General education courses are those classes which are outside of a student's major course of study and cover a wide range of disciplines, such as the natural sciences, humanities and fine arts, language and reasoning, the social sciences, etc. This broadening and expansion of academic fields helps to complement those courses in a student's major which tend to focus and specialize knowledge in a particular field. By taking courses over a wide range of disciplines, you will increase your capacity to develop self-understanding, analytical thinking, evaluation of ethical problems, as well as logic and insight into the world in which we live. These patterns vary, but generally the student will complete 21-42 units of G.E. coursework.
Patterns differ both in quantity and in content.
A student planning to transfer to any of the nine UC campuses has a more rigorous task ahead. UC Berkeley, for example, has the College of Environmental Design, the School of Business Administration, etc. For assistance, see an ARC counselor. For those students pursuing an occupational A.A. or A.S. degree the general education pattern must be completed in its entirety. For students planning to transfer to a four-year college, it is highly advisable in most cases.