spring 2024
✯ 17-437: web application development
‣ such an applicable course for career/industry -- super cool to learn full stack development and make something fun at the end for course project
‣ highly recommmend if interested in software development at all, since there are a lot of transferable skills
✯ 15-440: distributed systems
‣ my favorite higher level cs course taken! introduced me to lower level systems programming which i hope to pursue. the lectures were so well made and the projects were challenging but rewarding.
‣ super duper recommend this course as it is also so applicable to industry and material is relevant.
09-104: intro to modern chemistry
‣ a gen ed requirement - in highschool i LOVED chemistry but this was a class i kept on the backburner this semester
‣ easy enough to forget about until the last minute but the material is definitely much more challenging than AP chem in high school, so i would recommend to stay on top of lecture notes
⊠ 18-310: fundamentals of semiconductors
‣ this course is known as one of the easier upper level 18-xxx courses, but i found this to be challenging and not relevant to my career, so it was difficult for me to be invested.
‣ both the professors were sososo kind and passionate about their material and genuinely want you to succeed. honestly would take the class again just for them.
workload:
‣ workload was not as intense as past semesters, but it may have gotten bad during P2 of 15-440 (lol). i definitely
enjoyed this past semester as i felt it was more applicable to career and so it felt less doom-gloomish. i was also excited
for some rigorous work after a semester of traveling, so perhaps my perspective was a little skewed. overall though, it was tough but worth it.
notes:
‣ loved 15440 and 17437 even when they made me want to cry sometimes.
fall 2023 - study abroad in Amsterdam @ Vrije Universiteit
notes:
‣ highly highly recommend everyone to study abroad! such a great opportunity to explore new places, new cultures, to travel, and to grow as an individual. Amsterdam has a special place in my heart and can't wait to go back <3
spring 2023
18-202: mathematical foundations of electrical engineering
‣ math core course! i enjoyed the professors and consistency of this course
‣ fun to learn about matrices for the first time besides small portion in highschool
⊠ 18-290: signals and systems
‣ despite being a core course, i really didn't enjoy this course. it was really theoretical and definitely confusing
‣ lectures were longer than usual and harder to pay attention in, very math heavy!
✯ 18-240: structure and design of digital systems
‣ LOVE LOVE LOVE this course! the professors are both passionate about it and create a fun learning environment
‣ labs were stressful but very rewarding and fun to do, not super nit-picky like circuits but more hands-on than software classes
‣ hardware is definitely a different type of programming so it's hard to get used to, but i surprisingly really enjoyed this course. just make sure to stay on top of homework!
69-151: intro to yoga
‣ fun and relaxing PE course
‣ sometimes stressful to go to when i had a lot of homework but teacher is very understanding and you're allowed to do work during the class (if you must)
workload:
‣ i took 3 main courses (besides the mini yoga class) and all 3 were core technical classes.
i'm not sure i would do something like this again but it felt good to get my core + required classes over with after this semester.
made good ece friends!
notes:
‣ working with FPGAs are very fun and opened my eyes to a career in hardware (possibly?)
fall 2022
✯ 05-333: gadgets, sensors, and activity recognition
‣ human computer interaction course
‣ learned arduino and created cool games/programs
‣ i really enjoyed this class and had a lot of fun learning new skills. able to create cool projects with own ideas.
⊠ 18-213: intro to computer systems
‣ this class is notoriously hard at cmu + for good reason~ the assignments in hindsight are not too difficult if you start the work early.
‣ important class for other higher level courses, so it's a good class to have a firm foundation on
18-220: electronic devices and analog circuits
‣ in my opinion, the easiest ece core class
‣ labs were time consuming and the class got confusing towards the end, but fun when circuit worked
✯ 85-241: social psychology
‣ highly recommend this course! prof vicky was so sweet and passionate about the subject
‣ fun class that wasn't a technical course
workload:
‣ workload was not too tough this semester besides 1-2 days of intensity~~
notes:
‣ courseload was okay to handle, good mix of easier classes and harder classes
spring 2022
✯ 76-101: interpretation and argument
‣ mandatory first year writing, but surprisingly one of my favorite courses
‣ subject: becoming and unbecoming ourselves on social media, professor pal made this entire course worth it
‣ learned how to read/write research proposal essays, for final paper i did a cool research project on BeReal, a social media app
⊠ 73-102: microeconomics
‣ i don’t think my brain is wired for microeconomics, i didn’t enjoy this class but the teaching was okay and assignments/exams were medium difficulty
15-122: principles of imperative computation
‣ not as time consuming as 15-112 but not as much fun
‣ learning C syntax took a long time to get used to, especially only having python background
‣ overall, i recommend this class but not an essential course
18-100: introduction to ece
‣ wide range of ece coverage but doesn’t go too in-depth with material
‣ some difficulty understanding the materials through lecture slides but the additional notes really helped
‣ labs took a really long time for me because of issues with macbook and scopy which was pretty frustrating but learned a lot overall, especially equipment
‣ enjoyed working with tools and circuits but the toolbox was heavy
98-177: stuco—personal web development
‣ not that much of a time commitment but learned a lot of basic HTML and CSS
‣ i think i could’ve learned a lot more if i put in the time/effort but wasn’t one of my main focuses this semester
‣ i don’t think this course is totally necessary to learn web development and a lot of my learning came from the internet itself but good introduction course and teaching was good
workload:
‣ not as intense as fall 2021 but a lot of my time outside of academics
was used for my part time job and other activities like church. this semester could’ve been more
productive but i spent a lot of time playing and talking with friends.
i definitely prioritized making good memories with people over academics, which i think was a good choice.
notes:
‣ taking two gen eds and two core classes seem like a good balance for scheduling
fall 2021
33-141: physics 1 for engineering
‣ CIT gen ed, i loved having anderson
‣ homework didn’t take that long and exams weren’t too difficult but having learned
physics 1 in high school definitely helped, although i didn’t understand much when i first
took it in high school
⊠ 21-127: concepts of mathematics
‣ first time learning discrete mathematics, this class was very difficult especially because
it wasn’t my first priority
‣ take with clive!! he is a genius and made the class very fun
‣ bigg time commitment and had trouble doing problem sets but exams weren’t the worst
thing in the world
27-100: introduction to material science engineering
‣ not a super hard class academically but i hated this class lol
‣ the class lectures and subjects were really boring and didn’t seem applicable to me, but
the labs were fun and more hands on
‣ i wouldn’t recommend this class unless you were a mat sci major because it was a
decent amount of work and there are more interesting intro engineering classes
✯ 15-112: fundamentals of programming and cs
‣ first time learning cs but i thoroughly enjoyed the class and would recommend it to everyone
‣ MAJOR time commitment and definitely hard to get used to but worth the effort and help is extremely accessible
‣ working on homework and term project was really rewarding
‣ great introduction to cs because of immediate problem solving for homework
workload:
‣ jumping into two really time intensive courses as a freshman was definitely tough but i
wouldn’t have changed my schedule due to the importance of these classes as core
classes and as prerequisites. felt accomplished and rewarded at the end of the
semester but definitely ran into some difficult times during the semester.
notes:
‣ 1000% recommend taking 15-112 over 15-110 if possible/if time isn’t the biggest factor.
i had trouble finding community my first semester which also may have affected this
semester and my attitude towards it but academically, while tough, was a good way to
start my CMU education.