Is my next semester workload too heavy?

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
1

Hey guys,

So I am a math major attending my local community, and I just finished my first year successfully without a mental break down woooo!! So now that I’ve got most of my gen-eds out of the way, it’s time to focus on more major-oriented stuff.

I’m planning to transfer to a UC within a couple years (UCLA is particularly catching my interest) but unfortunately LA requires completion of the calculus-based physics series (3 classes), and 3 classes in C/C++ computer programming which as you can imagine are slightly freaking me out, having no prior experience in either of these disciplines.

Anyways I’m taking Calc 3, Intro to Programming in C++, Mechanics & Wave Motion Physics, and Microeconomics. My programming class is almost 100% online which I wasn’t too happy about (especially since I don’t know anything about it), but it was my best option scheduling-wise. Physics is a lab class so that will be a first for me, Calc I’m not too worried about and I think I can say the same for Econ.

But cumulatively speaking am I going to die? I’m pretty confident in my ability, but I’m also treading in the unknown so I should be on my toes. Do you recommend some reading beforehand on programming or anything else? I’d love to hear any opinions from people who taken these classes or similar to. Is it too much or doable?

Here are the course descriptions to give you a better idea of what they entail:

Analytic Geometry & Calculus 3:
This class covers the further study of limits, parametric equations, vector-valued functions, analytic geometry of three dimensions, partial derivatives, multiple integrals, and Green’s, Stokes’ and the Divergence theorems

Mechanics & Wave Motion Physics:
This course is designed for engineering and physical science majors (such as physics, chemistry, and geology). It presents a lecture and laboratory study of classical mechanics: vectors, particle kinematics, Newton’s laws, equilibrium of rigid bodies, work and energy, gravitation, fluids, momentum, rotational kinematics and dynamics, and oscillations and waves in elastic media.

(Compsci) Intro to Programming:
This course introduces students to programming concepts emphasizing modular design and development of programs, coding style, documentation, debugging and testing. All control structures and data types of a commonly used language are covered

Principles of Microeconomics:
Microeconomics focuses on the study of choices made by economic agents, namely, consumers, resource owners, firms, and government, and how these decisions affect the market for a particular good or service. Typical topics include a detailed study of the market mechanism, the elasticity properties of the demand and supply curves, how individuals make decisions about consumption and labor supply, how firms make decisions about how and how much to produce, and why some goods do not lend themselves to private production. The course also examines types of market structure and current economic issues

2

Everything here looks fine except for the online programming class. I would highly recommend switching out of that and waiting to take it in person.

3

I think its fine. I had the same schedule this semester, but with Psychology instead of Econ. Halfway through the semester I was doing really well so I ended up taking another 3 late start classes for a total of 7 classes, 24 units, so I think you’ll be able to manage.

Taking Computer Science online might be trouble if you haven’t had any experience. I didn’t have any experience but picked it up pretty quickly. Some of my classmates struggled, others had prior experience. Maybe watch some videos before the class starts? Luckily there are a lot of online resources.

Since this is your first Physics class it might take a bit of adjustment. Have you taken Physics in high school? At my school, the Physics sequence weeds out students, so be prepared. Also the sequence at my school only covers Mechanics in the first class, Waves and other topics in the third class. If Waves are covered as well it might be more difficult since a lot more students in my class struggled with Waves than Mechanics.

UCLA only requires 1 Physics and 1 Computer Science class for the Math major, and another 2 classes which can be satisfied with additional Physics courses. You don’t need to finish the entire Physics sequence if you don’t want to.

4

Ahhh yes that has been concerning me… I figure there will be quite a large learning curve. I will try my best to reschedule that as I don’t want to build off of a weak foundation haha, Thanks for the advice^^

5

Hmmm I figured that online class might give me some trouble, maybe I will look up some stuff online or rescheduled to an in-person class.

Yikes… thanks for the heads up on physics, I figured it would either come naturally to me or smash me into a thousand little pieces lol. I did take a physics honors class in high school which I essentially failed, but then again that was true for a lot of other classes at the time (I actually care now and pay attention to school for the first time in my student life!) I expect to do much better since then, but I definitely heed your warning.

And thank you for bringing that to my attention! I think I knew that at one point but I completely forgot that I had other options after the first physics class, so I will look into that depending on how much I hate/love physics haha.

Thanks for the reply!