GRADUATE PROGRAM PREREQUISITES FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. Is it absolutely necessary that I complete this
form?
Yes
2. What should I put in the blank "Number/Designation?"
The idea is to be able to match the courses you've taken to their appearance on
your transcript. So if you had taken calculus here, for example, you would
write "MAT 21A, Calculus I" for the number/designation.
Basically, you should write the name and number (if any) of the course that
appears on your transcript. "School" is the institution from
which you took the course, i.e. the school providing the transcript of your
grade for that course. For "grade" we'd prefer a letter grade,
but if you received a number grade, put that down as long as we know what the
maximum number possible is. E.G., tell us you received "85/100",
or "4.2/5".
3. I have taken the course listed in the first part of the form but in
our school we have different names - for example "calculus" is
included in my school's course "advanced mathematics". Or my
school's course "management economics" is mainly concerned with
"microeconomics". What do I do?
Write the names of the courses you have had over the names we have put in those
boxes. E.G. write "advanced mathematics" in the box where we
have put "calculus". Just confirm that your courses contain
similar content to the UCD courses we suggest in the second table as being
appropriate for fulfilling the prerequisites. Brief descriptions of each
of those courses can be found by matching the sample courses shown on the
prerequisite form (e.g. MAT 21A and B) to their listings in the UC Davis online
course catalog that is available at http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/UCDWebCatalog/.
If you are still concerned about this, you could either contact the
departments of our prerequisite courses and try to obtain syllabi for the
courses in question, or send us the syllabi for the related courses you have
taken, so that we could assess whether they are similar to what we would expect.
4. If I have to take some of these courses, is it possible for me to
take them after I am accepted by your school and/or may I take them after
becoming a registered student in your program?
If you are accepted into the TTP program, you may take the courses either
before arriving at UC Davis or after you have registered in the program.
The second portion of the form requires you to identify when and where you plan
to take each unfulfilled prerequisite. E.g., calculus 1 at Yuba Community
College in summer 2003, microecon as ECN 100 at UCD in fall 2003, etc.
This plan can change as time goes on (in which case you need to file a new
form), but we want you to consciously plan what to do about the
requirements. It is important that you fulfill the prerequisites as soon
as possible. They are in place for a reason, and you will be disadvantaged
in other program courses if you have not had them. Whether explicitly
stated as a prerequisite or not, other program courses will assume familiarity
with the prerequisites.
5. If I manage to struggle through my TTP program without one or more
of these prerequisites, can't I have the requirement waived at the end?
No. Selectively waiving the requirements would not be fair to those
who take them seriously as we ask, and who go to some trouble to get them out of
the way at the beginning. There are no exceptions to this policy.
6. If I have to take some of these courses, do I have to take them for
a letter grade?
We will accept a Pass or Satisfactory grade as fulfilling the
prerequisite. If your knowledge of the course contents isn't at the level
of a solid B or better, you will be defeating the purpose of the prerequisite, i.e.
adequate preparation for future courses.
7. If I take these courses after enrolling at UCD, will they count
toward my graduate degree?
No. (Nor will they count toward the degree if taken elsewhere, but the
question is most likely to arise when taken after enrolling in the TTP program).
8. Can't I just audit any prerequisite courses I don't already have?
No. If we let anyone audit a prerequisite, we couldn't require anyone
else to take it formally, in which case we have no ability to enforce the
prerequisites at all. It is also human nature that when only auditing a
class, there is little motivation to do the assignments and really learn the
material as well as it needs to be learned. As noted above, we do at least
allow prerequisites to be taken on a pass/fail basis rather than for a letter
grade. Alternatively, as noted below, you can "place out" of a
prerequisite by exam (perhaps after auditing the class), provided you find an
appropriate instructor willing to administer and grade the exam.
9. I haven't exactly taken one (or more) of the prerequisite courses,
but I feel that I have obtained the knowledge covered by that class through
other means. Can I "place out" of the requirement by taking an
exam?
Yes. You will need to find an instructor of the class (either here at
UCD or at another school) who is willing to administer the final exam for that
course to you, grade it, and e-mail your grade to the TTP graduate
assistant. If the instructor is not at UCD, the exam itself should be
mailed to us so that we can ascertain that it covers a breadth similar to that
of our prerequisite.
10. I can't download the form. What do I do?
First of all you need to make sure you have Adobe Acrobat reader downloaded
onto your computer. It is available free of charge from the
internet. If you have already done that and you still can't download the
form, please e-mail aschaaf@ucdavis.edu
and she will send you the form via e-mail.
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