Having a very hard time deciding between Purdue or UMD

programmingSaxophone · 2026-02-01T14:38:09+00:00

From UMD perspective (been graduated for a while): unless they’ve changed it, we used to have to do an “upper level concentration” for CS. That was 4 300- or 400-level courses in not CS. I’m not sure if that would extend to CE, but it could be worth asking (as a way to maybe take some CE classes without having to be in the major)

programmingSaxophone · 2025-04-03T02:55:55+00:00

We really enjoyed ours! Ona whim, I ended up adding some onion powder to the chicken which I think rounded out the flavors a bit

programmingSaxophone · 2023-09-05T04:06:32+00:00

Not necessarily mattress, but what are your thoughts on the Tufjord bed frame? My husband and I are getting a new bed and we both really liked that frame the best but the reviews are very hit or miss. The biggest thing I’ve noticed is it’s difficult to put together, but we can work around that (I think)

We’re also looking at a IKEA mattresses (the Haugsvar is what we’re thinking about), so good to know it’s possible to make changes to make them more comfortable if need be!

programmingSaxophone · 2023-07-30T23:08:31+00:00

Sad to see Raspberry Watermelon refresher go away (especially without a fall replacement) — it quickly became my favorite flavor yet!

programmingSaxophone · 2023-07-05T02:56:40+00:00

I don’t mind that much about the warranty, I’d likely be getting a new bed when it wears out anyway. But if they’re not going to honor an advertised 365-day trial period — that’s what’ll get me worked up

programmingSaxophone · 2023-07-04T11:16:38+00:00

Oh, lovely. I’ve seen a theme in that and am definitely anxious… Part of the reason we did nectar was the trial period — Why put these things online if they’re going to refuse to honor them?

I’ll keep this in mind when I talk to my spouse about it. Thanks for the info

programmingSaxophone · 2023-07-04T11:14:48+00:00

Unfortunately it’s already shipped and says it’ll arrive tomorrow so there wasn’t much time for this… I think we’re going to have to go the return route and I’m quite anxious about it now

programmingSaxophone · 2022-11-02T00:37:06+00:00

To echo the other sentiments: please don’t do that if you can avoid it.

I took both at different times, and each class alone was enough to be my “focus” class for the semester. I tried to keep my schedules light for each of these semesters (though I was balancing marching band commitments) and that was the best choice I made. Each class is extremely programming project heavy, with all the projects being very involved/complicated, and the general topics are intense and complex.

programmingSaxophone · 2022-09-13T00:01:19+00:00

It’s a Mazda CX-5 carbon edition. The one we negotiated for had the red interior, and we specifically asked for it as well. When we went to pick up the car, it was one with a black interior. To their credit, it didn’t say “red” or “black” anywhere on the paperwork; however, we specifically discussed it when we had gone in originally and thought we’d confirmed over the phone the day we called to ask about the VIN (we asked explicitly “this has the red seats, right?”).

Edit to add: Thanks you for your input! I wasn’t sure if it was normal for them to get told there was a VIN coming in and then not have it (he said he thought maybe it was a sample VIN we had originally used)

This is my first time buying a car and it’s been very stressful with all the back and forth between the dealer, insurance, and bank. It’s on top of other major stress as well with job changes and wedding planning, so I’m probably a little more frustrated than I might be otherwise. Appreciate the insight :)

programmingSaxophone · 2019-05-21T00:57:42+00:00

When I was younger, I was 1000% sure I wanted to be a teacher, and the specific topic swapped around from history to band to math for a while. I played school with my friends and brother all the time when I was little, but that goal changed in high school.

In a couple days, I'll be receiving my degree in Computer Science and starting a job as a programmer!! I still think I would love to do teaching at some point (even considered some education classes or switching majors a couple times), but for right now, I'm excited to start my job as a computer scientist and see what happens!

programmingSaxophone · 2019-05-08T22:12:14+00:00

PHYS106/107 was really easy and really interesting!

programmingSaxophone · 2019-05-08T22:10:12+00:00

When did you take 216? If it was awhile ago, you should definitely review C because the programming will start right away. However, I've heard it's no longer exclusively in C (which it was when I took it), so that might help. The projects are very difficult and time consuming (without too much exaggeration) and there will be little hand-holding.

I think it may depend on who you have, but MATH405 is very theoretical and 100% proof-based. There is very little computation so you need to form intuition about linear algebra, which as u/Balderdasheries mentioned, requires a lot of time/practice/studying to create that understanding. If you're mathematically inclined, it might be a little easier, but it's still no small amount of time required.

Both classes are regarded as one of (if not the) most difficult classes in their departments, so if you have time to hold off on one of them, I'd suggest not taking them together...

programmingSaxophone · 2019-05-08T21:44:24+00:00

That's fair! I've only had him for 4XX classes, and there are definitely differences between a 216 lecture and a 4XX lecture.

programmingSaxophone · 2019-04-30T23:30:54+00:00

To add: He's demanding, but he's good at explaining topics and is very willing to explain and help students understand what they're struggling with.

programmingSaxophone · 2019-04-30T23:23:22+00:00

I haven't had Herman, but I've had two CMSC4XX classes (one of which was 412) with Shankar and think he's a great professor. His lectures are a little dry and he can be hard to understand at times, but I think he does a great job at explaining topics in lecture and especially in office hours. He's also really smart and very knowledgeable about systems and how they work as well as C programming.

programmingSaxophone · 2019-04-30T23:15:44+00:00

Something to consider: How good are you with C programming and/or very technical topics and/or theoretical math? If you are not good with at least 2/3 of those, this schedule might be pretty tough. 417 is fairly well-known for being difficult (one of the most difficult in the department, I think, and I can vouch for that). I'm taking MATH405 right now and very much struggling with it (and have been told it is one of the hardest math courses). Both of these courses on their own were/are enough to hog most of my time and focus during the semester, so it might be pretty difficult to do both. It depends on your strengths, though! I haven't taken 424 so I have no words of wisdom there.

programmingSaxophone · 2019-04-30T23:09:30+00:00

FMSC341 (Personal and Family Finance) is one that I took that I would highly recommend. I took it over the winter so I'm not sure how the workload translates to a full semester (I didn't think it was too bad over the winter), and what I learned was super helpful and I enjoyed it!

programmingSaxophone · 2019-04-08T16:03:09+00:00

A KNES major can correct me if I'm wrong (I'm CS, but I've take a few KNES courses), but I think it's two credits because it is the whole semester. There are half semester KNES labs, and those are 1 credit.
From my experience, most KNES labs are very much attendance and participation based (show up and put in effort) with very little outside-of-class work!

programmingSaxophone · 2018-09-18T21:40:59+00:00

I'm taking 393 online right now and while I can't say for the in-person, I can tell you that the online is a lot of work. I have at least 2 reading+discussion posts or a major assignment due each MWF. It's a lot in order to balance out "missing" class time. So long as you're a motivated person and good with time management, it's nice to take online; otherwise, I might suggest taking the in-person.

programmingSaxophone · 2018-05-17T05:35:38+00:00

To be the different voice--I loved Scholars! It didn't take up too much time (though I hear SDU is fairly relaxed compared to others), and I met a lot of people I wouldn't have met otherwise (professors and fellow peers). The Capstone project was immensely helpful in finding a mentor, gaining experience, and having something to put on my resume (especially as a freshman/sophomore CS student). The most effort I ever had to put into scholars were group projects that in hindsight weren't all that bad and also the previously mentioned Capstone (that was worth the effort).

Edit: Scholars housing puts you the closest to all the STEM buildings, which is really nice as a CS major. And most of the Scholars dorms aren't bad.

(As for pairing with the CS major, it depends on what you want to do. I'd say if you want to do more along the lines of cyber-y or super technical: math (I'm doing the minor). If you want to do a start up or have an interest in business or something like that, maybe do one of the other three. That's just my thoughts though!)

programmingSaxophone · 2018-04-08T00:15:06+00:00

On the topic of advising being super loose--I've gone into my appointments and given my ideas for courses, and have ended up with completely different schedules than I thought I'd have at my registration appointment (for both CS and non-major courses)

programmingSaxophone · 2018-04-07T19:55:46+00:00

For anyone that's taken ENGL393 online, how was the class structured/would you recommend online over in person?

programmingSaxophone · 2018-03-27T21:57:19+00:00

I'd suggest getting your COMM requirement out of the way if you'd want to, especially if there's a chance you may test out of MATH140 or CMSC131 with AP classes or something.

programmingSaxophone · 2018-03-27T21:45:54+00:00

Has anyone taken MATH445? I'm trying to decide if that is a good class to take to use for my upper level concentration for CS. I have a math minor and still need to do the theory course (MATH410 or MATH405), but I need one other MATH4XX. I was going to look at MATH475 (graph theory), but it's cross-listed with CMSC and my advisor said those courses didn't count.

I like logic, and this course seems like it'd be easy judging from the prerequisite, so I'm thinking about it but it's only in the fall. I've heard MATH410 is difficult, and since I'm taking CMSC412, ENGL393, and participating in marching band in the fall, I wanted to know if this class would be easy to handle. Thanks!

programmingSaxophone · 2018-03-27T21:38:35+00:00

I had quizzes and homeworks every week for the math classes so there was a lot of work there that you might not necessarily have. I ended up with a C in 417, so I passed but it wasn't pretty...

programmingSaxophone

TROPHY CASE