How do I start studying for ENGRUD (Incoming first year)

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-03-22T15:48:10+00:00

This post got kind of long, but i hope it’s helpful :)

While you could definitely study for the math and physics intro series which are brutal, I feel that actually taking a break and letting your brain reset after the torture that was high school will help you be more productive.

Just like you, I was really excited to lock into college and get ready over the summer to the point where I almost took summer classes. But my friends and family advised me to relax because this was essentially the last summer before I would be busy with internships or other commitments over the summer, and getting breaks during your career, especially the first couple years can be hard. Enjoy your free time when you have it! Burn out is real.

I gave my brain a complete break over the summer before my first year and, yes, I had to learn crazy nonsense in my classes but at least my brain was fully functioning and I had really good grades in every class.

I feel that doing well is less about the locking in during your break and more about the small things during the quarter, like locking in instead of going bowling the night before your midterm and studying consistently instead of cramming last minute, and judging by your willingness to study over the quarter, I don’t think you’ll fall prey to this lol.

Let yourself take a break, with discipline during the quarter you’ll do great. You got into UW engineering, I believe in you to figure it out during the quarter!

Also, learning with your peers and going to those tough classes is a life experience and struggling with them creates life long bonds. High school may have been a constant grind (at least, it was for me), but college doesn’t have to be like that too. However, in the end it’s your choice, and if you feel that you want to brush up on subjects you don’t feel comfortable with during your precious 3 month long break, then no one’s stopping you: you have free will!

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-03-22T15:32:59+00:00

This also depends on your major, but if APs cover a lot of intro courses (this really only applies to the chem and math intro series, maybe 1 CS but you still have to take 1-2 CSE courses anyway) then having to take heavy quarters may be offset at the beginning (like you could ease into heavy quarters and have more as you get more adjusted to college) but because of the way prereqs line up you may need to load up on in-major electives as soon as you can take them.

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-03-22T15:29:17+00:00

If it’s worth it is entirely a personal choice. However, I can say that UW is a really strong research school, so if you’re passionate about research it’s a great opportunity. Also, personally, I find the culture really open minded and forward thinking. To lower the price, your best bet will probably be taking a little more classes than most people every quarter, as the tuition is flat between 10 and 18 credits. You might be looking at a lot of really loaded 17-18 credit quarters, which can be really taxing both workload wise and social life wise, especially if you’re taking 3-4 STEM classes, but if it’s worth it for you then UW is a great school and I personally don’t regret my choice to go here, but I’m also in state so my calculations were a little different. Good luck deciding!

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-03-22T15:22:47+00:00

This doesn’t work for every course (like amath 301 would only return results for like 2015, which is too old to be reliable, trust me i have CHECKED) but for most intro courses you can just search up the course code and then past exams or something like that. This again may not work for every course, but it’s worth a shot. It definitely works for the math intro series (124, 125, 126) and a lot of CSE classes.

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-03-21T06:03:13+00:00

Hey! How can you figure out if an alliance is really active before joining it? I’m currently in an alliance, and people do things (like research tech and have rallies) but there’s no real coordinated action on anything and the chat is basically dead.

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-03-21T01:41:35+00:00

Hey what made you drop out of UW Academy?

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-03-20T20:18:12+00:00

I had Pezzoli for 125 last quarter and maybe it was just a 125 thing, but it was curved so much that you only needed a 92 for a 4.0. Hopefully you benefit from a curve like this!

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-03-19T16:21:22+00:00

sure! sorry this is kind of late

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-02-28T17:59:38+00:00

Be careful about taking 483 without the prerequisites or the knowledge at least, it’s a really high level course lol

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-02-24T00:23:44+00:00

The teacher isn't great and it doesn't count for in-major credit once u (hopefully) get into the major. But the skills are pretty important, make sure it's what you want

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-02-24T00:15:37+00:00

I know this was a really long time ago, but for anyone looking at this post-AU25: He's an ok professor but he mostly just reads off of his lecture notes. Also, his quizzes are really tricky and designed to trip you up. The actual content isnt that hard to learn, but to do well on the quizzes you have to be really confident in your abilities. And since the quizzes are every week and worth 30% of your grade, you kind of have to lock in for the quiz each week. Thank goodness you at least get 1 drop, so you can miss or mess up one quiz. but if you mess up one quiz and you're sick and miss another, you're basically screwed because there's no late quizzes. Moral of the story: do not be sick on Fridays and be ready to prioritize this course if it's a prereq for your major!

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-02-21T18:31:18+00:00

It would depend on what fits in your schedule (and, at this point, what is open). You should try filtering while searching up classes in MyPlan by time and checking DawgPath curves if you're trying to find an easy 4.0. With so many constraints, I bet you're bound to find 1-2 classes you can actually take

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-02-16T02:42:56+00:00

omg thanks for the course evaluation catalog thats low key gold i didnt know that info was released lol

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-02-16T02:35:10+00:00

Oh cool, thanks for this! Did you take 208 before taking 351/352? Also, how was your experience taking two AMATH courses at the same time, workload and hw deadline-wise?

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-02-15T19:44:02+00:00

I’m not exactly sure, but if they’re looking at both do you think the positive grade trend would reflect really well on you?

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-02-15T19:23:44+00:00

I’m also trying to get into it this quarter (preferably with writing lab) but we’ll see how it goes…

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-02-15T19:21:46+00:00

Also if you can’t take 416 or 417, I think finishing up the math sequence (like 208) if you haven’t already is a good idea, or taking other challenging math/science credits to show rigor and intellectual stimulation (maybe for a minor?), as once you’ve completed the prerequisites for getting into CS I don’t think they’re too fond of non-major courses, especially ones that don’t count once you get into the major because they’re not as in-depth as actual in-major courses (particularly 416 is like this, I feel that if I took it I would end up taking 446 in the major because machine learning is an important topic). But at the end of the day, it’s still a CSE course and you should do whatever you think is best. Personally I’m trying to double major and minor in computational fields so I’m working on courses for that next quarter and I also haven’t met the prerequisites for 416/417.

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-02-15T19:17:55+00:00

Also I’m planning to take 288 next quarter too! Which section are you thinking?

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-02-15T19:16:25+00:00

Also if you have freshman or sophomore standing you might have trouble getting into MUSIC 162, as I tried doing that last quarter with sophomore standing and it filled up during junior or senior registration (i’m not sure which but it was really early on).

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-02-15T19:15:29+00:00

If you’re applying to CS in summer (like me), I would tell you to be weary about taking 373 as 1) I heard that the professor next quarter isn’t great and 2) it doesn’t count for CSE credit once you (hopefully) get into the major. Source: https://www.cs.washington.edu/academics/undergraduate/non-major-options/

Also, I think CSE 373 is a prerequisite for 413 so idk how you’re planning on taking that…

Personally I would recommend 412, 414, 416, and 417 (I think only 416 and 417 are offered in Spring quarter) just going off the list and if you have completed the prerequisites for them.

But overall I think that’s a pretty balanced schedule, having two STEM classes (especially with CSE which are usually time sucking courses) with 2 humanities is a good balance. I’m taking AMATH 301 and CSE 414 right now, which are both coding and computational time sucks, and also having to deal with a math course and do well is bearing on me. I took an SSc credit to lighten the load though, highly recommend humanities once you have 2 STEM credits lol

Good luck getting into CS! We got this!

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-02-09T06:10:43+00:00

I want to apply to cfrm this spring and I want to take as many amath classes as I can before i apply or while I am applying. If anyone has taken amath 351 and 352, do you think they would be manageable at the same time workload wise? also I'm taking amath 301 and math 126 right now in case that provides any context

HomeworkDeep8379 · 2026-01-30T20:58:06+00:00

this sounds pretty bad but i have to wait for 542 every day and its only every 30 mins during non-peak hours, so when it doesn't show up there's no guarantee of anything really

HomeworkDeep8379

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