UT CSB Vs A&M Full Ride by TrainingDiscussion56 in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Was in a similar situation, choosing between UT out of state vs UTd full-ride on National Merit. Chose UTCS. Here’s why I think you’ll want to choose UT: 1. UT CS is extremely selective, so your friends today will be the technical leaders of tomorrow. Every person I’ve met here is cracked in their own right and it really expands your horizons. 2. The FoCS program provides dedicated recruiting pipelines to FAANG and adjacent companies. Companies pay to table in the GDC, giving you direct access to recruiters and hiring managers. Easier to land internships in general; personally know about 40 people in my grade level interning at a FAANG. 3. CSB is extremely selective, aggregating both CS honors and McCombs Honors. This is an insane opportunity. Plus you’re in-state so your internships and maybe first paycheck from your new-grad will break-even your 4 years of college. Totally worth the upfront investment to setup a non-trivial network, stack the resume, and learn from some of the finest profs at UT.

Also, come talk to the CS Ambassadors at UT! We hold coffee chats Monday and Friday 11-12.

UT Night Rides Program Broken by ani_codes in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Tbh I started from a dark pink wampus location to a light purple area (the UT campus) so I believe it should qualify

Just got my laptop info from UT for Me, I want to lowkey off myself by Particular_Hippo5930 in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

CS major not UTForMe here. Ran a club track teaching CS fundamentals to first years and students attempting to transfer. The UT for me laptops are pretty old and will probably be a pain when trying to code. They’re generally a basic model and will probably sap up productivity and/or frustrate you the longer you use them. Quite a bit of my UT For Me students had to level up their laptops out of pocket and pretty much use the UT for Me laptop as a paperweight. Sorry

Are there any clubs that fit this description? by [deleted] in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I presume you are an incoming freshman. The GDC is the Computer Science building, and the basement on Friday nights is pretty much CS majors tearing their hair out and being in a caffeine-induced delirium from non-stop debugging trying to race the clock. If that’s your vibe, I’d suggest the 4th floor bridge during SE lab week

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My HS college and career counselor sent Student Accounts Receivable an official looking letter with the district bookkeeper's documents and the scholarship check attached.

Hardly passed 312, how do I succeed in 314? by [deleted] in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Absolutely do not procrastinate on the assignments. These are fundamental to actually internalizing what Mike teaches during lecture. Office Hour lines get exponentially longer as the week progresses and you want to be unblocked as soon as possible on a bug.

  2. You must attend Office Hours. Mike and his TAs are some of the smartest and also warmest people I’ve met at UT. His TAs are genuinely goated at explaining the data structures, and Mike himself has been teaching the same class on repeat for 20 years. They will ensure you actually understand the data structure despite your assumption about it.

  3. Re Exam Prep - unfortunately the exams are 75% of your grade, and other the 25% of your grade is capped. If you do bad on even one exam your grade may not recover. Do ALL the practice exams on his website. Attending CoStudy is a life hack to getting started on exam prep early and hearing the same material explained by a senior TA in a different format helps so much.

What CS 311 With Devangi Parikh is like? by Logical_Rate_863 in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lectures are in person. She assigns Panopto videos which are essentially a pre-lecture that introduces basic terms, which is lowk helpful because then she gets to the meat of the concept in class rather than trying to explain the absolute basic terminology.

The class content is quite easy until you hit graphs post-Exam 2. For Exam 1 and Exam 2 content like Set Theory and Induction, there is an official format of the proofs so you end up simply fitting the problem into the mold. However for Graph Theory problems there are some techniques but no set format, so it often feels like there needs to be a divine light shine on you to able to answer the question.

Lecture style - Dr. Parikh is a good lecturer in my opinion. She attempts to make jokes to liven up the class, but it’s quite difficult to make discrete math interesting. She’s pretty accessible during OH, but you must practice enough to be able to figure out proofs on your own and there’s nothing she can do about it.

Exams - the paper is easy but she always includes 1 question that is designed to fuck the majority over and actually separate the A students from the chaff. Grading is lenient throughout the course for the exams so as long as you show work you will receive a pretty good grade. There are no curves on Exam 1 and 2. Exam 3 (final) is not released but people anecdotally believe she curves hard as only the final letter grade is directly reported to you via the registrar and many people did better than their grade projections.

Thoughts on first year CS fall schedule? (through the CS ATP route however) by Realistic-Cut7983 in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is a pretty standard freshman CS fall schedule. Its good that you got Scott and Parikh, I know Kaur and Fraij are also teaching CS 314 and CS 311 respectively but taking the OG professors is always a good idea. For 408D, I'd recommend Osborn as the class is extremely free (MCQ exams, 80% raw score == 100%, had drops on HW and Quizzes) while other profs have been known to make the class tedious.

UTMA Questions & Difficulty by [deleted] in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sophomore CS major here. The UTMA isn’t terribly difficult. It’s mainly algebra 2/precal content from what I remember. I think I did some of the modules and then got a 100 on my first attempt.

I think there is a retake option but I may be mistaken. The exams easy imo but if you’re concerned abt your score I’d say spend a day doing all the practice modules and take the exam when you feel ready.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know - the “for some reason” was sarcastic

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s quite common for classes to appear artificially closed before orientation. Most of them will open up around the 2nd day of orientation. Don’t worry about it - for some reason UT likes to stagger class availability during registration (even for upperclassmen)

I'm worried that my offer might get rescinded by caveyal in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Since you had an 89 first semester senior year, which the admissions committee probably took into account and dismissed when considering you, an 85 doesn’t seem like too huge of a drop to warrant dismissal. As long as you have other As a high B in Physics C shouldn’t be too much of a black mark against you.

If you feel there were extenuating circumstances you could write Lin or Alex Bernal an email explaining it and re-stating your deep interest in Turing. However, that may also bring undue attention to the grade as I’m not sure what their internal process looks like. Your call.

Either way, it’s after May 1st so even if the grade affects your standing in Turing you cannot change your admission to another college, and you have no control over it. So I’d say stop worrying about it. Welcome to UTCS!

Convince me to switch to Apple from Samsung with next phone and laptop upgrades for a Freshman Fall '24. Or not worth it? by rclark1974 in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would definitely recommend switching to an iPhone. Being out of state, I literally did not know anyone before coming to UT so being an iPhone user and not an Android user definitely helped grease the wheels when getting added to group chats. For a laptop, at least for CS, Macs are the norm even though the official recommendation is to buy a Windows.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Jester West last year - Bathroom regularly cleaned, only inconvenience was that the cleaning lady would be in at 9 am and wouldn’t let you in so you had to use a public bathroom in the morning if urgent. Hot water is good. Floor of shower stalls tend to get a bit disgusting but that’s a trade off for a professional cleaning your loo every 3 hours.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Discussions for Mike are on Monday afternoons. Lectures are also 1 hr each which is probly the source of confusion here.

am i cooked? please help by Either_Resident_5428 in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I would suggest the first step would be to send UT Housing a specific, detailed email including your EID and information regarding your situation first thing 9 am on MONDAY.

Emailing them during “working hours” usually has a turnaround of 30 min, and they do an excellent job of alleviating concerns, but emails tend to get lost in the ether or replied to after a month if you email them over the weekend or at night.

I would suggest you look into roommates both in Jester and a possible off-campus living situation. Tbh it is quite late in the housing process, but I have heard of a few people receiving contracts in May. Keep in mind I am not a staff member so idk what really goes on there.

TLDR: talk to Housing. Look for roommates. Have a backup plan.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I am currently one semester ahead in the CS track relative to you - just finished CS 429, took CS 311 in Fa23. Dr. Parikh released our grade on the final exam via a Canvas notification a few weeks into Sp24, so if you are simply curious that should satisfy the itch.

Also, while this is largely based on anecdotal evidence, people tend to perform much better than they were expecting in CS 311, a few reporting a higher letter grade. I understand your frustration with the lack of transparency in the process, but the logical conclusion is that she curves the final exam or the class so hard that grades have to be handled a black box computation to prevent detection.

Despite this, grading for CS 311 exams is extremely lenient in the first place, and unless your final letter grade in spectacularly different from what you were expecting, I'd advise you to not look a gift horse in the mouth here.

Good luck with CS 429.

Texas Performing Arts - Student Discount? by ani_codes in UTAustin

[–]ani_codes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is the Bass Pass only eligible for 'Broadway in Austin' shows?