<p>Hello, fellow huskies. What courses are you all taking this coming quarter/year? Here are mine -</p>
<p>CSE 142
English 349
Math 134
Physics 121 Honors</p>
<p>Physics 121 Honors
Math 134
English 198 (UW Academy)
Honors 398 (UW Academy)
Self-studying Stat 311 so I can challenge it
Possibly Astronomy 499 (doing research with professor)</p>
<p>Planning to major in astronomy, physics, and debating between Math and ACMS</p>
<p>You’re taking 19 credits. Do people advise you not to take a load such as yours? People advised me not to take the load I have here (I don’t tell them about my Stat 311 or Astronomy 499 plans).</p>
<p>Hey, so you’re academy? I’m going to be a first-year EEPer this coming year. Small world, huh?</p>
<p>Everyone’s told me not to take such a heavy load… and yours looks just as heavy, if not heavier, so I’m not surprised that people have told you the same thing. But, judging from your past posts, it looks like you’re serious about academics and research and so forth, so I bet you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>How are you taking Honors 398? The catalog doesn’t list a 398 class for autumn quarter… or do you mean you’ll take it later this year?</p>
<p>Haha, why did you go to this site if you’re an EEPer? And how did you hear of this forum - do other EEPers come here? I don’t really set a limit to any insanity that I display over the Internet and don’t want too many people to associate “simfish” with the person typing this up right now. I went here because I was so intent on getting into Caltech but then my plans were ruined by a summer program rejection, I got depressed, and then I immediately took the Academy acceptance letter when it came and now I can’t get myself out of here. ;)</p>
<p>Which of my past posts did you see:? Did you click on the “Find more posts by simfish” before or after this post? Oh, and just wondering, how did you register for 19 credits? Don’t you have to wait until the last week for 19 credits? (like others have to wait if they have to go over 18)</p>
<p>Btw, it’s H A&S 397 A; I confused it with 398.</p>
<p>Well, I go to the site because it’s reasonably interesting, and because I had some questions about graduate stuff… and I really doubt any other EEPers come here, don’t worry.</p>
<p>I just looked at your previous posts. You can’t do 20 credits until period III, but you can do 19. </p>
<p>Are you doing SURP this next summer?</p>
<p>Interesting - like you - I started pondering about graduate school as soon as the Academy accepted me, in 10th grade (or actually earlier because my mother was obsessed with graduate school rankings and graduate student forums). </p>
<p>We’ll be taking very similar classes so we really should talk to each other once our classes start. Do you know if we should just report to our Wednesday classes on the first day?</p>
<p>I’m seriously considering SURP but I don’t know if I’ll get in or not. I just sent a message to RRC about SURP. I’m also thinking about REUs, which have even lower admission rates than RSI (although I don’t think the pool is much more intelligent than RSI as there are so many REUs versus one RSI).</p>
<p>Sounds good. And yeah, we report to our Wednesday classes on the first day, the schedule stays the same. Don’t expect to do anything serious on the first day, though.</p>
<p>Did you enter EEP when you were a 7th or 8th grader. Wasn’t EEP pretty uncompetitive this year? (I heard only 20 applied)</p>
<p>I entered after my eighth-grade year. My year was competitive, but yeah, this year only had 20 applicants make it to the final stage of admissions.</p>
<p>I have so many crazy stories about my year… we were fairly good academically, but other than that… we were horrible.</p>
<p>Why was your year horrible? </p>
<p>Also, just wondering is Dr. Vaughan ever involved with EEP? Do you talk to Kate Noble or Ariel a lot?</p>
<p>I really wish I done EEP (9th grade was the most useless year of school period) but I think I may have been too emotionally immature for it in 8th grade.</p>
<p>Oh, and do you have Facebook? ;)</p>
<p>Well, at the beginning, we were just really competitive grade-wise… and then someone left a suicide note… then, all the girls developed eating disorders, and some people in the class started destroying class stuff. Heh.</p>
<p>Dr. Vaughn isn’t officially connected with EEP, but he’s always around the Robinson Center.</p>
<p>I don’t talk to Dr. Noble too much, since she oversees EEP, but doesn’t really get too involved with the students. I do talk to Ariel a lot, though, since she’s basically my college councelor now, I have to go through here to declare majors, get information on various programs, etc.</p>
<p>Wow. Have you heard about any proposals to reform EEP now? (the problem is probably lack of advertising) Seems like the students who weren’t that emotionally mature got in and now EEP might take more effort to weed them out.</p>
<p>Also, was Ariel cool with your taking 19 credits? She advised me against my load but lol, I’m pretty determined to do it as I’m willing to study as much as a student at Caltech if necessary.</p>
<p>And did you take the AMC/AIME exams? I took them but really wish I tried harder on the AIME.</p>
<p>Proposals to reform EEP? Well, not based on our class, if that’s what you mean, but I know that Dr. Sisko is taking Autumn Quarter off to do some outreach work, to give more kids the opportunity to do EEP. Oh, and Dr. Sisko rocks, if you don’t know her already.</p>
<p>Ariel left my schedule up to me, pretty much. Dr. Sisko advised me not to do H A&S 251 instead of my CSE class, since that would have been three honors classes, but no-one would have stopped me, had I chose to do three honors classes… in fact, I talked to an EEPer who was doing 22 credits.</p>
<p>I took the AMC exams, up until last year… I did horribly last year, mostly because I didn’t really care about the exam, compared to my TS workload, which was way more important. This year, though, I think I’m going to do the Putnam exam, and next year, if I can, I want to do the Mathematical Contest in Modeling.</p>
<p>Putnam. Wow. Have you ever been exposed to any proofs and do you know the best way to practice? I know that I’ll die on the Putnam with a 0 if I take it this year as I’ve never taken math seriously until 8th grade and even then, I never did it in my spare time.</p>
<p>Also, there is an Academy genius by the name of Owen Biesel, who did Morrow’s REU. I’m almost certain he’s going to grab the math awards for the UW. Are you thinking about Morrow’s REU as well? I’m worried that I may not be intelligent enough to get in - but I’ll see how this year goes. I never really demonstrated exceptional mathematical aptitude and I’ve never been passionate in math either (I was always more into pure science than math) but for the time I put into math, I might be doing pretty well (I’ll be dorming this year so I’ll have less distractions, which really hurt a distractible person like myself). I think though, that I may have a better chance at Astronomy REUs as I’m doing astronomy research right now.</p>
<p>I suppose Sisko is to EEP as Bob is to Academy.</p>
<p>I’m mildly familiar with proofs… even so, I doubt I’d get the proof questions on the Putnam, they’re usually the hardest ones. As for practicing, there are a couple books of past Putnams that are really helpful, I had to return mine to the library a couple of weeks ago. There is supposedly a course that the math department offers, for free, not-for-credit, that’s a Putnam prep course. I think I’m going to do that this Autumn. That’s taught by Eric Babson by the way. </p>
<p>And if you did calc BC in your sophomore year, I’m sure you could do well on the Putnam. My goal is a 1, this year… heh.</p>
<p>I’d like to do an REU - I’m going to apply for a few this summer, I think in math, though maybe in physics.</p>
<p>Haha - Calc BC is extremely easy to get a 5 in - you only need a 60% or so to get it. The problem is that there is too much prejudice against younger people taking calculus. I know plenty of people taking calculus in 10th grade who aren’t as intelligent (and do pretty badly on the AMC) as the people I’ve met at SIMUW who can’t take it until 12th grade.</p>
<p>Putnam prep course?!? How did you hear about it?</p>
<p>Also, have you heard anything about how competitive REUs are? I’d like more information on that… And do you know of any “safety” research programs? I’m thinking of using SURP as a safety but even that is competitive. And I’d also like to take Physics 227 in Summer Quarter so that I can take Physics 228 my sophomore year. I’m also thinking about Physics 224 next quarter and Physics 225 the quarter after.</p>
<p>If I’m able to study nonstop (which I never have been able to do before) then I’d also like to take CSE 142 and be able to fulfill my English deficiency.</p>
<p>My TA told me about the Putnam course. I’m going to check it out Monday, I’ll let you know. Care to PM me your e-mail?</p>
<p>Oh, and do you know what is the highest # of credits attempted by any student? (EEPer or not) I better be cautious with it though as Erin Earl tried 22 credits and that was really hard for her though I have the advantage of living in a dorm.</p>
<p>Who was the TA for? And just out of curiosity, what course did you take on Spring Quarter for EEP?</p>
<p>I’ve heard of someone taking 25 credits, though that might not be true. And Erin Earl would have been taking mostly liberal arts courses, I think, which are generally less demanding than science or math courses. Anything above 15 credits can be hard, though.</p>
<p>The TA was my Math 125 TA. I took Math 124 and 125 during winter/spring of TS. In the spring, I took Philosophy 102, since I was interested in philosophy at that time. They don’t let TSers take lab science or math courses in the spring of TS anyway, so no real loss for me.</p>
<p>I hope you guys don’t mind me interupting, but I’m lost… I’m supposedly a fellow Husky, but have not even a clue as to what you guys are talking about (Putnam, EEP, Ariel, Dr. Sisko, what have you). I guess that’s just my being a normal student (I never had a chance to take BC Calculus when I was a sophomore, and I didn’t even graduate from high school :p). </p>
<p>Anyway, trying to stick to the topic, classes I’m taking this quarter are:
- AA 310
- AA 311
- AA 320
- Amath 301
- Math 309</p>
<p>This is my first quarter in the Aeronautics and Astronautics department and I hope I will do just fine. Good luck for the school tomorrow guys!</p>