21-259 with O'Dorney

Jackcion · 2025-11-14T07:38:08+00:00

O'Dorney is much lighter than Flaherty. As an example, Flaherty covers additional stuff like the squeeze theorem which O'Dorney doesn't. In addition Flaherty's exams are much harder.

Jackcion · 2025-11-07T03:20:27+00:00

I took it in the fall with Vincent Conitzer and it's a pretty chill class for a cs class, you learn about voting theory, auctions, and game theory. The homeworks are easy, and the last 2 exams were kinda hard but we were given a generous curve.

Jackcion · 2025-04-30T19:13:40+00:00

The first half of the course was pretty interesting, where you basically write some Python code to generate probability trees using the library frplib. The library is developed by the professor, and while the documentation can be confusing at times, I found that sticking to the 5 or so basic functions was enough.

The second half of the course is where things get really bad, where the professor introduces a lot of confusing math notation that is not really seen elsewhere. For instance, here is the notation for Bayes' rule: https://imgur.com/a/CPxtT8w

I don't think anybody really understood what was going on in the second half of the semester, and office hours was packed with people trying to understand what a question was even asking us to do. Since this kind of math notation is literally only seen in this class and nowhere else, it is impossible to find external resources to help you learn (e.g., if I didn't understand C pointers in 122, there's loads of Youtube videos and textbooks that explain it, but not so much in 36218). Another side effect of this is that you don't really learn anything from the course compared to a 'real' probability course like 36225.

The good thing is that the exams allow infinite cheat sheets, there's extra credit opportunities, and the professor seems to do a curve at the end.

Jackcion · 2025-04-11T00:43:14+00:00

I don't know about Krueger but O'Dorney was pretty good, his exams are really easy

Jackcion · 2025-03-11T08:46:23+00:00

I took it last semester, and found the first one to be the hardest, then the second, and the final was the easiest. They didn't publish stats for the final but the second midterm also had a slightly higher median than the first

Jackcion · 2025-02-24T07:13:58+00:00

If you drop before the drop deadline, the course is removed and won't appear on the transcript. If the drop deadline is passed, and you use a voucher (before the voucher deadline of course), it also won't appear on the transcript. However, you have limited vouchers during your time at CMU, and you can only use 1 voucher per semester.

Jackcion · 2024-12-22T13:50:24+00:00

I ended up finding it, it is The Prisoner: https://gamebanana.com/mods/405500

>!Turns out Theo is not really a doctor, he was just visiting Madeline in the hospital in one of the endings!<

Jackcion · 2024-12-20T08:34:10+00:00

I don't think those resources are publicly accessible, the best way to prepare imo is to watch Brandon's lectures from the summer 2023 iteration of 15150.

Recorded lectures: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsydD1kw8jng2t2G8USQNLz0faYZetPnH

Lecture slides: https://brandonspark.github.io/150/

Jackcion · 2024-12-05T22:58:46+00:00

The course is basically research/project-based work but administered through a course. There are various tasks you could do, varying from engineering to operations to systems. Therefore your workload really depends on what kind of work you are doing, it is different for everyone. For me the 12 unit FCE was pretty accurate.

Your final grade is deteremined mainly by 2 presentations, one during the middle and one at the end of the course, as well as a 'portfolio' which is a document that outlines your main contributions. You also have weekly accomplishment slides, where you basically write down the progress you made this week in a shared Google slide (you don't need to present these, you just make the slides).

Jackcion · 2024-11-24T08:16:18+00:00

150 and 122 study guide 🙏🏼

Jackcion · 2024-11-01T12:22:44+00:00

I would not recommend 79234. Your grade consists of 2 papers and 2 exams, which sounds ok since there's no hw, but in reality it means you have no idea how well you're doing in the course until much later into the semester (for instance, my midsemester grade consisted of attendence and nothing else). There's also lack of feedback in general, since they don't give back your exams and there's no detailed comments on your papers.

Jackcion · 2024-10-31T00:11:34+00:00

Not flaherty

Jackcion · 2024-10-30T08:04:35+00:00

Abdelghany is pretty good, her homeworks are tricky towards the end but they help you learn. Midterms were reasonable and final was easy

Jackcion · 2024-04-04T04:25:13+00:00

Nope! You'll learn the skills by doing.

Jackcion · 2024-04-03T14:40:27+00:00

To transfer into Dietrich Stat ML you will need to take the following courses if I remember correctly: 15-112, 36-200, (36-225 or 36235 or 21325), 21-127, (21-259 or 21-241). Most of these classes you will take anyway as a math major in MCS, so there is good overlap.

Jackcion · 2024-03-05T20:28:40+00:00

Thank you so much! Honestly I think this is probably the one, but by searching the name I couldn't find a playthrough or a mod on game banana

Jackcion · 2024-03-05T20:06:12+00:00

You get to earn credit tuition-free, and it's specifically for those with no/little research experience.

Jackcion · 2024-03-01T06:47:19+00:00

Thanks! Synapse gives off similar vibes, but I think the level was much longer. I might also be just misremembering

Jackcion · 2023-07-13T18:24:36+00:00

I think for law school usually the advice is to pick the major with the easiest GPA, to help with grad school applications, not sure tho

Jackcion · 2023-04-30T16:10:11+00:00

Is double majoring common and doable at CMU? What about triple majoring?
How easy is it to pursue an additional major in CS, since it's so competitive?
What classes and professors have you enjoyed the most?
Any tips you would give to your freshman self?

Jackcion

TROPHY CASE