culture shock for CLAS student enrolled in SEAS course

[galoisien]

<p>No, I’m not trying to dual major in the College and the E-school or anything. :p</p>

<p>Well, I am pursuing some sort of physical-chemistry / materials science related major in the chem department and one of the prereqs for one of the degrees I was looking at was a sequence of materials science courses. Of course I thought nothing of it last semester, but only this semester when I took a closer look again did I realise the materials science sequence was not in the chem department but in the e-school. lolz.</p>

<p>Anyway, I must really say the rigour of the course I’m taking, even if mostly composed of second-semester first-years, really impresses, if not floors me. The class really wastes no time synthesising reading and lecture with amazing efficiency, unlike some of the science courses in CLAS that I’ve seen (even if the CLAS courses are otherwise well-taught). I think I’m loving it, but there’s something about the style of an e-school class (non CS) that’s … different from what I’m used to, I’m guess? I’m not sure if it’s necessarily harder – at times it does seem more productive. In a CLAS science course (at least in those I’ve been in these two semesters), it often seemed to me that at some point you could say, “alright I’ve mastered this, I don’t think I need to review for a while,” (with your friends concurring immediately). In contrast there’s a certain quintessence that comes with the exercises and homework for this MSE course that is different from all the other sciency courses at the CLAS.</p>

<p>I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been in this scenario, given all the people who must have pursued the same chem degree I’m looking at, as well as other interschool degrees, but there doesn’t seem to be any “official” resources for us. The professor, while very nice, immediately assumes that all his students are e-school students. I’m not that worried yet … I think? It just seems that there are some practices taken for granted by SEAS students, cultural or otherwise, that CLAS students wouldn’t normally be aware of. Any advice, warnings, etc.?</p>

[shoebox10]

<p>LOL. Dude, I didn’t take to your posts for a long time, but finally…you’ve gotten my approval. Can you please submit this to the CavDaily or something so that the next time I’m trying to explain that last semester, every week, I spent 8 hours on ONE homework assignment for ONE class while working with 7 other people, CLAS kids don’t just brush me off as either exaggerating or just being stupid?</p>

<p>Anyways my advice is just suck it up. Sounds mean/cruel but I’m not trying to be that way. Instead, I’m trying to say that it’s going to be hard as crap and it’s going to most likely suck. But rather than focusing on that, suck it up, accept that it’s going to be hard work, and come to terms with the workload. Once you do this, the stress of the class disappears and suddenly it doesn’t seem so overwhelming. Those 8 hour assignments (I swear I’m not lying…and most of the time we didn’t finish and didn’t get very good grades) sucked HARDCORE for the first few, then I just accepted that Tuesday nights I would be in Stacks for 8 hours. I didn’t necessarily look forward to it, but I just went “eh, ok” and moved on. Made that class less suicidal. And now, this semester, I look at my workload and go “crap, this is a lot, but oh wait, this isn’t as much as last semester” and now I’m used to working crazy hours, so it’s all much easier to digest.
Other than that, don’t fall behind. Duh. Go to office hours. Duh. Also, if you’ve met the pre-reqs, you “should” know everything the e-school kids do. Trust me, they don’t know it all either.<br>
And lastly, and maybe tying the whole “suck it up tip” in terms of being most important: make buddies in there. The E-school curriculum is designed to support group effort, so abuse that. Doing assignments/studying is wayyy easier in a group, trust me.</p>

<p>Anyways, welcome to SEAS. Try to avoid going crazy.</p>