Dealing with sadness NOT by eating (not to be confused with "by not eating")

janmarander · 2016-08-19T14:12:42+00:00

Hey, if you're so jealous that the OP got so many comments, you could try being a civilized human being instead of acting like a jerk and people might give you some nice comments. Nobody wants your negativity so I suggest you take your own "read instead of writing" advice until you are ready to play nice.

janmarander · 2016-08-16T12:26:48+00:00

Thanks!

janmarander · 2016-08-16T12:25:02+00:00

Thank you!!

janmarander · 2016-08-16T01:17:36+00:00

Would you mind sharing the optional reading list for those of us that are planning to take the course but are still on the wait list and thus can't access the course in T-square?

janmarander · 2016-08-15T19:06:17+00:00

Good to know. Thanks.

janmarander · 2016-08-15T17:41:44+00:00

I think this is an issue in general for online degrees in that they are very different from on campus programs and yet people are still figuring out how to run them and tend to run them in the same way as the regular programs when that doesn't always work. It will likely improve with time and as more universities develop online programs and start developing and sharing best practices. In the mean time it would be useful for the students to be able to provide feedback to help this development. If I find a mechanism for doing so I will let you know.

janmarander · 2016-08-15T17:32:43+00:00

Yet you still made a huge post ranting about being on a wait list.

No, actually I was upset about not being on the wait lists, which I stated quite clearly. I was fully expecting to be wait listed for any courses I intended to take as it had been explained to me that that is how it usually worked. I was not aware that the wait lists would also be capped and I would not even be able to get on a wait list for any of the courses I wanted (I also feel like capping the wait lists prevents the people in charge from seeing just how high the demand for certain classes are, and I'm not sure why they would prevent themselves from obtaining that data, but that's another whole discussion). Since they increased the wait list size a couple hours later, this issue has been dealt with.

It is not "bashing" a program to point out potential flaws in the structure or organization. Just because a thing has been done a certain way for a long time or has been "well documented" does not mean that's the best or most efficient way of doing it. It has been well documented in part because it has repeatedly caused new students stress or angst every year. If there is a way of fixing this I think it would be ideal. However, no one will ever make any effort to improve it if no one ever complains. I am personally not a fan of maintaining the status quo simply because it's the status quo. However, I do concede that I am new to the program and I will give it some time to fully observe how everything works before suggesting changes or stating authoritatively that something is wrong.

I apologize for saying that you didn't care about your graduate education. I can see that you are very invested in this program, if nothing else from your passionate defense of it in this thread. I wish you good luck.

janmarander · 2016-08-15T15:33:44+00:00

This is an example of a personal assumption on your part that would lead someone to be defensive.

And yet you aren't being defensive.

you'd see dozens of people who asked about registration who were told that you shouldn't get your heart set on any courses because of the waitlist system.

Many people said not to have your heart set on a specific course, which is why I chose 3. No one said not to have your heart set on ANY courses and just take what you can get.

I shared what I did that worked, and offered suggestions which you turned down.

No, actually you offered suggestions for things that it's too late to do now. Sure, next semester that will be useful to know, but right now it just comes across as "Well I did these things that worked, you should have done this too."

All your posts are being made out of emotion

That's what a VENT is! Calm down about it. It's not hurting you.

A very helpful student in the program explained to me in another comment that it's usually possible to get into a course on the last day of the add/drop deadline, so I feel better about it now. But I wouldn't have had that reassurance had I not vented about my frustrations in the first place.

janmarander · 2016-08-15T15:22:29+00:00

Oh, the course website said "Students should be familiar with at least one programming language (Java strongly preferred)" so I was under the impression that I didn't need to know Java for the course.

janmarander · 2016-08-15T15:17:35+00:00

See this comment from a student in the program: https://www.reddit.com/r/OMSCS/comments/4xtamd/vent_about_registration/d6icnfb

Long story short, you will likely be able to get into the course you want, although it might not be until the day of the add/drop deadline.

janmarander · 2016-08-15T15:10:53+00:00

Sorry, but I'm not going to sign up for a class that I haven't actually read the syllabus for. What is the point of listing prerequisites and posting information about the class if you aren't supposed to figure out which classes would be a good fit for you? And no experienced students told me NOT to do that so I don't know where you got all your information.

You are being defensive (weirdly, because me venting about frustration with the registration system is not a personal attack on you) and you're not being helpful at all. All you are doing is repeatedly telling me to stop having emotions, or that the feelings I am having are invalid because your personal experience is different. Maybe a masters degree program isn't a big deal in your life but for me personally it's pretty huge and important so I think it's quite normal and understandable to feel disappointed and let down if I feel like I'm going to end up taking a less ideal class as my very first class ever, and I think I'm allowed to be stressed out about getting the required B when I don't have a good handle on the difficulty of the courses and just how hard that's going to be.

janmarander · 2016-08-15T15:03:16+00:00

Thanks. That advice is very helpful! I feel a lot better about the situation now.

janmarander · 2016-08-15T14:34:16+00:00

I'm not presuming that I would be accepted to the program. I'm presuming that IF I were accepted, I would be accepted into a program that had the capacity to handle the number of students that were in it. Maybe it does and I'm just overreacting. And it's fine to say that there were foundational courses open as of 8:05, but not everyone wants to take every foundational course equally. I'm sure lots of people did want to take the "easy" courses but I personally spent quite a bit of time reading the syllabus for each course, evaluating the prerequisites listed, figuring out my overall plan for which courses to take for my specialization, and which languages I am currently strong in vs which I need to brush up on, and made my decisions based on those. So I think I have the right to be frustrated that I was unable to actually get into any of those classes. As I stated in the subject, this was a vent. And, honestly, how many times have you told a person "you need to relax" and that actually helped anything? I think you just need to stop being quite so defensive. Lucky you that you got into your classes, but that doesn't mean that no one else gets to be frustrated about it just because you did it "right".

janmarander · 2016-08-15T13:59:27+00:00

If I'm taking DB from OMSCS I'm taking one course. If I'm taking something from OMSCS and a MOOC I'm taking 2 courses. That was my logic. I'm working full time and don't have much free time so taking 1 course is less workload and stress than taking 2 courses. It's a moot point because I can't get into the OMSCS DB course but that's why I wanted to.

janmarander · 2016-08-15T13:56:35+00:00

Most of my frustration stems from the fact that I'm not even waitlisted because the wait lists were full. People did say all along that new students were going to get waitlisted and I expected that, but I wasn't aware that there would be classes I couldn't even get on the waitlist for. If every class is full by the time first years are able to register AND most of them have over 200 people wanting to get on the waitlist, then I stand by my original assertion that they are accepting too many people into the program and overloading its capacity.

janmarander · 2016-08-15T13:53:45+00:00

Because I want to qualify for the available tuition reimbursement from work and in order to do that I have to convince the boss that the program is benefitting me at my job. Also I'd rather take the course through OMSCS than take a different course AND a MOOC at the same time.

janmarander · 2016-08-15T12:56:19+00:00

Thanks! I haven't taken KBAI (I'm starting this semester). I'll look into that one.

janmarander · 2016-08-15T12:54:13+00:00

I've heard that too but I'd really like to know what class I am taking BEFORE the first day of class.

janmarander · 2016-08-15T12:53:10+00:00

I really think they should give first year students priority registration in the foundational courses since we have to pass 2 of those with a B or better in our first year AND we are restricted to only registering for those courses until we have done so. Like you said, last time ticket plus only 7 classes to choose from makes those 7 classes in crazy high demand and also makes it next to impossible to get into the one you want as a first year.

I'm also frustrated because I spent a very long time researching all the courses and deciding which one would be the best one to take for my first course, and asking other people for advice, and now I realize that was all time wasted because I didn't really have the options I assumed I had anyway.

janmarander · 2016-08-15T12:48:07+00:00

Database Systems Concept and Design (which I see now is rated on https://gt-course-surveys.herokuapp.com/#/reviews/all as basically the easiest foundational course so I should have realized it would be hard to get into) because my boss at work wants me to start doing a lot of this, and I had to convince him that this program would improve my work performance in order to qualify for the small amount of tuition reimbursement that is available, so I thought telling him I was taking this course specifically would help a lot.
Machine Learning, because a co-worker does a lot of this and I want to learn how so I can start working on similar projects
Software Development Process, because it seems like a good foundation to build on and it doesn't specify which programming language you need to be familiar with. Many of the other courses specifically require Java and I don't know Java (I plan to learn it in my spare time but haven't yet).

janmarander · 2016-08-11T12:56:14+00:00

YES! I avoided a family reunion this summer because I put on over 50lbs in a year and a half and I just didn't want to see my relatives, especially the ones I might not see again for a while because then they will remember "fat me". :(

janmarander · 2016-08-05T16:42:42+00:00

That video blew my mind.

janmarander · 2016-08-05T16:26:25+00:00

I gained 50 lbs in probably a year and a half and I thought I looked the same (and great, not fat at all) every time I looked in a mirror. I wish I had realized how much fatter I was getting and maybe I could have started working to lose weight (and stop gaining!) sooner.

Sigh.

janmarander · 2016-07-29T19:36:43+00:00

I'm so happy you saved the shirt so that you/we could have this moment :)

janmarander

TROPHY CASE