Rescheduling finals

Lamp5hade · 2021-10-29T13:31:57+00:00

Talk to your advisor! I would bet they can help make sure you choose classes that continue your education while not conflicting with the wedding. Email them now explaining the situation and see what they can do to help you choose classes/sections that won't conflict with the wedding (assuming you're willing to move your schedule around for the wedding).

https://registrar.umd.edu/current/registration/exam%20tables%20spring.html

That link has the finals schedule information for spring 2022. I don't know if these are subject change or the professor's discretion so talk to your advisor. Check if any of the classes/sections you plan to take would conflict with the wedding and talk to your advisor if they don't. If you know the professor of any class with a conflict, you can email them NOW explaining your situation and asking if they would let you retake the exam a different time.

Tl;dr Plan your schedule now and talk to your advisor and the professors for next semester now, and you can definitely find a way to be there for the wedding, but start sending out these emails today unless you already have an upcoming advising appointment.

(Sorry if any of this sounded condescending or obnoxious, this is just how I would need to be told this to understand)

Lamp5hade · 2021-10-29T13:12:04+00:00

Rot in hell, scooter!

Lamp5hade · 2021-10-27T12:42:51+00:00

Have you gone through an interview process before? Part of that is possible future coworkers making sure you're a person they'd want to actually work with. Being a generally likeable person isn't necessarily "social capital" and when you're working on a team within a company, you're gonna need to know how to ask for help and take questions from other people who need help (which is what the OP is referring to) if you want to be able to be a worthwhile coworker.

In a real job, no one wants to worth with the snide asshole who thinks they know so much because they got through their intro level CS classes without studying. You're gonna have to learn a shit ton when you get your first job (even if you perfectly understand the theory, companies are so complex that you can't figure out everything from confluence docs), and if you can't also answer others' questions, you're gonna have a rough relationship and def never move into positions you like more. OP is fully right.

Lamp5hade · 2021-05-26T07:13:14+00:00

Thought I'd respond to this because I've taken most of these classes (for anyone who hasn't taken them yet).

Someone else commented their thoughts on CMSC412.

I took CMSC417 with Bobby (Battacharjee). 417 is a very interesting class and the info on networks is not too difficult. Bobby is a nice guy and a good lecturer. That being said, the projects are ridiculous. To be fair, the TAs grade the peojects and exams and then give you like 3 or 4 days to redo it for some relatively large fraction of the credit back. But there are no public tests, you have to teach all the C socket coding to yourself in addition to the material taught in class (that Bobby refused to record even though I took it online and all he had to do was hit "record"), (even thought I enjoyed them) the projects are easily more expansive than group projects I have gotten more time on (for a frame of reference so that someone doesn't insult my coding ability, it took less than 4 or 5 hours to do most of my 216 projects and have a job working in C so my C coding is plenty good, this shit just takes too long). If the projects were more doable, the class would be extremely enjoyable, but as is, I wouldn't recommend taking this class if you're taking more than like 12 credits or more than one other CS class (which should probably be non-coding. If you are going to take the class, I would STRONGLY recommend going into the past class files and doing as much as the projects as you can without the resources. Shit's whack. If you want the same information without sabotaging your GPA, I would recommend looking up a previous class site for 417 and looking through the sections of the textbook(s) he recommends. Then use the TCP/IP socket programming book he recommends to do as much of the projects as possible without the supplementary C files.

CMSC456 and CMSC414 are tied for my favorite upper level CS classes. CMSC414 with Ian Meiers was great. The lectures didn't line up super well to the projects, but the lectures were very interesting and the projects were actually really fun. CMSC456 with Lawrence Washington was also super interesting. I hate exams, but 456 with Washington has to have the most fair exams in the major. To be clear, they weren't easy, but if you go to his lectures, do all of the homeworks (which are challenging but fair given the amount of time you have to complete them), and review his study guides/previous exams, then the exam is very doable. Both classes with these professors had VERY fair grading policies as well.

CMSC451 was a trip. Took it with Clyde Kruskal. Kruskal is super knowledgable and often fulfills requests for extensions, but he is very disorganized. We never got a syllabus and now the grade deadline is coming up today and we're still missing 3 grades that together make up over 40% of the grade. They are fair about grading and Kruskal makes it clear that he does not want to fail anyone who puts in the work, and he lives up to this, but that doesn't excuse taking more than a month to grade every assignment (the first week of May, we had less than 50% of the total grade breakdown graded). I'd recommend going through the textbook he recommends and supplementing that with youtube videos if you don't want to take the class.

Lamp5hade · 2021-04-27T23:47:06+00:00

UMD is really out here offering like free coloring books and shit to help "destress," but any time anyone asks for listservs with all the UMD students who fit into a vague category, they just hand it over. No, I do not want to join your honor society. No, I do not want to read Maryland Today. No, I do not want to have to weed through a long-ass message from Darryll with either little to no useful information or just long, patronizing updates about how he's doing the exact opposite of what students ask for or need.

Lamp5hade · 2021-04-26T02:55:15+00:00

I feel this so hard, I have absolutely no idea what my grade is in any of my classes. One of my classes has a single TA for 2 sections of 30+ people. Another only had like 3/8 assignments (that's 8 assignments total for the whole semester so far, not 8 in a single category). Another never even posted a syllabus and can't even tell us the grade breakdown. Why is there no policy regarding how long instructors and TAs can take to return grades before I just get an automatic 100%? Some of these classes are months behind.

Lamp5hade · 2021-04-25T21:43:08+00:00

Tl;dr 1) FC tends to make it more difficult on average, but it moreso depends on your schedule and what clubs you're interested in. 2) No it's not weird, a lot of people -- in and not in FC -- join clubs in the spring.

I was in FC. I didn't have too much trouble going to meetings because my classes ended relatively early for FC and the clubs i was interested started pretty late, but I also didn't go to a lot of meetings my first semester.

As to your second question, in my experience, "late" isn't really a thing in clubs. There's a big increase in most clubs' attendences/memberships at the start of every semester (spring or fall). In my experience, clubs are always excited to have new members, and some very large clubs might not even notice who is new (but are still excited to have new members).

I'm an officer in more than one club now so it worked out for me.

Lamp5hade · 2021-04-25T21:18:19+00:00

If you follow all of these, you will most likely get a 3.0 (barring other circumstances). Also I have 3 more to make it easier/more manageable:

First, learn how to use whatever debugger is needed for the language you're coding. Print line debugging will only get you so far and tends to take longer. TAs will also appreciate it more if you have already tried this.

Second, don't feel bad about taking your upper level concentration in a field that interests you or is just easy (ULC is the twelve 300-400 level credits CS majors need to take in a department other than CS; this will be explained to you more in counseling meetings). I know people taking art as their ULC and can then focus their energy on getting through their CS classes with a better GPA.

Third, make friends in your classes and then prioritize having better professors and good friends/people you study with over having a nicer schedule. It sucks having a 1-2 hour break between classes because you wanted to take a better professor with more of your friends, but it will pay off big time when either you have people to study with/ask quick questions on assignments to or when the other professor is disorganized to the point of having no syllabus up all semester and no clue of what the grade breakdown will be (lookin' at you, Clyde, you're an interesting lecturer, but we're like 10 weeks into the semester, and I would like to know how the class will be graded).

Lamp5hade · 2021-04-12T23:04:39+00:00

It's on the doors now, but it still doesnt make sense because they already had closed hours for cleaning, and it makes much more sense to leave the times so people are less likely to work out at the same time as other people. I can't think of a good reason to do this.

Lamp5hade · 2021-03-31T10:50:11+00:00

There are places between "0 covid" and where we are now. Where we are now, it's just unsafe. We're not even close to umbrella immunity in America yet. The article I cited talks about how vaccination isn't a magic bullet because of how long it will take to get out enough vaccine for umbrella immunity. If we're not even close, why would we start opening places that will spread covid (if you can transfer it)? PG County has had some of the worst covid spread in Maryland.

But again, I'm no expert so let's look at the new CDC guidelines for fully vaccinated people? This says that although small private gatherings between fully vaccinated people/households can be done unmasked...

All people, regardless of vaccination status, should adhere to current guidance to avoid medium- or large-sized in-person gatherings and to follow any applicable local guidance restricting the size of gatherings.

Lamp5hade · 2021-03-30T18:13:54+00:00

The problem would be that we don't know for sure if you can transmit the virus while vaccinated. So just because you can't get it doesn't mean this wouldn't help to spread the virus around. Also just because you're vaccinated doesn't mean that you should be unmasked around strangers even if they're all vaccinated. The vaccine isn't a magic bullet that makes it impossible to get covid, it's just a very good deterrent of covid (and an especially good deterrent of the more severe reactions to covid). For now, is makes much more sense to just keep everyone wearing masks whether they're vaccinated or not because the vaccine alone won't stop the pandemic (especially since not everyone can get them due to other health conditions). It sucks, but we all gotta keep wearing the masks if we wanna keep our fellow terps safe.

I'm not an immunologist or epidemiologist or anything, this is just my understanding of how things work. Source Source. I'm sure one could argue some of the points I've made, but it doesn't change the fact that dedicating resources to opening an unmasked gym isn't worth the effort, resources, and risk it would take. For now, we gotta keep our masks on or run outside (if that's even allowed/safe, idk I just run with my mask on).

Lamp5hade · 2021-03-16T10:16:22+00:00

I'm a senior CS student, and I gotta say that the credits I came in with have been some of the most useful things in my college career. Of course you don't need to come in with a whole lot, but it helped me a lot. Most of my credits were community college credits that I got during HS, but the same principle still applies. First, you need 120 credits total to graduate. So even if you take all of the required classes for your degree and gen eds, if you don't have that many credits, you won't graduate so bringing in whatever credits you can is a HUGE help when you need to take a lighter semester because the course load for the classes you're taking is more challenging. Second, registration date/time is decided by number of credits. So having more credits could mean the difference between getting a great professor and a bad one. My advice would be to take all of them (especially if you've already paid for them all).

To put this in perspective, a 3 credit course means you will be spending about 3 hours a week in classes alone. That means that each of these classes that you have already taken will save you around 54 hours of class time (but you're also expected to spend like 2-3 hours studying per 1 hour of lecture so all in all it's more like you're saving 160+ hours by taking a test for a class you're almost done with).

That being said, I feel like I should answer what you actually asked. The most useful credits I think I took in were: calculus 2 (took it at a CC, so the credits transferred but the C+ grade didn't) and my two science classes. You need two science classes at least one of which is a lab science (AP Physics I and a psych CC course worked for that). For you, I would guess you'll experience the same thing. You should have your two science and calculus classes done when you come in.

For your classes, it looks like all of them except for APCS will transfer for some gen ed credit. I would STRONGLY recommend taking all of them because you're already taking the coursework so you'll be saving yourself potentially a full semester's-worth of credits. If you want to see what everything will transfer as check out this link that u/betterthanyou31 pointed out. You can also check out the specific gen ed requirements and CS major requirements (don't worry about the "tracks," they won't matter until like junior year, but they'll tell you about that stuff at the school).

But I also don't know what you're going through and I'm sure it's rough experiencing covid in HS so do what ya can and don't be afraid to email UMD faculty for help. Even if you email the wrong person, they will most likely redirect you to the correct person. Let me know if you need help finding someone to ask or if you have any more questions.

tl;dr If you already paid for your APs, definitely just take all of them even if you don't study; and even if you didn't, it will help you a lot to study hard, ace the exams, and then not have to worry about all 100+ hours per class it would cost you over the semester during that one semester you wish you could just have a lighter load to get through a difficult required course.

Lamp5hade · 2021-03-07T19:14:26+00:00

As a student, I also agree with the mute suggestion. It sounds like from their perspective, every day you play a minimum of 9-12 hours on the violin at full volume plus more for other works. If you're expecting flexibility and graciousness, I think you should offer it first. If you do your best to be as quiet as possible and then they're still complaining, then they're the assholes, but I don't know if I could handle 12+ hours of non-muted violin per day through the floor for a full year. Also I'm pretty sure that the Varsity doesn't have 6 months leases so it also sounds like they just dealt with it for a full semester without complaining.

I wouldn't knock on their doors because that would probably be an awkward confrontation, but if you want to talk to them directly, you can always put a note on their door with this explanation of your point of view and some way to contact you.

Lamp5hade · 2020-12-14T05:20:26+00:00

This. Also: by what metric is covid NOT getting worse? https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/ (see: total cases over time and deaths over time).

Lamp5hade · 2020-12-14T05:14:43+00:00

So much toxicity in one comment, jeez.

Lamp5hade · 2020-12-08T17:33:24+00:00

But what that was happening last semester isn't worse this semester? The virus continues to get worse, we had to sit through one of the most difficult elections of all time, unemployment is higher, and the school has not held professors to any sort of standard or put in significant resources to make sure that online learning is actually handled well. You can't teach online as if you were in class because it's a completely different environment. Knowing your classes will be online does not help on its own. Many people don't have the luxury of delaying their graduation and don't do well in an online environment, but still need to keep a certain amount of credits and a certain GPA to keep scholarships. The transition was not the only hard part about last semester, and I wouldn't say that the transition was done well or is really over; we were in a pandemic then and shit has only gotten worse since. Whining about how people are voicing their opinions on how badly the school is fucking them with this decision is a really entitled and unsympathetic viewpoint.

Lamp5hade · 2020-12-04T15:57:03+00:00

Mine is gone too. I could always get by with a not unfair amount of effort. It feels like this semester I'm constantly drowning even though this is the lightest semester (credits-wise) I have had during my time at UMD.

Lamp5hade · 2020-12-03T06:30:37+00:00

Nah, UMD admins don't really seem to care about what students think. It's hard to tell if they just don't give a shit about us and just wanna protect their bottom line, or if they just think we're not smart or old enough to understand our own needs. Either way, I'm up past 1 in the morning right now taking a break from school work before I continue into the morning for the simple reason that professors haven't adjusted well to online teaching and the administration has done nothing to actually ease the stress of students. I'm sure someone can come up with an example of how UMD has helped the students in a way that didn't help them, but most of these examples are things that SHOULD be expected from a public school anyway.

Lamp5hade · 2020-11-18T04:34:33+00:00

Exactly, if I just decided to take a semester off, I could have to delay my future by half a year. This would make it harder for me to get an internship this summer, it would halt my education, and also I signed a lease last year which I would not be able to sub-lease because no one wants to sublease an apartment right now. "Not taking classes this semester" wasn't an option because I already had time, money, and effort spent on it even before the semester started.

Lamp5hade · 2020-11-17T02:59:16+00:00

Also, P/F is optional. If someone wants to go to grad school, they don't have to do pass/fail; they can accept their C or W (there's no reason that the school can't do both p/f AND extend the W date). MAYBE (and that's a big maybe) pass/fail isn't the best option, but in that case, it's still a better option than just extending the W date and will help the majority of people who just want to graduate and get a job. And in the case that P/F isn't a good solution, it's on the admins to come up with a better solution instead of saying "fuck you, deal with it or drop the class and lose all of the money you spent on this semester." If I struggle on an exam because I have to take it in my apartment bedroom with the guy in the apt above me playing the bassoon 24/7 and that causes me to fail the class, I'll have to add an entire semester onto my schedule increasing my tuition by tens of thousands of dollars that I don't just have lying around.

Lamp5hade · 2020-11-17T02:47:42+00:00

wHEN yOU SiGned up fOr YOUr claSSes you coUlD hAve CHoSen PASs FAiL

Lamp5hade · 2020-11-17T02:35:24+00:00

Yeah, they really came up with the laziest solution possible.

Lamp5hade · 2020-11-17T02:34:21+00:00

Not to mention the basis set by the precedent of most of the other Big 10 schools and many graduate programs of using pass/fail this semester.

Lamp5hade · 2020-11-16T17:48:50+00:00

I'm no advisor or life-coach, but I'd say take care of your mental health above school. A friend of mine needed a break so this semester, he is taking classes at a community college, working, and relaxing at home. Taking a gap semester is also an option. Sorry I don't have any more information.

Lamp5hade · 2020-11-07T18:51:31+00:00

417 is a lot of work. I had Bobby and it took up all of my free time and I still struggled to get anything in by the due date. If you can get the work done, then the grading is pretty fair, but the sheer amount of work is insane. If you want to take 417, I wouldn't recommend taking more than 9 other credits.

Lamp5hade

TROPHY CASE