Re: Different CS Degrees

On Oct 25, 8:01 pm, David Librik <lib...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"e.ogas" <evano...@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
Okay, I've posted to this group before for college advice, but that
was two years ago. This year I started college as a CompSci major at
the University of Wisconsin - Madison. When I first started, I
thought, "Alright! Madison! CS!" Everything was all fine and dandy
until I had to take Calc 2 AKA Math 222. This is the most failed AND
the most dropped class at UW. So I'm in this 'snake trying to eat
itself' sort of predicament.

The best advice you've gotten so far is from Ben Pfaff. Ignore
everybody else, especially the people telling you to suck it up
and stick it out. You've got a bad prof this time around. Drop
the class and re-take it later with someone else. (That's how
the game is played at big American state universities. Any
senior will tell you this.)

Your actual problem is that you have too few credit hours to
maneuver. You need to get more by any means possible. Full-time
tuition is 12 credit hours, you have 14, but Math 222 is 5 credit
hours(!!) so you need to find 3 more.

It's probably too late for a traditional class add, so independent
study is the way to go. As Ben said, go find profs in CS doing
research -- maybe in something you're interested in, maybe not --
and see about doing some independent-study work for them in exchange
for credit.

What are you good at? Are you a C++ or Java hacker? I'm sure
somebody needs some coding or porting done. Can you maintain
a Linux box? Now, you don't need to have a resume written up --
just go talk to CS faculty.

The one good thing you'll get from the stop-whining responders
is this: the professors you'll be talking to are not specifically
going to help you out of your math class, so don't spend time
detailing the faults of the teacher. It'll just sound to everyone
like you're slacking. Instead, come up with a short, competent-
sounding description of the situation and get comfortable saying
it. Something like: "I've had trouble with one of my classes,
and I plan to drop it and take it again next semester. But this
leaves me short in credit hours this semester to keep the scholarship
that I've won. I love computer science and want to make it my
career, so I was wondering if I could work with you on a small
independent-study project..."

A few comments about this:

I thought college was a place where professors
taught you things. My guy pretty much just shows off his math skills
by doing several problems every lecture, but he doesn't tell US how to
do them.

This is a horrible, unavoidable fact about introductory Calc classes.
Mathematics departments at big research universities do not hire
people to teach intro Calc. They hire great mathematicians, and
then these guys get stuck with teaching the intro classes, kind of
like hazing the frat pledges. Being completely unable to explain
how they do it is part of what makes them geniuses of Analytical
Algebraic Hyper-Euclidean Topology, and I'm sure his colleages in
the group on Elliptic Curve Factorization think he's awesome. But
mathematicians don't actually do big integration-by-parts exercises
in their daily professional lives any more than they like solving
enormous long division problems. I'm really kind of surprised you
got a professor at all. Here at U of Illinois, all basic calculus
classes are taught by TAs (except the honors sections).

You won a scholarship to go to a great school, and when you get
past the low-level gruntwork, you're going to have a fine time
surrounded by smart people doing cool things. Madison is a typical
top-tier state university, which means its actual business is
*research*. If you can get yourself even slightly connected to
that stuff, even at an undergrad level, you'll feel a lot more
free. Professors think of classes as unimportant side projects
(even the ones who are good teachers), because all the tenure-
producing conference-going reputation-building grad-student-
training action is taking place in their labs in the CS building.
Undergrads pay money to sit at the feet of geniuses and pick
up the pearls of wisdom they drop (ha ha). So it's no sin to
choose whose feet you want to sit at, and when.

Please don't drop out -- if you were good enough to get a
scholarship, you can certainly handle UW. (Look at some of
the other people they accept.) But you need to get used to how
the system works, 'cause it's not like high school where you have
to follow the path laid out, and you're not allowed to detour
or do things in your own order. Your mistake wasn't Math 222,
it was that you didn't get enough hours this semester to give
you room to move. (Underwater Basketweaving, dude! Intro to
Cultural Anthropology! It doesn't need to be a blow-off class,
really, just one that exercises a really different area.)

And next semester, when you've found a better section of M222,
you'll know what to expect and can get started with stuff like
free tutoring, study groups, and all the other weapons to arm
yourself for the battle. (I made it through Math 348, powered
entirely by fear, nervous energy, and the redemptive power of
loud bitching.)

- David Librik
lib...@xxxxxxxxx

p.s. One other piece of advice, meant as nicely as I can put it.
PLEASE stop arguing with the people on this thread who are
bitch-slapping you around; it's a waste of time and other
people's goodwill. A degree from UW-Madison beats getting the
last word in a Usenet flamewar. :-)

Hahaha, you are the greatest. I can't believe you would write so much
just to help me out. Not only this, but you totally made me feel like
a million bucks in the process. Are you some sort of counselor or
something?

Anyway, I spoke with a rep from the scholarship today and she told me
that it's no problem to drop it. Not only this, but my academic
advisor is the shiznit. Not only did she show immediate concern for
my situation, but she's currently working on finding me three credits,
even though I don't actually need them, haha. My mother said that my
brother was in a similar situation, and our insurance company didn't
really give a crap about him not being a full time student. So my
current plan is to drop 222, take 221 next semester with a good
professor, then in the summer, retake 222 at UW-Milwaukee. The good
part about that is that even if I get a D, it won't be reflected in my
GPA, because Madison doesn't accept letter grades from anyone. I
would simply get the credit, which is really all I need.

So I'm doing okay right now. Thanks to everyone for helping. I might
even be able to finish in less than 4 years due to decent number of AP
credits that I came in with.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Different CS Degrees
    ... the University of Wisconsin - Madison. ... until I had to take Calc 2 AKA Math 222. ... and I plan to drop it and take it again next semester. ... mathematicians don't actually do big integration-by-parts exercises ...
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    ... the University of Wisconsin - Madison. ... until I had to take Calc 2 AKA Math 222. ... programming, numerical programming, CS theory. ... interested in, say, systems programming, then calculus is not as ...
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