Computer at Penn State

Colleges and Universities A-Z Penn State
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<p>Depends on the class as well as your strengths/weaknesses. The more prior knowledge you have the less difficult the class will be so finding the textbook/syllabus ahead of time would be a good idea. Some classes are naturally more challenging than others but the professor can make even an easy class difficult <em>cough</em>CMPSC 221 – OOP Programming in Java<em>cough</em>. So if you can jump ahead and maybe even start some of the projects listed on the syllabus ahead of time you will be a lot better prepared. </p>

<p>Well, from my experience I can’t think of any professor that is particularly great in the CS dept. but some are better than others. I feel some professors will take the time to actually help and explain material should you request it but even when they do they are not always helpful. I would strongly suggest that you stay on top of every topic discussed. If you need help, seek someone immediately. Even if a large majority of the class is struggling with a certain topic many professors will not spend additional time teaching it so try to make sure you understand it before you fall behind.</p>

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<p>@yupper : How is the summer program? How many CS courses are offered during summer?</p>

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<p>I have never taken summer courses at UP and I did not have to do summer session before freshman year so I can’t say from personal experience. On average CS summer offerings are pretty bleak but they will offer a few classes. You can check it out at schedule.psu.edu to see what they offer. One benefit to going to PSU is that you can take summer courses at any of the branch campus’ so if there is a specific course you want to take that isn’t offered at UP you can check to see if its offered at a branch for future summers.</p>

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<p>@yupper : In one of your previous post you said that many CS courses are never offered. Can you tell me more about that?</p>