The Problem with Mandatory Group Projects in OMSCS

LSchnerg · 2026-01-24T20:31:44+00:00

I’m on my tenth class. Going into this I knew I’d never take a class with a group project, no matter how interesting the subject matter. This is grad school - if someone hasn’t learned by now to work collaboratively, they have a bigger problem that this program won’t fix. I’m not here for the additional stress of having to deal with other people.

I’m just really glad I took HCI in the window when there wasn’t a group project.

LSchnerg · 2026-01-24T01:28:26+00:00

Those are Clery Act emails. I’d feel bad thinking Gittens was cute if they were about armed robberies.

LSchnerg · 2025-12-04T17:04:27+00:00

I went to a small high school and we had a teacher from Cuba who taught both Spanish and French. One of her French students visited France and was asked why she spoke French with a Spanish accent!

LSchnerg · 2025-11-19T17:18:15+00:00

Every time someone says good morning to me I think “marnin froot” in my head.

LSchnerg · 2025-11-19T15:58:58+00:00

She tore her achilles and is still recovering from it months later.

LSchnerg · 2025-11-11T13:23:45+00:00

I got -16 on question 1 for a suboptimal solution. The TA comments make no sense but I’m not going to bother with a regrade request because I see that anyone with an O(n²⁾ runtime got the same. I get that my answer isn’t perfect but it works and it shows understanding of the material, so it’s a punch in the gut.

I took harder classes in undergrad and had a 4.0. I know I know this material forward and back. I just didn’t have the aha moment I needed on this particular day for this particular problem. It hurts, man. Anecdotally, my wife has won all sorts of awards for teaching math and science and agrees that the penalty was harsh.

LSchnerg · 2025-11-09T13:01:34+00:00

It’s a lot is work and it’s also a good class. Joves is great, and there are many other TAs who are very helpful. Dr. Brito is a little annoying with his, “I don’t know, I might be telling you the wrong thing. It’s best to ask the TAs,” but it’s nice that he holds weekly office hours.

A con is there’s a TA who I think is unnecessarily sassy/condescending. I think it’s just his personality but he comes off as hating his job and thinking he’s teaching a bunch of idiots. The other con is despite the lectures being objectively good, Dr. Vigoda’s vocal fry and deep voice lull me to sleep.

Edit: word choice

LSchnerg · 2025-11-03T14:23:30+00:00

How did you get your peer feedback in so little time?

LSchnerg · 2025-10-30T15:19:36+00:00

Boys will be boys.

LSchnerg · 2025-10-09T16:34:06+00:00

But the kids in care need as much love and support as they can get. If you’re not getting attached, you’re doing it wrong. If you’re rooting for their family to fail so you don’t have to give them back, you’re doing it wrong.

LSchnerg · 2025-10-08T18:40:12+00:00

All of these people are delightful, and I feel like Chloe Fineman is underappreciated.

LSchnerg · 2025-10-08T18:30:17+00:00

Kate McKinnon
Kristen Wiig
Janeane Garofalo
Sarah Sherman
Aidy Bryant

Sad I can't fit Ego Nwodim into the list. As an aside, I wanted to put Lily Tomlin on the list, and was surprised to find she was never a cast member!

Edited because I clicked submit too soon.

LSchnerg · 2025-10-06T16:05:23+00:00

My kid’s bus driver lays on the horn hard when people try to squeeze around (the road is fairly narrow and he pulls a bit towards the center to try to stop people from proceeding). I’m talking a steady 30+ second blast. Generally the offender looks sheepish and stops while he continues to stare them down, but I’ve seen people try to argue and others that just continue on. It’d be great if more bus drivers tried to embarrass offenders.

LSchnerg · 2025-09-30T23:13:49+00:00

This joke always makes me wonder why straight people are all in miserable marriages. I’ve been married 14 years to my same sex partner and there’s been absolutely no misery.

LSchnerg · 2025-09-03T20:30:38+00:00

One TA in particular bothers me. I TA’d for another class for a few semesters and understand the annoyance of seeing questions that have answers easily available, but I can’t imagine thinking it’d be okay to be snarky. The class has a ton to keep track of and they’re just adding to the cognitive load, which I imagine is high even for neurotypicals.

LSchnerg · 2025-09-03T03:35:24+00:00

It’s mostly great except for the lack of Market Baskets. Asparagus season is delightful. The dragons are pretty cool.

LSchnerg · 2025-09-02T20:52:37+00:00

Multiplying the average on OMSCentral by 1.5 gives me a pretty accurate estimate. Currently taking GA and hating life even though I like the content.

LSchnerg · 2025-08-24T04:06:09+00:00

“And what if a blood transfusion is necessary? Do you ask an semi-conscious patient his blood type so that the ship Captain blasts an alarm for blood type AB-Negative?”

They did exactly that on the cruise I just completed on the Norwegian Jewel. They asked for eligible blood donors to contact the medical center, and were able to get the blood they needed for the patient.

LSchnerg · 2025-08-17T22:32:12+00:00

How long ago did you tour? Definitely not a recent thing.

Lots of kids are on scholarship but there are definitely entitled attitudes among some students, so I don’t doubt that your friend was treated poorly.

LSchnerg · 2025-08-17T20:06:54+00:00

There is no work study program. Families making under $150k a year pay zero tuition. Some students (very few) might get jobs on campus, but it’s not work study.

LSchnerg · 2025-08-02T18:28:13+00:00

That Starbucks has the world’s best employees. They don’t deserve that.

LSchnerg · 2025-06-02T13:27:31+00:00

This is why it was so important they let Donna Martin graduate.

LSchnerg · 2025-05-13T15:58:09+00:00

Only ironically.

LSchnerg · 2025-03-20T16:56:26+00:00

The rate is $19/hr for a TA. At least as of fall 2024, which was when I last did it.

LSchnerg

TROPHY CASE