contemporary Social Theory

  • SOCY 139T, Community Engaged Research Practicum

  • SOCY 154, Sociology of Anti-Fat Bias

  • SOCY 175, Technology and Labor

  • SOCY 196S, Senior Seminars

• Waitlist Best Practices

• Non-SOCY Course Options & Academic Planning

• Declare Your Major

Sociology Advising

Enrollment Prep Week has begun! Students can enroll on their own through MyUCSC during their enrollment appointments, you are not required to meet with an advisor. However, if you do need assistance with sociology course selection or reviewing your major progress, please check-in with the Sociology Advising Team.

Important Note: Appointments for the next two weeks are filling up quickly! We encourage you to use our drop-in advising calendar to connect with us sooner. 

Enrollment Appointments

Enrollment appointments have posted!

On February 19th your enrollment appointments will be posted in MyUCSC. 

To view your enrollment appointments go to MyUCSC > Enrollment > Enrollment Dates. 

Students have two enrollment appointments

"First pass and second pass" enrollment. Enrollment appointments are assigned by the office of Registrar and are determined by the number of units you will have completed by the end of Fall quarter, as well as whether you have priority enrollment:

• Juniors (90-134 units), sophomores (45-89 units) and frosh (0-44 units) can enroll in no more than 14 units during their first pass enrollment. During the second pass, they may enroll in up to 19 units, and waitlist up to 14 units.

• Seniors (135+ units) may enroll in up to 19 units during their first pass, and waitlist up to 14 units during their second pass.

• Priority enrollment students can enroll in up to 19 units during their first pass enrollment, and waitlist up to 14 units during their second pass. 

Students can enroll through MyUCSC. You do not need to meet with an advisor in order to enroll. 

Approved Elective Course Substitutions in Spring

Elective course substitutions are upper-division, 5-unit courses related to sociology but offered through other departments. Review policies, processes, and approved courses by selecting the program you are pursuing:

Supplemental SOCY Course Information

SOCY 1 Intro to Sociology

SOCY 1 is gated, meaning we open a certain number of seats each day of First Pass enrollment. There will be some seats open for priority, seniors, and juniors, but the majority of the seats will open on the sophomore enrollment day. If you are a junior or senior sociology student who still needs to take SOCY 1 to qualify to declare the sociology major but are having trouble enrolling into the course, please contact socyadvising@ucsc.edu

SOCY 105B, Contemporary Social Theory

SOCY 105B is offered in Winter, Spring, and typically in the Summer. It is open to junior and senior students who are declared or proposed in sociology, and have completed or are in progress with SOCY 105A, as well as their ELWR and Composition requirement. Junior standing is having 90 units, including your Winter quarter courses.

• If Spring quarter is the last chance you have to take SOCY 105B before graduation but you have trouble enrolling into the course, please contact socyadvising@ucsc.edu for help.

• Sophomore students who were approved to take SOCY 105A in Fall or Winter may be able to continue on to SOCY 105B in Spring. Contact socyadvising@ucsc.edu for a permission code if you are not able to enroll on your own. 

SOCY 139T, Community Engaged Research Practicum

Spring Topic: "Hazards of Displacement: Experiencing the Housing and Climate Crises in Santa Cruz"

The Dept. of Sociology, the Center for Labor and Community, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521, and the Center for Farmworker Families are launching a community-based research project on the affordable housing and climate crises in Santa Cruz, and we invite undergrads to participate. After initial training in community-engaged research methods and introduction to the scholarship on housing, climate change and displacement, students will get out of the classroom and off campus 1-2 times a week in teams, working directly with community partners to apply their research skills in the field. This is one of the best opportunities to engage in research in our department, while also satisfying an upper-division elective requirement. Enrollment is by application and permission code. Apply today!

SOCY 196S, Senior Seminars:

Senior Seminars are enrollment by application and permission code. Senior sociology majors were emailed directly with this information on February 7th and have a priority deadline of February 21st to apply, however applications will still be accepted on a rolling basis after this deadline. Please be sure to apply as soon as possible if you need/want to take a senior seminar in Spring quarter. Course information and the application can be found on our website.

Wait List Best Practices

Office of Registrar Waitlist FAQs

Waitlists open on your second enrollment appointment. The waitlist appointment is listed along with your other enrollment appointment(s) and has a "14.00" listed under "Max WaitList Units" column. "14.00" indicates the number of units you can waitlist under.

Always enroll into your backup course first! Then waitlist for your desired course and indicate the course you want to drop if you are able to get into the waitlisted course. This is done in the drop down menu "If Enrolled Drop This Class”. The system will make a 1-to-1 switch for you. This will help you avoid time conflicts and exceed the 19 unit enrollment limit.

You must meet the prerequisite and restrictions. Enrollment prerequisites and restrictions apply to course enrollment and to the waitlist. If you do not meet the restriction/prerequisite your only option is to crash the course.

Students may be ineligible for enrollment from the waitlist if: they have a time conflict with another course, they are exceeding the 19 unit enrollment limit, or if their selected section is already full. Students who are ineligible to be enrolled into a course will be skipped over on the waitlist and the next eligible student will be enrolled. Because of this, your waitlist position number may not be the order in which students are enrolled. Review the waitlist error messages for solutions.

Starting on the first day of instruction, most SOCY courses are enrollment by permission code only. Waitlists for SOCY courses will stop enrolling students, and instead the professors will begin using their permission codes to admit waitlisted and/or crashing students. Instructors have their own processes and may not follow the waitlist position numbers.

Waitlists are deleted on the eighth day of instruction. This is a campus wide policy. If you are still attempting to enroll into a course, please continue working with the instructor.

Non-SOCY Course Options and Academic Planning

Students are encouraged to think about their plan early and often in their academic career. The Sociology requirements alone are not enough to fulfill your graduation requirements. What courses will you be taking outside of Sociology? Below are some suggestions and best practices when considering your plan each quarter:

Back-up options: Before your enrollment appointment determine your desired schedule as well as a set of backup options, both SOCY and non-SOCY courses. If you are not able to get your first choice, enroll in your backup course(s) and then waitlist for your first choice using the waitlist directions above.

Are you considering a double major or minor?: Explore those interests now by taking one of their requirements. Explore programs in the catalog.

Summer Session: A variety of courses, SOCY and non-SOCY, are offered in the summer.

General Education: Check your MyUCSC > My Academics > Degree Progress Report to see if you have GE requirements remaining.

Learn a new language: Not only are you fulfilling units, but you're learning a skill that will be very valuable for Sociology majors in the job market.

Satisfy a minimum of 180 quarter units: Outside of your major requirements, students are welcome to take lower-division or upper-division courses to satisfy their unit requirement. It is ok to take a course that just goes towards unit completion

Balance your schedule: If you’ve planned ahead, there is no need to take three SOCY courses in the same quarter. At the minimum, one course each quarter should be outside of Sociology. Here are some examples of courses to balance your schedule:

• Search for courses numbered in the 80's (such as 80A, 80L, 80M) in various departments, including Art, Film, HAVC, HISC, Literature, Music, Theater, and more. Courses numbered in the 80's are open to all students, have no prerequisites, and are often fun subjects.

• Check courses offered under the College you are affiliated with. They will often have great course options, especially in Winter and Spring.

• Explore new or related topics by taking the intro courses in various departments. Explore departments that are similar to sociology, such as ANTH, CMMU, CRES, EDUC, FMST, LALS, LGST, POLI, or PSYC. Or venture into new subjects such as Arts or Arts and Playable Media, Biology, Computer Science, Econ, Film, Linguistics, Literature, Theater, or learn a new language.

Do you need an academic plan?: If you don’t have an academic plan for Sociology yet, we’re happy to help! There are several options to create a plan. 

Declare Your Major