“在美国的留学过程中，必须要经历的一个环节，就是选课，但是很多学生因为对美国教育不熟悉，所以不知道自己该如何选课，因此我们今天邀请了加州大学伯克利的校友，让他和大家聊聊美国留学选课的正确姿势。”

Hello,my name is Dylan Lee.I graduated from UC Berkeley in 2017 with majors in English and Philosophy.I am a native of California.I am going to talk a little bit about how I chose courses as a student at UC Berkeley. 

大家好，我叫Dylan Lee。我于2017年毕业于加州大学伯克利分校，主修英语和哲学。我是一个土生土长的加州人，接下来我给大家介绍一下我在伯克利上学时是如何选课的。

My course choices were informed by major requirements, university requirements, and of course personal interest. In order to qualify as a full-time student, I had to take at least 13 units every semester, which usually meant I was taking 4-5 classes each term.   

美国大学的选课是以专业要求，大学要求，以及个人兴趣三个方面为依据的。为了完成美国大 学四年的毕业要求，我每学期至少修4-5门课，等同于差不多13个学分。 

Each course had certain number of units,and that mainly depends on how much time I spent in class, for example, my Beowulf-Milton literature survey met three times a week for an hour, and included a discussion section.Since I met four hours in total for the week, the course had four units.An hour weekly seminar might have 1 unit, but an intensive course that tries to fit two semesters into one, like Intensive Latin,might carry as many as 8 units.  

每门课都有一定数量的学分，这主要取决于我在这门课上花的时间。例如，《贝奥武夫-弥尔顿文学调查》(Beowulf-Milton literature survey)要求除了每周进行三次一个小时的会谈，还需要做一次课题讨论。我总共一周在这门课上花了四个小时时间，也就有了四个学分。如果是一门周期很长的课，比如拉丁语，需要花两个学期上完，就会有多出一倍的学分（8 个学分）。

During my first two semesters at Berkeley I took 4 classes, but thereafter I usually took 5 classes (20 units). This is something I regret a little, because I spent so much time doing work I often did not have time to relax and enjoy exploring Berkeley.  

在伯克利的前两个学期，我选了4门课，但之后我通常选 5门课(20个学分)。如果让我重新选择我可能不会这么做，因为我花了太多的时间在学习上，没有空出多余的时间放松和享受在伯克利的生活。

At Berkeley, I had to take seven breadth classes spread across seven intellectual domains: Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Philosophy and Values, Arts and Literature, Social and Behavioral Sciences, HistoricalStudies, and International Studies. In addition to these classes, I also had to take a two-semester composition course, an American Studies class and an American Cultures class (this is usually marked by an“AC” at the end of a course name, for example “LING 108AC”). 

在伯克利，我必须学7门延伸学科，涉及7个领域：分别是生物科学、物理科学、哲学与价值观、艺术与文学、社会与行为科学、历史研究和国际研究。除了这些课，我还需要上两学期的英语文法课，一门是美国研究课，一门是美国文化课(这门课通常在课程名称的最后加上一个“AC”，例如“LING 108AC”)。

I was able to skip the composition requirement by getting a 5 on the AP English literature exam, and I fulfilled the American Studies requirement by getting a 5 on the AP American History exam, for the American Cultures requirement, I took a linguistics class on the linguistic history of the United States:we studied Native American languages, the development of American English,and how race, class and gender influenced differences in dialect. 

因为我在高中AP英语文学和AP美国历史都考了5分，所以我用它们转换了写作课和美国研究科学的学分。就满足其中一门英语文法课的要求。剩下一门美国文化的课程，我选修了一门 美国语言历史。这门课程介绍了美国本土语言，美国英语的发展，以及种族、阶级和性别是如 何影响方言差异的。

由于AP分数可以转换大学的学分，所以建议申请或者即将进入美国大学的学生，可以在5月考一些 AP 科目。这样既可以向大学证明你已经做好了去美国学习的准备，也可以通过转换部分学分空出多余时间体验丰富多彩的美国大学生活。

Tocomplete a major in Philosophy, I had to take an Ancient Philosophy and a Modern Philosophy class,as well as a class in symbolic logic. The Philosophy major required everyone to take a class in Epistemology/Metaphysics, Ethics,an intensive study of an author, and a philosophical methods class, where I got to work with a graduate student who would individually critique my writing. The five other classes were all electives within the major.  

哲学专业，需要学生完成八门课。三门必修课和五门选修课，必修课包括古代哲学、现代哲学 和符号逻辑三门。五门选修课要求每个人分别选修一门认识论/形而上学、伦理学、作者深入研究和哲学方法，最后由研究生评估我的写作。 

To satisfy Epistemology, I took a philosophy of language class, to satisfy Ethics I took a class in Ethical Theory, and to satisfy the authors requirement I took a class in Aristotle. Among the other electives I took in the Philosophy major were a class in feminist philosophy, a class in formal semantics, and a class on the Dutch philosopher Spinoza.  

认识论，我选修了语言哲学课；伦理学，我选修了伦理学理论课；对作者的深入研究，我选择了研究亚里士多德和荷兰哲学家斯宾诺莎。其他哲学专业选修课程我选了女权主义哲学、形式语义学。 

For my English major, were a three-class historical English Literature survey (a class in literature from Beowulf to Milton,a class on Restoration literature to the Romantics, and a class on Modern literature), a Shakespeare course, a course on literature written before 1800, and a research seminar.

对于英语专业，需要上三门英国历史文学概论(分别是从贝奥伍夫到弥尔顿文学，关于浪漫主义复辟文学，现代文学)。另外还需要修莎士比亚文学，1800 年文学，以及完成一次研讨会。 

My interest in the English major were mainly in medieval literature,so most of my classes were on literature written before 1800. I took classes on Old English, medieval manuscripts, Medieval Latin, and I took classes on literature from the English Civil War and literature written during the scientific revolution for the sake of variety.  

我对英语专业最感兴趣是中世纪文学，所以我修了很多关于1800年以前的文学，包括古英语、中世纪手稿、中世纪拉丁语、英国内战时期的文学和科学革命时期的文学。

I took an introductory chemistry course to satisfy the Physical Sciences requirement, a course in Evolution to satisfy Biological Sciences, and a post-Renaissance Art History course to satisfy the Historical studies requirement. I was able to satisfy the International Studies requirement by taking a Spanish composition course, and the class I took in linguistics also satisfied the Social Sciences requirement. 

之前提到，除了完成专业课程的要求，大学要求学生在毕业前完成七个领域的延伸学科课程，我修了一门化学导论满足物理科学的要求，一门进化论来满足生物科学的要求，还有一门文艺复兴后的艺术史来满足历史研究的要求。西班牙语写作课程满足国际研究的要求，语言学 也满足了社会科学的要求。

Because I pursued two majors, I did not have too much space to pursue electives that interested me, but I was able to take a few for example, I was able to squeeze in an intensive introduction to Latin, a class in Old Irish, and a class in medieval French poetry in my packed schedule. If I had to do it over again, I would probably have taken fewer electives to leave me more time to pursue life outside the classroom. Take enough classes to fulfill your requirements and challenge yourself intellectually,but be careful of taking on too much!  

因为我大学修的是双专业，所以没有太多的时间让我选修更多感兴趣的课程。尽管如此，我也挤出时间学习了拉丁语介绍，古爱尔兰语，中世纪的法国诗歌。如果让我再选择一次，我可能会少选一些选修课，让我有更多的时间去做一些社团活动、实习、志愿者来丰富我的大学生活。在大学修足够多的课程为未来的人生做好准备和挑战自己是我们去美国大学学习的目的，不过建议大家要量力而行。 

最后建议

大学生活不仅仅包括学术学习。社团活动、实习、志愿者这些经历都是你在美国大学生活中获益的途径，所以在求学的道路上，应该给自己留出空间去探索学术之外的东西。