Taking A Heavy Fall Courseload

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stony Brook University - SUNY
1

<p>Hi everyone, I'll be a proud member of the Class of 2015 and I'm looking forward to the fall with both excitement and nervous anticipation of what to expect.</p>

<p>Basically, I'd like to draw on the experience of fellow upperclassmen and hear what you guys think is an acceptable courseload especially for an incoming freshman. It would be awesome to hear from people who have taken any of the following classes specifically or have had the instructors for them in that class or another and can put these classes in perspective for new freshmen such as myself who have to make the giant leap in expectations and workload from high school to college.</p>

<p>My Course Schedule:
Honors Chemistry I (CHE 141) - Joseph Lauher: I hear he's an excellent teacher and a fair grader and that his class is not head over heels more difficult than the regular sequence. For those of you who have had prior experience, say in AP Chemistry, how different was this class in terms of difficulty and breadth?</p>

<p>Honors Physics I (PHY 141) - Matthew Dawber: I also hear excellent comments regarding this professor and he seems to be a very considerate person, putting lecture videos online and such, however many have said that this class is still quite difficult and a little more elaboration would be helpful. </p>

<p>Intro to Linear Algebra (MAT 211) - Holly Chen: I know little about this professor and would like to know more, as for the subject itself, if anyone can compare the workload to say the freshman calc sequence, Calc I & Calc II, that would be great. </p>

<p>Foundations of Computer Science: Honors (CSE 150) - Leo Bachmair: Again, I see mixed reviews on this teacher; however his notes from CSE 215 online seem to show some dedication to his students; however, I have no idea how difficult the exams will be in this course and it's the course I know the least about, so if anyone can offer up any constructive advice, I'm all ears. For example, are his quizzes and exams more from the lecture or more from the Hein textbook & HW problems? Considering its not a quantitative class and more proof-based, how difficult was it for those of you who have not had much experience in it coming in, as I probably will be?</p>

<p>So guys, feel free to pitch in anything you like on these classes or even general advice on course scheduling and whether the above is too much to start out with. I have previously studied the content in CHE 141, PHY 141, and MAT 211 to some degree in an AP class or elsewhere, but I'd like to be cautious and not bite off more than I can chew. I'd still like to explore intramural sports and clubs on campus and have a fun freshman year, so studying like I'm possessed and putting my grades in jeopardy is not something I think I ought to do. So feel free to put me in my place, I'd rather accrue wisdom from you guys than learn it the painful way. xD</p>

2

<p>As long as you apply yourself, you’ll be fine. The listed courses will have a lot of work that you need to do outside of class.</p>

3

<p>Ratings on Chen look pretty bad. Most students cannot understand her, her teaching skills are poor, and some do not recommend taking her class. I would do a little more research on her.</p>

4

<p>If you have the option,you may possibly enjoy AMS 210 in place of MAT 211, both are linear algebra so the substitution depends on major but AMS usually has the far more better professors/instructors than MAT. AMS 210 was literally the easiest class I ever taken, mainly because the instructor was awesome. It was easier than MAT 132 for me(though I got As in both regardless).</p>

5

<p>I’m also taking Intro to Linear Algebra and Foundations of Computer Science: Honors in the Fall. Glad to finally see some other people, I’ve hardly heard from any other CS students and all most people seem to be in Calc first semester.</p>

<p>I’m sure you’ll be fine if you’re used to AP class workload and did well on your own. But, if you ever need more in depth explanations than you can understand from your professors, there are plenty of resources online for almost all of these subjects.</p>

<p>MIT OpenCourseware and The Khan Academy can definitely help with Chem, Physics and Linear Algebra.</p>

6

<p>“and all most people seem to be in Calc first semester.”</p>

<p>read: “and most people I’ve talked to seem to be in Calc first semester”</p>

<p>I was phrasing it differently and had a brain fart.</p>

7

<p>Wow, great input everybody! </p>

<p>DelfinoM & JDR140 - Its good to know the relative strengths of the MAT & AMS departments, as its something that puzzled me as well. Unfortunately, when I had gone to register (and it was rather early too), all the seats in AMS 211 had been filled up. Oh well, hopefully I can self-study my way through MAT 210 as long as Chen’s exams are reasonable in difficulty relative to the text.</p>

<p>Manjyome Thunder - It seems like you’ve read my mind! MIT OCW and Khan Academy are great resources that I plan on using. Patrick JMT also has good video tutorials for calculus through differential equations & Paul’s Notes has review notes for calculus through differential equations as well - consider it as a short version of a textbook that makes for an easy read. </p>

<p>Well all in all, I hope CHE 141 & PHY 141 won’t completely wash me out and MAT 210 just might be possible if I study on my own – I suppose in the end, no matter how good of an instructor you have, its up to the student to fill in the holes in understanding – and thank god there are no lab courses in math :slight_smile: But yeah, if anyone has any more info on Foundations of CS: Honors, that would be a great help since discrete mathematics is a bit foreign to me in general. On the bright side, in case anyone’s interested, there appears to be HW assignments & readings for CSE 215 up online (if you do a google search), which is the regular foundations of cs course and if anyone feels like popping into Barnes & Nobles to take a look at the text, its possible to use the materials online to, hopefully, get a good idea of CSE150 will be like.</p>