Schedules in Real Time

College class schedules are like bacterial cultures, classes being the bacteria. Sometimes some die out, sometimes some grow when you don't expect them to. And sometimes they mutate to the point you don't recognize it as the same culture!

In case you were interested in watching my schedule evolve in real time, here is a link to my newest schedule.

Fall 09

Summer was full of many things, few of which were interesting, and many of which could be described as droplets of water, otherwise known as rain (Sudbury, MA, broke its record for "wettest summer" in mid-June). When the most entertaining moment was listening to the feeble attempts of a computer salesman -- "If you didn't know anything about computers, don't you think you'd be impressed by Vista, and want to buy it?" -- you know it's time to leave Summer behind and focus on what's ahead.

And oh, boy, have we got fun ahead! Here is a link to my schedule, as of today, so you can follow along.

This could easily be my most fun and exciting semester yet. I am finally taking upper level ECE classes, which by itself makes classes more exciting. Add on the great professors, and you add on the fun by the pound.

Day 1 was full of surprises. First, in 21-260 (Differential Equations), Dr. Handron, whom I had for Calculus my first semester at CMU, announced that we would have to turn in half our homework online. This was a disappointing event, since buying registration for the site is expensive, and, unlike a textbook, you can't resell it afterward. Otherwise, class was fine. I don't expect Diff Eq to be too difficult.

18-348 could also be called "Embedded Systems Lite." This course alternates years with the other embedded systems course, which is taught by a professor notorious for her back-breaking classes but great teaching. It's unfortunate that I got caught in its off year, but on the bright side Professor Koopman seems enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and is offering a different perspected on embedded systems. This course deals in the most common systems found in industry and elsewhere, whereas the other course uses micro-controllers that can hold its own OS (and you pretty much design one). I am very much looking forward to this class this semester.

18-300 was the biggest surprise. I played around with my schedule a lot this semester, to try to find a way out of taking a certain class, but still get an enriched curriculum. I chose Electromagnetics as a placeholder, until I could find a more enjoyable class (Physics has been painful in the past). 18-300 E&M was my favorite class of the day. Now I know one class that I am definitely not dropping.

18-396. What can I say except that I'm 9th on the waitlist for my section? Supposedly the administration is trying to find a larger lecture hall. Those appear to be sparse. I don't know why they assumed that they would have normal demand for the course when they put two courses in the same lecture.


Day 2:

18-418 is different. CMU is very computer-oriented, probably something to do with having the top CS program in the nation. Virtually everything in ECE has to do with computers (Even Dr. Bain, who does research in applied physics, does research on magnetic disk heads -- again, goes back to computers). 18-418 is about energy processing. Energy generation, energy transmission, energy distribution. It's a very different course. We'll see what happens with that.

15-211 -- I don't really need to say anything about it, because I dropped it already. I may take it again in a few semesters, but I don't have room for it in my schedule anymore. It is very much recitation-oriented (and high-level programming oriented), and now that I have 7 hours of lectures on Wednesdays, none of the recitations fit.


Within 2 weeks, I hope to drop another one of these classes. I.e., I have to drop a class, since I'm only allowed 54 units. It will be a hard choice, though! I like all of the classes I'm in right now, and since they're only offered every 1-2 years, making a decision about which classes to keep is difficult.