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I guess this blog will just me being happy and bragging about my university situation and complaining about the stupid topic I just finished a final on. So if that's very boring (which it probably is for most), feel free to stop reading.
Okay, so! Currently doing a Mechanical Engineering degree, and things are going alright. Essentially every class that I ever take is marked on a curve, which means 2-3% of people get an A+ (some classes don't have A+), 8-10% get an A, 10% get an A-, 10% a B+, and so on. How well you do only depends on how everyone else does. The class average for every class is around a 2.7 GPA (a B-).
Last semester, I had 2 A+'s, 3 A's, and 2 A-'s, that's an over 3.91GPA. With seven classes, I managed to get the highest mark in 3 of my classes within all lecture sections, which varies from 200-500 people. And essentially being in the top 10% in every single one of my classes, mind you in Mechanical Engineering, which at my university is the cream of the crop engineering degree, only the most elite highest GPA students are able to get into Mechanical Engineering, as it is in the highest demand. Even with an acceptance rate of 170 students per year from general engineering first year, it still tops other departments that are much smaller in size in regards to admission requirements.
If the mark that each student got was random in each class, the odds of them achieving the same marks as me last semester or higher are: 0.0000036%... Obviously the students who get A's are much more likely to get A's in other classes, but considering everyone is relatively intelligent, this number is just spectacular.
Anyway, forward to this semester, I just finished my second final, 2/6 done. This semester hasn't been as spectacular as the last, as work ethic has been on the decline, but my first test should guarantee me an A- at least, with an A being very within reach depending on the class average for the final. Aiming for a 3.7-3.85 this semester.
Now my test I had today... Numerical Methods. Bleh. Has anyone taken a Numerical Method's class before? It is the most dry subject that you can imagine. Think of becoming a calculator, and people asking you what the value of a function at certain points are, what the value of this integral is to a percent error of less than this, find the roots of this function, blah blah. It's all stuff like, how to fit a curve on a line? Things that your computer could quite literally do in a nanosecond, but you have to do by hand, iteration by iteration, it's awful.
Anyway, this class had me worried. It's not like I was bad at it, going into the final with 90.5%, however the midterms have been easy, and the class average has been really high, making one mistake on a quiz could have easily brought your average down to class average, and all of the sudden you're looking at a C+/B- and a huge drop in your GPA. I estimated the class average into the final to be around 87%~.
Now I'm known to make minor mistakes, and an easy final would have absolutely wrecked me, I'd get a 85-95% mark, and so would everyone else, and I'd likely end up in the middle of the pack. I pretty much begged my professor to make the test really really hard, because the class average was way too high. Boy, did he deliver. This test was something ridiculous. When I looked at it, I'm like wow... How in the world? I prepared hard because I knew it wouldn't be an easy one, but everything was so difficult about it.
Only 3 hours for 6 questions that all had on average two parts to them, and asking you the numerical solution of integral, differential equations with Runge-Kutta to absurd precision, lots of residuals, inverting and solving numerous 4x4 matrices bu hand, LU decomposition, Eigenvectors, and worst of all you had to derive your own method for solving all of these yourself. Time management, and thinking on the go were stressed immensely.
So, essentially turning into a computer for the next 3 hours just chugging through numbers, the most boring thing you could be doing, the pressure was so immense. Luckily I did all the assignments by hand to prepare for the final, while most people did them using Matlab, because any sane person would. Who wants to solve a system of 4 ODE, with a Runge-Kutta method, with 5 iterations? No normal person, but I did. And boy did it pay off. I had everything memorized to the subscripts of subscripts.
I finished the test about 15 seconds before time was up. I knew everything, all my methods made sense, I didn't get stuck on anything, the only real issue is you have to chug through numbers at such an absurd pace, it's super easy to make little mistakes. A feel pretty confident in getting over 90% on this, although from everyone I talked to... Seems like a half of the people didn't even finish half the test, the average on this test is going to be 45%-60%. This is exactly what I needed to secure an A in this class. I finished the test dripping in sweat, just wanting to shout some words of triumph, it felt great.
Being at the top of the mountain is a magical feeling. If I keep my marks and extra-curriculars up, after a discussion with Shell, I am essentially guaranteed a position working for them. This is great, on average from my region they receive 1500 applications a year, and they hire 2~. With my Economics background as well, I am just so excited to see what's in store.
I suppose I just need to keep my marks up, not get too cocky with my last 4 tests (4 more finals within a week), keep working hard, and just finish strong. Very happy with how everything has been. Especially with all my up and downs mentally due to just being so dedicated to what I do. Girlfriend, University, Formula team, and my starting footprints at my very own business venture, plus teamliquid whenever I just need a moment to relax and can't take more of what my life has become. It's not for everyone, never getting sleep, always being stressed for time, but I'm loving it.
And what better way to relax than to now catch the Chinese Formula 1 Gran Prix starting in 20 minutes, then some SL9 finals day, and then, break is over. Off to study for my final on the 21st.
  
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FREEAGLELAND26781 Posts
Sounds like you're kicking ass. Keep at it.
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On April 20 2014 15:52 WaveofShadow wrote:
Are you at U of T?
I'm in Western Canada. I didn't pick the most prestigious school to go to by any means, mostly because I never really imagined myself being as passionate as I am now about what I do. But it still seems like there's a lot of bright minds around here, which is really nice. A couple people transferred here from Waterloo, and they said it's mostly the same from what they can tell.
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Netherlands6183 Posts
Congrats ^_^ it is nice to read such a positive success blog. Keep up the hard work. And I totally forgot that the Chinese Grand Prix starts so early, so thanks for that reminder too
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Dayum dude, keep up the good work. I'm probably going to take numerical methods (or an equivalent) during my second year, shit will be exciting.
I just finished crushing HS, now on to uni myself. Question about economics: did you find that the first year of classes was really qualitative and didn't really teach you anything useful (that you couldn't easily learn in a few weeks)? I find myself dreading the first year economics courses with the huge lectures and general triviality... all I want to take is econometrics-type stuff.
What's your business venture?
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My first reaction to your blog is that you need to be more humble. My second reaction is that I shouldn't be calling you out on bragging about yourself when I'm no better. I'm prideful, I'm arrogant, and I love to brag about my success too, so I'll back off from the moral high ground.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who is turned off by your bragging, but I'll be the first to admit that my distaste for your bragging is nothing more than envy in disguise. Your GPA is damn amazing, and I know you must have worked hard to earn it. Pat yourself on the back. You should be damn proud of what you have achieved over the last year, and I personally believe your success justifies the bragging.
I've met so many people who hate me for being prideful, and I hope you won't. But if you do, keep in mind that they're not necessarily hating you for your pride, they might simply be scared of your competence. Keep kicking ass!
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So... what's your secret then? I'm an adult student returning after almost a decade away from school. Not used to it. At all...
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Man, I wish I was able to be so hard-working. It would totally pay off....but yeah, I really lack motivation. I guess it's partly the fault of getting good marks without ever really doing anything -_-
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Ahhh Numerical Analysis... Back when I took the course (I study aeronautics engineering) we called it Anal-ical Numerysis (In Hebrew it sounds better). One of the most annoying courses I ever took: the late course hour, the hand numbingly long writings... But I found it interesting, and few of the methods I found very useful, like the ability to solve any differential equation with Runge Kuta, very good for 3 and 6 DoF simulations for example.
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On April 20 2014 16:03 Chocolate wrote:
Dayum dude, keep up the good work. I'm probably going to take numerical methods (or an equivalent) during my second year, shit will be exciting.
I just finished crushing HS, now on to uni myself. Question about economics: did you find that the first year of classes was really qualitative and didn't really teach you anything useful (that you couldn't easily learn in a few weeks)? I find myself dreading the first year economics courses with the huge lectures and general triviality... all I want to take is econometrics-type stuff.
What's your business venture?
Oh, are you majoring in economics? First year courses are of course a breeze when it comes to econ. I think the idea is to get you to think like an economist, and just an introduction to econ to simply test the waters. I found the second year courses a lot more interesting, however they are still the same principles, just more in-depth, and you derive things that may not have been as intuitive to figure out as in first year economics courses.
And sadly I don't think you'll see too much of econometrics in a regular economics undergrad. I definitely recommend taking some honours economics program if your university offers it. And undergrad in economics really doesn't use that much math. From what I hear, it's when you go for your Master's when it starts to get really interesting with the theory and the math you work with. However, before everything, make sure you know exactly what you want out of your degree. Nice to see an economics major though! I think the knowledge learned is far superior to that of what is learned in business on a macroscopic level. It teaches you the basics, then you need to teach yourself the details.
As for my business venture, it's a new revolutionary type of advertising, haha. Or so I hope it will be, currently I'm mostly talking with the university and the school of business at my university, see what kind of funding I can receive. I think it's a neat idea that brings together engineering and business, and really, I'm mostly doing it because it's cool. If I'm lucky, maybe some money will be made off of it, but right now my goal is to do something cool, show I am enthusiastic to employers, and hopefully be able to secure a patent. Still in it's early stages, I have a big vision, but no real work besides research into its feasibility economically and from an engineering standpoint, and some sketches, etc. I want to begin some real work on it after this semester.
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On April 20 2014 16:49 CutTheEnemy wrote:
So... what's your secret then? I'm an adult student returning after almost a decade away from school. Not used to it. At all...
Well it depends on your objectives, from what I've seen, returning students tend to not be as enthusiastic about the course material, and make it a lot more evident that they simply want to finish to secure their job.
For me, I think passion is the number one thing. I can't really speak for you, as it seems like we are a different age group, but I think the key is to really just remove distractions from their life. When you make university, and learning in general your number one priority, and put all your obligations second, you begin to embrace that lifestyle. It depends on how you want to balance your study life and social/family/at home life. As you can see I don't really balance too much, so I'm probably not the person to ask.
And my other strong belief, which may seem very obvious, is attend classes, and pay attention. People will always try to tell me that they don't learn anything in lecture so they don't go, or whatever excuse they can find. I truly believe that 99.9% of the time, going to lecture will indeed be worth it, regardless of how bad your professor appears to be.
People will always try and convince me otherwise, and I'm well aware there everyone has different learning styles, but I think people really underestimate it. To me, even if I'm not learning much in lecture, you are able to critically think about what the professor is saying, as you don't really have an option to do anything else. When you are reading from a textbook, and just learning from a textbook, you tend to skip minor details. You don't bother dwelling on them, but often times they can explain what you are trying to understand better. And I dunno, it's hard to describe.
It comes to hard work in the end, and creating an atmosphere you are comfortable in. Best of luck with your studies, I wish you all the best! (: What are you back in school for by the way?
PS - I really admire the people who come back to school because of whatever their reasons for not finishing it the first time. Must be so extremely taxing... Having to pay for rent, groceries, having a full-time job, possibly a family, not being exposed to school culture for so long. I always hear regrets of people not doing it right the first time ;p
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On April 20 2014 16:19 Entirety wrote:
My first reaction to your blog is that you need to be more humble. My second reaction is that I shouldn't be calling you out on bragging about yourself when I'm no better. I'm prideful, I'm arrogant, and I love to brag about my success too, so I'll back off from the moral high ground.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who is turned off by your bragging, but I'll be the first to admit that my distaste for your bragging is nothing more than envy in disguise. Your GPA is damn amazing, and I know you must have worked hard to earn it. Pat yourself on the back. You should be damn proud of what you have achieved over the last year, and I personally believe your success justifies the bragging.
I've met so many people who hate me for being prideful, and I hope you won't. But if you do, keep in mind that they're not necessarily hating you for your pride, they might simply be scared of your competence. Keep kicking ass!
Hey man, thanks!
Pardon me, it is a bit late here (3:30am), so my speech probably wont be the most eloquent, but... I'll admit, I am not the most modest guy, but I do strongly believe that everyone offers something that can be learned from. The more you show off, the more you just try to impress, the more you shut yourself away from learning. I tend to like to step back and see what people have to say, and see what they can show. It teaches me new things, whether it's stepping back and letting a professor explain something, to hearing a drunk guy on the train and getting a better idea of what people in society think and how they behave, there is something to learn from all of it.
But at the same time, sometimes it just feels like I'm living in hell through some of the stuff I go through, always trying to put in effort. I know many go through lots too, and many definitely have it tougher than me, but sometimes boasting about your accomplishments to get a sense of pride that you're accomplishing something is useful. It's easy to forget you're actually headed somewhere when the end goal appears so far away, and the only thing you have to show for it is a good mark or something like that, and usually you don't show that off to anyone either. It's a nice feeling when others feel like you are doing good with your life, that approval is something that makes most people happy whether they agree with it or not.
Anyway, I think it's time to head to bed for me, I appreciate the nice messages from everyone, apologies to the people who felt like I came off as too arrogant or not humble. Hard to contain certain emotions! ^^
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Congratulations! Keep kicking ass in those engineering and math courses! 
Any idea why your grades are all on relative scales, rather than absolute?
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Good for you that you're doing well.
Other people have said this, but I'll say it again: Stay humble. No matter how well you are doing now or how much you are crushing the competition wherever you are, there are bigger fish in bigger ponds. Much bigger fish.
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I'm not Jelly! Shut up >.<
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Wait until you have to do FDM by hand, with no way to chose step length or direction. So fun...
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Relative grade distribution is stupid. It would work to my personal favor but it's still stupid.
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EPT
