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On December 13 2012 09:41 Cambium wrote:
University is much less about the education than the experience itself, and I think you are seeking refuge in academia because of your lack of success in the social aspect of things. My advice to you would be to try to enjoy the university life; enjoy the freedom you have; enjoy the company of other young people. The feeling of superiority can be very damaging, and immature. Everyone has a unique perspective that they offer, and something you can learn from; discovering and respecting their differences will help you bond to these to new people.
With regards to your major, I can hardly imagine how you've established a disdain given that you've probably only taken a very limited number of foundation CS courses, which you probably are required to take for a lot of other majors. A typical CS program will offer two 'streams' of CS courses: theoretical and practical, and you don't get to take the interesting ones until your junior year. I'm not saying you should stick with CS, but you should at least make an effort to find out what it offers before deciding against it (something you should have done in high school, but it's never too late).
Thanks. I rationally know a lot of that but it's not what I feel.
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On December 13 2012 04:41 Froadac wrote:Show nested quote +On December 13 2012 03:50 beetlelisk wrote:I agree with Zaranth. It's sad too read that you are dissapointed, after the parent rage blogs I hoped college would mean new great life for you  . At least you are away from those sociopathic fuckers (parents) and some people you met in clubs are cool  but if that's not enough, definitely seek something new, don't waste your time waiting! Are you in touch with your hs friends? A bit. haha. I'm somewhat disappointed, but in positives my relationship with my parents has improved substantially now that they've realized I haven't blown anything up.
What were you supposed to blow up?
Lol I thought I mixed up sociopathy and psychopathy until I read they both mean the same on wikipedia 
+ Show Spoiler + The term sociopathy may be preferred by sociologists because it shares the prefix of their field. The term psychopathy may be preferred by psychologists for similar reasons.
Even though I'm happy to read that your relationship with them got better, and my first thought was
"could it be you can have normal relationship with them?"
I thought for a minute and concluded
"it looks good because you are not there with them so they can't blame you for every little shit AND use you as a punching bag when they want to vent in peaks of their disorder showing".
Please tell me if I'm wrong, that's what I remember from parent rage blogs, -_- what you wrote there about what they were doing still pisses me off.
And here comes question related to that, that I couldn't decide to ask: why did you write in one of your earlier blogs that there were things you were doing wrong in relationship with them? What was that supposed to be? Of course I will understand if you don't answer because you don't want to delve in that shit.
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Eh, I think some of it was just at a certain point I got so angry I wouldn't fold on the little things.
And everything.
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On December 13 2012 09:41 Cambium wrote:
University is much less about the education than the experience itself, and I think you are seeking refuge in academia because of your lack of success in the social aspect of things. My advice to you would be to try to enjoy the university life; enjoy the freedom you have; enjoy the company of other young people. The feeling of superiority can be very damaging, and immature. Everyone has a unique perspective that they offer, and something you can learn from; discovering and respecting their differences will help you bond to these to new people.
With regards to your major, I can hardly imagine how you've established a disdain given that you've probably only taken a very limited number of foundation CS courses, which you probably are required to take for a lot of other majors. A typical CS program will offer two 'streams' of CS courses: theoretical and practical, and you don't get to take the interesting ones until your junior year. I'm not saying you should stick with CS, but you should at least make an effort to find out what it offers before deciding against it (something you should have done in high school, but it's never too late).
I'm inclined to disagree here. I thoroughly enjoyed my data structures and intro to programming courses.
Of course - OS and algorithms are much cooler, but I didn't hate my classes the way the OP is describing.
I honestly think he just doesn't have a passion for the sciences. And that's fine. A lot of people default into CS because they think enjoying spending time on the computer will translate to enjoying CS. Programming and using a program are completely different things.
OP - did you visit UCSD before applying and going there?
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Yeah, I did.
And I knew that CS != computer stuff. I had some programming experience and never really liked it that much. What made me apply CS was probably implied familial pressure and income prospectives more than anything else.
My CS class is easy and uninspiring. I don't had the class. I just found the opinions within the department when going to club meetings advisory to be :/
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On December 13 2012 14:07 Froadac wrote:
Yeah, I did.
And I knew that CS != computer stuff. I had some programming experience and never really liked it that much. What made me apply CS was probably implied familial pressure and income prospectives more than anything else.
My CS class is easy and uninspiring. I don't had the class. I just found the opinions within the department when going to club meetings advisory to be :/
How terrible your school's CS department and classes are is pretty much irrelevant to whether or not you enjoy CS. School is designed to be easy. You aren't going to find cutting edge projects and clever algorithms in CS courses, especially undergrad. You're going to find run-of-the-mill topics, problems, and logic.
Unless you're going to MIT, you're going to get a healthy mix of uninspired as well as very inspired students. It doesn't matter where you go.
Furthermore, I don't understand your mentality. You straightforwardly admit you don't like CS then talk about your school being bad almost as an excuse. I don't get it.
If you don't like CS, then it doesn't matter whether your school is good or bad. If you do like CS, then it doesn't matter whether your school is good or bad because you will enjoy it in spite of that.
"The grass is greener" on the other side indeed. Again, unless you go to MIT, undergraduate education is pretty much the same everywhere.
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It was the atmosphere of dept more than department itself. Objectively it is a very good department
Design to be easy: tell that to the upperclassmen
Yeah, you're obviously right.
My school is good for CS, I just disliked the mantra I heard from the department. I think in terms of quality of instruction it is very good.
And yes, obviously true.
And yes.
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Just curious, where do you go, donut? :o stalking reading some of your old posts, it seems like your a comp sci major or at least comp eng. Also I know you're just using MIT as an example, but there are plenty of colleges with fantastic cs programs that aren't t1 institutions, e.g. cmu, UoT, UCLA, udub, uni of texas austin, or UBC. CMU probably being the most outstanding one though. And yeah, I'm pretty sure upper div cs isn't that easy ...
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At least according to friends I've talked to in industry UCSD CS > UCLA cs, although I'm not sure of the validity of that.
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Yeah, I guess SD and LA's CSE programs are more or less equivalent in education and job opportunities.
I was wondering about it so I googled it, and while I didn't necessarily get any concrete answers with regard to how the schools compare, I did stumble upon anecdotal criticism of SD*. Not to further push you into conflict over whether or not you'd like to stay at the school, but those guys' comments aren't unfamiliar to me. The idea of having so many separate colleges and the general La Jolla environment having this kind of separation and lack of bustling school spirit might be part of your issue with the campus culture. But the incredible trouble of changing schools... yeah... :/
*The link does seem to support the idea of SD having a nice CS program though
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Yes. It feels very disjointed. That is a good way to put it. Almost a negative school spirit too.
but yeah, the cs program is great.
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On December 13 2012 14:07 Froadac wrote:
Yeah, I did.
And I knew that CS != computer stuff. I had some programming experience and never really liked it that much. What made me apply CS was probably implied familial pressure and income prospectives more than anything else.
My CS class is easy and uninspiring. I don't had the class. I just found the opinions within the department when going to club meetings advisory to be :/
This sucks. Having to study something you don't really like, and not knowing what you like. Have you ever created a program, just for yourself? Aren't there things that would be cool to program?
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On December 13 2012 17:25 Aerisky wrote:
Just curious, where do you go, donut? :o stalking reading some of your old posts, it seems like your a comp sci major or at least comp eng. Also I know you're just using MIT as an example, but there are plenty of colleges with fantastic cs programs that aren't t1 institutions, e.g. cmu, UoT, UCLA, udub, uni of texas austin, or UBC. CMU probably being the most outstanding one though. And yeah, I'm pretty sure upper div cs isn't that easy ...
I'm currently going to USC (Viterbi) and I'm in my final few semesters for undergrad.
While I absolutely adore my school and it's doing great in rankings (12th in the U.S. for engineering and we will keep climbing), I wish I would have applied to MIT (I probably would have got in). I was an idiot in HS. There's nothing wrong with these T2 schools. They are great. Hell, going to an engineering school at all is great accomplishment.
The reason I mention MIT is kinda of hard to understand if you're never been to the campus and spent any time there. MIT is, in my opinion, the best school for computer science because it's a school that's based around the hacker mentality. This isn't like stack-overflows kind of hacking. Hacking, before the media botched it, just meant having a superior knowledge and curiosity towards life (and thus, all subjects). The students at MIT don't compete with the school, they compete with each other.
That's what I've realized in the time I've spent at school. School is not just about getting an education, it's about setting yourself up in an atmosphere where learning is encouraged. That's what makes a school good. The students at MIT push each other really hard to be the best they can be. It's a school focused around math, physics, and the sciences in general. It's so hard to explain, but basically that hacker mentality at MIT is what makes the school amazing leagues beyond any other school.
Upper division CS at school barely scratches the surface of what CS has to offer. Hell, trying to get through "The Art of Computer Programming" is a lot harder than the CS classes I've taken!
*edit* In response to the interesting link posted above, USC and UCLA are gigantic rivals. Since we're both in LA and both schools are incredibly close in terms of academics (except we are currently destroying UCLA in engineering) you get a real sense of pride going to either school here. Trojans definitely have the better alumni, though.
*edit2* For reference, I'm a Computer Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) major at USC. Our Computer Science (CSCI) program is terrible. I don't know why anyone would pick that over CECS. Go figure. Probably why we're so high in computer engineering and not computer science...
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Ah, gotcha. Hope you enjoy your final few semesters and learn a lot, in any event
Now I'm really curious though: how come you like MIT so much? :D Kind of interesting to see how you like it so much--I mean, what's wrong with Stanford or CMU or Harvard CS? I have nothing but respect for MIT and the culture there, but what about other schools lol Those unis are also right at the top, but do you consider the lack of that kind of passion (as much as the word is thrown around nowadays) for hacking, as you put it--the active pursuit of knowledge etc--the deciding difference? What differentiates those other institutions from the CS programs at t2 schools, then? But yeah, Trojan alumni are definitely amazing.
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At least finals are over. Going home. Iunno what will come of it but at least it's not quite os stressful anymore.
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Is there anything at home worth coming back?
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they seem to have rationalized a bit (a lot)
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We'll see... my hopes for that lasting longer aren't high though, good luck.
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EPT
